was he himself a father?
is there background info on the characters? (i may have missed the first five mins of the film or something?)
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The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.
probably more to do with his own father...he flipped out on Milky because he realized Milky had a great family situation, while Combo's wasn't so wonderful.
shareIt's quite a repetitive sort of underlying issue in many films. The absence of parents and quite often the absence of a father figure.
He just wanted to see problems with milky's family, the whole idea of him having so many children and yet Milky still loved him and they were a really close knit family. Combo probably did not have the same upbringing, most like had an absent father and blamed it on Milky and the fact that he was black.
Give hugs not drugs
<3 One man can change his stars <3
TLO!
combos father is black or mixed race, and so has a hatred towards blacks because of the rejection of his own father, hence why he says nig*ers make bad fathers. He thinks its because of the fact that it was cos he was black. This is why he cant control his jealousy when he finds out Milky had a good black father.
shareI didn't realise his own father was black... he doesn't look like it - is this actually stated in the film or something that is presumed?
ta :)
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The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.
The actor Stephen Graham is from a mixed race family.
shareBut i don't think it was actually stated in the film. So i think this is just one of many interpretations of that particular scene.
Give hugs not drugs
<3 One man can change his stars <3
TLO!
Oh really? I wouldn't have thought so unless you'd said!
Yes I don't remember it being stated either - I suppose it's n interpretation because of the actors family background or something..
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The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return.
Indeed it was not stated, I thought it was something to do with Combo's father too, he was as someone else said envious because of what Milkys family and lost it after having been rejected earlier by lol (?)
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Here is a great insight which was a review i read
In the final few scenes of the movie when Milky is being racially abused by Combo we see Milky smiling enigmatically at Combo, even though he knows he is about to be attacked by Combo. We are not told directly by Meadows through the characters in the film why Milky is smiling, nor are why we told why Combo reacts so violently to Milky. The reason is because Milky has discovered Combos secret. This is that Combo is mixed race and that he is 'passing' as white and that this internal conflict is the true source of his anger and racism, not any politics or the state of British society. Combo at one point talks about the British Army invading the Falklands and picking on the poor Falklands farmers. His politics are so vacuous and so obviously absurd that they are just a pose, a front for his sublimated rage and merely a mechanism for Combo to express his hatred of the society that rejected him.
Milky when he smiles at Combo has understood that Combo has a 'black soul' referring to Combos love of black music. This is because Combo is himself mixed race and that the father who rejected him was half black. Meadows has explained in interviews that Combo was sent into care after getting into trouble before being adopted by a white family. Though not explicitly spelt out in the film the back story of Combo has been revealed by Meadows at a recent press conference and discussion about the film.
Rejected by his father, his black family, his two black brothers who were born looking black whilst he was born looking white and the extended black community, and also having been the victim of racist bullying in prison by black inmates who thought he was white, Combo has no roots or identity and as a result has come to hate all black and Asian people. His skin colour has become his only uniform for everything else has been taken from him.
His only experience of blacks in his white adopted family was to be bullied by them in prison. The cumulative psychological effects of this rejection by the black community and his alienation from his roots meant that Combo had rejected entirely his black ethnicity and ancestry, except for his black soul and love of black music that he expressed through being a skinhead.
Beautiful post. Bless.
Additionally, a mixed heritage makes his moniker make a lot more sense.
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That would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus two plus one plus one.
No I saw an interview with the Director who said that they had made Combo mixed race (which is also Stephen Grahams background) The director also mentioned the fact that he has been rejected (this is implied) by his black/mixed race father and when he talks about the black inmate this also implies his further isolation from black people. Its hard to explain but if you have ever watched a film called 'way of life' it has a similar character , who is half pakistani but has been rejected by his father which leads him to hate all indians and pakistani's and he tries to hide his identity from others as he can pass of being white....
shareaccording to stephen graham who plays combo, shane meadows had written back stories for all the characters that the actors read. I think combos was that his dad abandoned his family when combo was young; him, his mum and his sister struggled (economically).
Let's go inconspicuously...through the window.
I thought it was strictly a racist thing. The idea of blacks just having more and more babies and getting more and more welfare, so when Milk not only talks about having a big family but enjoying it I thought that that triggered the racist response in Combo, especially since he was still upset about the pot deal, where he was too busy or didn't have any connections until Combo offered him half.
Why would you think he thought Milky's dad was having loads of kids on welfare? Especially since Milky told him that his dad was always away working hard making sure there was always food on the table? It's an emotional character study. The scene gives dimension to Combo's psychology and past deeply unresolved issues. The character wasn't a one dimensional cartoon villain just upset over sharing pot! there's various scenes prior to the milky scene which give glimpses and insights into combo's tortured emotions. ie - rejection, lack of family, etc.
shareThe idea of blacks just having more and more babies and getting more and more welfare, so when Milk not only talks about having a big family but enjoying it I thought that that triggered the racist response in Combocareful, it looks like you've got a little prejudice falling out of your pocket there, churchr-1.. since nobody in the movie said anything about Milky's family collecting welfare, i'm curious why you were so quick to jump to blacks > having babies > collecting welfare. share
Hey may have been touched as a child.
share