Francois Truffaut, director of the film The 400 Blows (1959), deals with the delinquent child abandoned by the educational system and also by the family. As a French New Wave director, Truffaut's goal is to depict the real-life drama of an iconoclastic protagonist searching for love and meaning in his life. The hero ultimately sinks into a life of crime and recidivism, however, Truffaut retraces for us the stages of his downfall and highlights the underlying reasons for this social deviant. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The prevailing approach to The 400 Blows is an ideology in which the underlying principle is the hegemony of Hollywood. Truffaut's approach is ideological because the themes and concerns revolve around a delinquent child, his family and his school. This film launches a fierce criticism of domestic, educational and penal institutions. These units are geared towards the development and growth of the individual but, in particular circumstances, these systems can be very counterproductive as a child is neglected and resorts to crime. The ideological principle that is represented only in its absence is the hegemony of Hollywood. Hollywood hegemony supports a more refined and superficially perfect portrait of society: a comfortable middle-class American family with a good child and responsible parents. However, since this film is inspired by the Italian neorealist tradition, the viewer observes and understands the characters' trials, fears, depression and desperation. “Antoine's condition is truly sad and desperate” (The Films of Francois Truffaut, David Walsh Reviews) . Antoine attends an all-boys school where he is the black sheep of the class. In class he helps circulate magazines showing obscene and naked images of women. He cheats in class, gets low grades, defaces classroom walls, skips school, fabricates and forges letters from parents to his teacher, and wanders around town with his best friend during school hours. Because Antoine is disruptive during lessons, he poses a threat to the martinet teacher, Mr. Sourpuss, who in turn constantly kicks him out of class. For almost every complaint in class, all fingers point to Antoine and he is the subject of constant censure. Antoine is the product of an imperfect educational system because, although he attends school, he does not derive any improvement from it. However, not only is the school institution to blame, but the origin of his delinquency comes from the family. One gets the feeling that not only his teachers but also his parents expect him to be a failure and have already given up. From birth, Antoine was unwanted. He is a "bastard child", born to a poor single mother who, in desperation, marries another man to support herself and her son. “Truffaut simply preferred to point the finger of accusation at his parents, especially his mother, considering them the source of all his unhappiness” (The films of François Truffaut). Antoine's mother, Mrs. Doinel, resents her son because she is trapped in an unhappy marriage and cannot be with the man she truly loves. The resentment is mutual as Doinel one day tells his teacher that he was absent due to his mother's death. During the heated arguments between his parents, Antoine always hears his mother wanting to get rid of him. Mr. Doinel tries to understand his son, but the stress of his job and his shaky marriage to his wife overwhelm him. Unhappy marriage, parental neglect, inattention and loneliness contribute to the refractory nature ofAntoine. When Mrs. Doinel tries to have an in-depth conversation with her son, we learn that neither she nor her husband ever finished school. This information does not bode well for his son Antoine, who sooner or later will abandon his studies or be expelled from school. Although the film centers on a delinquent child, the viewer discovers that the delinquency is generated by the delinquency of the parents. Antoine's parents are from the poor middle class of French society, so economic pressures play a role in the parents' inability to adequately care for Antoine. His accommodation is in the basement of the house and after school he encounters an empty house, so he is left to his own devices. During one of his rampages in the city, Antoine sees his mother kissing a man who is not his father. This discovery shocks him and as a result, in his esteem, his mother sinks further into contempt and contempt. Antoine's mirror takes the form of another wealthy schoolmate, François, whose mother drinks and father gambles. When Antoine runs away from home, both he and François smoke, drink and gamble in the basement, imitating what they see their parents doing. The boy's father is aware of his wife's infidelity because she is never home. This small, unhappy family demonstrates at the same time that in both the upper and lower classes there are young delinquents and hardened criminals in the making. At school, during one of Antoine's English lessons, the French kids have to repeat the phrase: "Where is the father?" This question resonates in the film which has delinquent parenting as one of its themes. Truffaut indicates that one of society's perennial problems is the absence of the father figure who not only provides for, but supports and loves his family. In the film the fathers are physically present but their minds and hearts are not focused on the home. Rejected by both school and domestic institutions, Antoine is literally thrown onto the streets as a vagrant. Images interspersed throughout the film include the Ferris wheel, music and Honoré de Balzac. The ride on the Ferris wheel, which Antoine enjoys during his absence from school and fun day, symbolizes the confusing life that Antoine lives. The rotating carousel, with a fast and whirling motion, spins the carousel's occupants at a dizzying speed. This ride physically represents Antoine's life spiraling out of control. “His actions and reactions are often disturbing and one can only imagine what he will do next. His attitude perfectly reflects the confusion of adolescence, especially in a life as complicated as the one Antoine lives” (The Four Hundred Blows: Film Review). Furthermore, in the few instances where Antoine runs, plays and enjoys his childhood, there is the childish, tinkling, fairy-tale sound of bells and a children's music box that evoke sounds of childish innocence and frivolity in the viewer's mind. Unfortunately, to some extent, Antoine is robbed of his childhood because he has to learn to fend for himself in an outside world too concerned with his own problems rather than raising and caring for a needy child. However, the only glimmer of hope that is snuffed out for Antoine while he was at school is Honoré de Balzac, a 19th century French novelist and playwright whose personality and literature fascinated Antoine. While studying Honoré de Balzac, a famous French realist author, Antoine's esteem for this giant of literature reaches such a level that he takes a portrait of de Balzac and lights two candles next to it in the house: “The honor? de Balzac was placed in a foster home and cared for until the age of four. 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