From Harvard to 'Hooligans'

Lexi Alexander has made a movie about Harvard, and she could kick your ass if you don’t see it. But she won’t (probably).

The former karate instructor-cum-independent filmmaker is on a whirlwind press tour in support of her first full-length feature, “Green Street Hooligans.” The film chronicles the transformation of a mild-mannered Harvard undergrad and Crimson editor Matt Buckner (Elijah Wood) into a street-fighting man through his expulsion from school and his subsequent initiation into the ultra-violent world of soccer hooliganism.

For some fans, rooting for the home team from stadium risers or the local pub isn’t sufficient: they join team-affiliated street gangs (called “firms” in the British context) and engage in bloody, often fatal, conflicts with the gangs of rival clubs. The seductive nature of this type of violence is “Green Street”’s thematic domain.

Because of the limited popularity of soccer in the States, firms and this particular brand of hooliganism are non-existent. But in the rest of the world, Europe and South America in particular, many believe the scourge of hooliganism has tainted enjoyment of the world’s most popular pastime.

Alexander spoke with The Harvard Crimson about soccer, violence, politics, and her own involvement with hooligans.

The Harvard Crimson: One of the film’s villains is a Harvard undergrad named Van Holden. He seems to be a stereotype of the well-born Harvard elite. Did you intend him to represent the prototypical Harvard student?

Lexi Alexander: I don’t think Van Holden is a prototypical Harvard student. Somebody in England said, and this will probably get me into trouble, he said that the character reminds him of a young George W. You know, a real prestige kid that got into a good school because of his family and wealth. I think those types of people exist, but I don’t think all Ivy League students are like that.

THC: Do you have any personal history with hooliganism outside of the film?

LA: I was involved with a firm while I still lived in Germany. I didn’t participate in the fighting, but I was accepted as the firm’s mascot. I met a couple of hooligans while I was teaching martial arts, and I begged them to let me tag along. They were quite considerate and protective of me.

For two years the firm was my family: they were my big brothers and I was their little sister. It was strange; during the week, they were courteous, gentle men, but on the weekend they became incredibly violent. It was quite schizophrenic.

THC: In your opinion, is this film controversial?

LA: Ironically, the American studios were scared of the film because it is “too violent.” That’s crazy. That anyone in America would say that this film is too violent is incredibly hypocritical.

There is not a single gun in this movie. In this country, we routinely watch movies where thirty or forty people are shot in the first act. We are so disconnected from gun violence. We can watch soldiers shot and blown up on CNN all day, but a fistfight between soccer fans is too violent. It’s crazy.

Apparently, flesh-on-flesh violence is too much for the American public.

THC: Does this film glamorize violence?

LA: If it appears that I glamorize violence in acts one and two it is because it is necessary that I establish why such a lifestyle if seductive. I needed to show the rush and appeal of hooliganism, but ultimately I have made an anti-violence film. THC: Did you hope to make any broader statements about human nature with this film?

LA: I set the film in the world of soccer hooliganism, but I think the tendency to turn to violence as means of conflict resolution is universal. Here in America, after being attacked, our first response was to go and kick some other country’s ass. War has higher stakes than hooliganism, but it’s the same animal instinct in the human race to turn to violence. We have to question why.

This tendency is especially strong in young men, and civilization and technology cannot suppress it. There is something seductive about belonging to a tribe or herd—something missing in the anonymity of television and videogames. In the right environment and given the opportunity, many young men will choose to join gangs.

—Staff writer Bernard L. Parham can be reached at parham@fas.harvard.edu.