Adversity And Struggle In Billy Elliot

The use of doors is a reoccuring symbol representing new worlds or barriers between worlds and used throughout the film. Billy’s initial glimpse of the ballet class through the door, and the way he enters the class hesitantly symbolises a new world opening up to Billy. Billy’s determination is one the key elements involved in his eventual transition into a different world. Realising that his father would not allow him to pursue ballet, he attends lessons in secret and practices extensively in his bedroom, the bathroom and wherever else he can have some privacy. The door motif is again prominent with Billy’s father physically holding Billy back from pursing his pathway into a new world. Many of the doors are shut and he must fight to break these barriers down. For Billy, dance becomes a means of escape from his surroundings, a refuge, a form of self-expression and, ultimately, a way out of his closed community and into the larger world. The limited use of colour reminds us that the family world is collapsing just as new horizons are opening up for Billy. Billy is determined to go against the rules and traditions of his family and forge his way into a new world.

His father 's expectations that his sons should participate in a rough activity like boxing is shown by the presence of Jackie at the training session, and his high expectations are shown in his dialogue. Billy’s father later recognises his son’s talent in ballet, and is ecstatic when Billy is allocated a spot in the Royal Ballet School. This euphoria is highlighted in the high key natural lighting that surrounds Jackie as he travels up the hill to express this new knowledge with his fellow peers. SUMMARY SENTENCE ABOUT BILLYS TRANSFORMATION IN HIS SOCIETY AND THE ACCEPTANCE THAT FOLLOWED.

Billy Elliot explores the concept of identity and how it can shaped and changed through life experiences. It tells the story of an 11-year-old boy named Billy, and his father, Jackie, amidst a mining strike in a town in Northern England during the mid-1980s. Billy creates his personal identity through dance as it is a means of expressing himself. In Billy’s world, strict stereotypes dealing with gender and sexual identity are enforced, which created not only an internal personal battle for Billy, but also an external conflict between him and his family. As a result, he was ashamed of and forced to hide his talent and passion for dance, shown in the quote, “I feel like a right sissy”. The song “Town called Malice” was played in Billy’s main

Seeing my friends and other students having fun and making me feel like I was up on that stage with them. There were two specific characters that really stood out to me, these two characters stood out to me because, they were full of emotion and energy through the whole night for all the shows. My favourite characters were Corny Collins, and Amber Von Tussle. I think the rest of the cast could have used more energy and used their emotions more because, through most of the show some people showed no emotion at all and had a straight face. In the opening number of the play everybody had energy and was happy with emotions. I think that was the best energy in the whole show. However, I get it the lights on the stage are hot and by the end of the night you get exhausted because you are using up all your energy. You got to fight through it either by staying hydrated, eating, or taking a rest on a break you must get through. Performing is a very hard thing to do, and while you are working your butt off some people in the audience think it's easy. Until they try and do it and find out the challenges and how hard it is to do the things we

What really kept me interested was the story line and the actors as well. It had a very interesting stories and with that actors it made it even more interesting. What stood out to me and always grabbed my attention was their expressions and passion towards their roles. The actor that stood out more to me was Divine. She really had to know how to change her expressions and acting ways throughout the play. For instance, when she seen her mother Lena her expressions had to change quickly. Also, for the school play her mood had to change as well because she was acting as a tree in her school play. The moment, that really stood out to me was when Devine was scared because Tray did not go pick her up. In my opinion, during that scene a million of flashbacks must have passed through her head when her mom left her. Also, the her facial expression really made the audience get an idea of how or what she was feeling. “That woman ain’t your mama”, is a short sentence that really stood out to me and described a big part of the play. This is due, because Lena left her daughter behind a dumpster. Which is why Devine has trusting issues and really doesn’t know who her mother actually is and that is what Lena is trying to accomplish through the play to earn the family's trust and to finally talk to her daughter Devine. Overall, in my judgment the play is just outstanding and I would highly recommend

    Something I really liked about the play was the way the author put dialogue it made the play have humor in it. For example when he put “kathy: oh yes please do go on. It's all so interesting about rocks and all” I thought it was funny because she really didn't want to know more about rocks.

He knows this is not really accepted in society or in his family so he keeps it as a secret. This proves my point that stereotypes in society provide a safety and a sense of belonging. This lack of safety explains why the father cannot unconditionally love Billy unlike the mother in “Mother loves your sons” When Billy Elliot’s father finds out he is doing ballet, he bans him from his passion and says “Ballet is for girls not for lads Billy, Lads do football….. Boxing…..or Wrestling, not friggin Ballet”. This enforces that Billys dad will not love and support him because he is breaking the teenage boy stereotype “I'm busting my ass for those 50 pences and you’re…”. This makes Billy feel he will not belong in his family or peers if he continues ballet but his teacher pushes him to pursue it in private. Once he becomes good he creates himself a new stereotype of success and his father regains an unconditional love and acceptance. This is shown when he goes back to working in the mine when the town is on strike to be able to make money for billy to go to the Royal ballet school audition in new

“This scene not only expresses Billy’s rage, it visually represents his childhood. Billy is blocked by barriers of gender, class, and

Each individual has a strong determination to pursue a dream that can challenge society’s expectation as they transition. Through “billy Elliot” Stephen Daldry has portrayed how barriers can prevent some characters to achieve their dreams. In the opening scene, where billy is seen jumping up and down in a slow motion shot, Reveals his vigour energy for dancing and

3. By looking at both Jackie Elliot, Billy's father & as well as Shirley Hastings, Scott's mother, we can see that both of them are very vicarious parents, as they live their dreams through their children & expect their children to live & act in a specific way that they particularly desire such as with Shirley & Scott, she has made him do ballroom since he was a little child & has forced him to compete in the way that she wants so that he may achieve goals such as championships such as the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix, which she aspired to once winning which are actually her personal goals which she was not able to achieve on her own, so she forces Scott to dance the way that she would & that she wants him to in the hope that he would achieve these goals "on her behalf" as she is living through her child Scott. Jackie Elliot also pressures his son Billy to do boxing as he gives Billy his fathers boxing gloves & expects him to follow in the same footsteps as his family is known to be good boxers. Jackie himself is a very masculine male & expects his son to be the same, he wants his son to be masculine & do wrestling, football, or boxing but does not want him to do ballet because he is ashamed of it & it is definitely not something that he would ever do.

Billy’s determination is shown through the juxtaposing movements and camera angles of the opening and last scene of the film. In the opening scene of the film we are shown Billy jumping and dancing along with the non diegetic sound of Cosmic Dancer by T.Rex. The lyrics “I danced myself right out of the womb,” foreshadows Billy’s destiny and desire to dance which is conflicted towards the expectations of his father. Through the use of a close ups and slow motion it allows the audience see Billy’s lively facial expressions, highlighting his innocence. This is juxtaposed to his sharp and precise movements shown in the final scene through close ups and worm eye view, signifying Billy’s dominance and power, which he initially lacked.

Like Billy’s feet while jumping on the bed as a prelude to Billy discovering his talent as a dancer, we see a close-up of Billy's shoes while he runs up the hill, and in the final scene we see Billy’s bare feet as he lands on the stage. When Billy and Debbie are walking down the street, the stick Debbie is dragging against the wall becomes a pointer to direct the viewer’s attention to the background. There's a scene that begins with posters of human figures representing union strikers and flows into the shields of the riot police. It is during this sequence that Debbie is explaining to Billy that ballet is not just for “poofers” but for everybody. There are several key moments between Billy and Michael: the lipstick scene, when Michael puts Billy’s hand under his shirt, the tutu scene, and the good-bye

The first theatre element I want to speak about is the acting. My favorite character was probably Edward Hyde that was played by Lucas Gerstner. The crazy ticks he brought to the character were absolutely intriguing. The beating at the end of act one also just drew me right in. He played it very

Billy Elliot while still not a perfect example of the coming-of-age genre, fits much better into that category compared to Ma Vie en Rose. In the beginning of the film there is a scene with Billy, our protagonist, preparing breakfast and guiding his dementia-stricken grandmother back home. It is in this way the film aims to show that despite his age, Billy has been thrust into maturity. One of the over-arching struggles that forced Billy into this maturity is his family’s participation in a coal-miner’s strike. Financial strife is not an uncommon component one would expect to see within this genre. Similarly to Ma Vie en Rose, there is a reversal of the typical gender roles when Billy gives up on boxing to pursue ballet. This interest causes

Billy Elliot – Film Assessment “Billy Elliot shows us that it is important to remain true to yourself and to not conform to society’s expectation.” Settings – How do they reinforce the main messages of the film? Steven Daldry picks the settings in his movie carefully, in order to emphasize and reinforce the importance of remaining true to yourself, and to remind us as an audience that it isn’t always about conforming to what society wants.