Belonging-Billy Elliot

Mark Rydell’s “On Golden Pond” is a drama that emphasizes the stages people of various ages endures. Utilizing Erik Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages as learned in Dr. Malone’s class, each of the main characters can be placed within a stage and their age-related crises analyzed. As this film is a drama, it was relatable to the audience, prompting personal reactions as well as implementing life examples of some of the theories studied in Malone’s class.

Interestingly, visual techniques are also effective in portraying the theme of free will versus determinism to question the responder who and what controls our lives. The tripartite storytelling structure incorporating three wholly, self-contained alternate versions of events is an unconventional filming technique reinforcing the postmodernist perception of having minimal control over life. As Lola rushes past minor characters in the film, flash forwards offer alternate glimpses of the possible outcome of their future, suggesting that fee-will alone is not a sole determination of the outcome of life. In each run, Lola’s encounter with these minor characters varies, showing that even the slightest change can become a significant impact to life. An extreme close-up

“Analyse, evaluate and compare the techniques used to dim the horror of the real life events discussed in the novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and the film Life is Beautiful.”

In Tony Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” it explores the discovery of ethnic identities. It depicts the life of Macon Milkman Dead, a withdrawn loner who doesn’t feel accepted by others and is disconnected with his family and heritage. With help from others in his community Milkman takes a trip to discover himself and his roots bringing him closer to the true meaning of his purpose. Milkman in turn realizes that flight represents liberation from a life of restrictions, set in an era of racism and separation. Flight may seem as a positive solution to such a life of problems and discrimination, however, holds very negative aspects in family settings. Abandoning your own and severing those mutual bonds plays a significant role in the life of the loved ones left behind. Most are left recovering from their loss, or completely lose hope such as Hagar. Solomon leaving his wife Ryna and children behind was necessary sacrifice he had to make in order to be free. Solomon is never punished or looked down for his decision; in his song it acknowledges his accomplishment as a great achievement. In “Song of Solomon”, the ability of flight symbolizes the escape from oppression while searching for freedom.

Similarly, the notions of discovery are conveyed in the text “1112” which draws attention to the uncertainties faced by the refugees who have been detained upon arrival in Australia. Moore explores the hardships and struggles faced by Anhar and her family. This is demonstrated through the harsh dialogue used by the AGM guards, “stop yelling ya little bitch… if you’re going to yell, yell in Australian ya friggin dago” the use of colloquial demanding language illustrates negative words used for Anhar and her family. This is further reinforced through Hannah’s personal anecdote in which she recounts the experiences of Anhar. Their worth are reassessed over time, looking from past and present which also differs for individuals as Hannah is different to someone who is not a refugee, having Anhar’s world being in the detention centre.

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

In “You’re Missing” by Bruce Springsteen, the line “Everything is everything, but you’re missing”, reminds me of myself. It’s not something I like to admit, but I am a negative person. I do not view myself in a positive light, and feel like everyone belongs somewhere except for me. Whenever you think of a person there’s usually another person you associate them with, but I am just myself. A girl who, people have tried to talk to, but I am too difficult. It’s not their fault, only my own; I lack the conversational skills. People start out as strangers and become friends so easily, as I struggle to hold a conversation with people I have known for years. I can never pick up on social cues. My life is a trail of missed opportunities. It feels like

Supporting individuality is important to many people in today’s society. However, if done wrong, telling people to be themselves can have the opposite effect on a person’s actions. Sadly, Robert Lopshire’s I Want to Be Somebody New! falls into this trap.

The Making Meaning module has allowed me to understand and explore how different and growing mediums can express true stories, tackling various ethical boundaries to achieve a respectful and educational goal. The film exercise combined the documentary genre with the ever growing ‘small media’ giving us an insight in how we all have the power to create a moving film with the technology we all keep in our pocket. Secondly, the theatre exercise allowed us to experiment with verbatim theatre, telling the stories of young carers using their own words as a platform for our performance. The words of others were the driving force for both exercises making the process a more organic one and ultimately more authentic as we didn’t have a set plan for

A definition of belongingness is to have a sense of affinity with the same taste, thought, situation as oneself and put yourself there. Furthermore, it would be able to be supported from someone and supports someone. In other words, each person who has the above things would support each other. In addition, the definition of belongingness represented as family and kitchens in the book, Kitchen that was written by Banana Yoshimoto, and both family and kitchens had the important role to play in establishing the identity of Mikage. In this case, Mikage’ family were grandmother, Yuichi, and Eriko, and kitchen was a place which creates energy to live. Both saved Mikage from lonely and established the identity of Mikage.

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

To be beautiful means to be yourself, you don't need to be accepted by others. You only need to be accepted by yourself. ~Thich Nhar Hanh This quote is telling us that it doesn't matter what others think because the only opinion that does matter is our own. The story "Be Yourself" is explaining a situation where a girl is learning to stop caring what everyone else thinks. Learning to be yourself is an important part of growing up and maturing.

RIVETING! This book is not just about sexual escapades, though, there were many, including losing his then long-time girlfriend to a noted entertainer who was his music idol . . . Stevie Wonder.  As well as addresses the difficulty in entertainment when

Another one of Vitale’s stunning images that shows the world the remarkable difference in standard of living is her photo of a young boy of possibly seven (figure two). Vitale’s comment on the image details that it is set against the slowly rising sun in the vast arid bushland of the Ethiopian and Somali border, the focal point is the boy. A child who at this age already holds a significant amount of responsibility for his family. The caption of the photo recognizes that the boy’s job is to make sure the family’s goats get out to graze every day. He appears to be staring off into the brush possibly imaging what the day’s work has in store. This image in particular is a great example of unforeseen challenges for it focuses on a child. A youth

Annie Lennox is a famous singer, songwriter and known activist. Her statement on humankind’s capacity for savagery, brutality and lack of compassion and empathy comes from an informed source; though I still feel it is biased, and though I agree with most of the statement, I also disagree with it. I can agree that humanity over the course of our existence has done terrible things, but there are many positive things that get over looked and unappreciated. During an event of genocide, war or natural disaster: the countries that have the finances and resources to aid, do. It is true that we usually have to wait for more knowledge to avoid making some situations worse; humanity will come to aide in time. There are people in the world who do things