Billy Elliot Analysis

Gender is a topic that not many people are educated on. When people think of gender, they think of boy and girl, people usually think of a girl having a vagina, and a boy having a penis. Many people have their thoughts on how each sex should behave which would be giving people gender roles, girls should play with Barbie dolls, and boys should play with trucks. There is more to gender than just the vagina and penis, In “Understanding The Complexities of Gender”, Sam Killermann talks about the distinct pieces that also comes with gender, like gender identity, gender expression, and biological sex. When people think of gender, the only part people think of is the biological sex.

​​Gender is defined as whatever behaviors and attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Unlike sex, gender is something that we learn from the day we are born. “Young children begin to acquire gender role stereotypes at about the same time they develop gender identity and by the age of 3 or 4 most children” (Amanda Youmans). Peers, community, media, religion and our upbringing all play a role in the understanding of our culture and what is considered acceptable for males and females. When the sex of a child is revealed, they are automatically placed into a gender specific role with certain expectations. There are things in this world such as colors, toys, media depiction and taught behaviors that play into these gender roles.

Her first challenge comes when Billy himself does not want to do ballet because of his preconceived ideas that only girls and gay boys do it. The teacher pursues her objective by being stern and demanding. This gets Billy to take dancing seriously and she furthers her goal. However, trouble comes when Billy’s father finds out that he is not doing his boxing lessons. The teacher tackles this with her stern tactics from before but intermixes an appeal of sympathy for Billy’s talent. Unfortunately, she is unsuccessful and has to result to being secretive in order for Billy’s father not to find out. The conflict between the two characters was very intense due to conflicting objectives and strong tactics; it raised the stakes and grabbed the attention of the audience. This makes the viewer root for Billy to succeed despite his

There are a variety of pathways and elements, which enables individual transition into a New World. ‘Into the World’ is about people choosing the next pathway into their life by their own determination, experiences and support which enables them to go beyond their original location and narrow view of the world. ‘Billy Elliot’ relates to the elective ‘Into the World’ as the film is about new possibilities opening up, determination, family support and individual growth. Two related texts that show other kinds of transitions into new worlds include an article on the Queensland School of Excellence titled ‘Pas de deux’ from the ‘Australian Educator’ on the 03/05/04 and a documentary by a Youth Program called

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.

Gender roles decide what are the “appropriate” manners in which one should conduct themselves according to their gender. This includes the way one dresses, acts, speaks, and thinks. Gender roles are determined by the society in which one resides. For example, in early America, women were not viewed as intelligent or as having anything to

Billy is a thirteen year old boy, so according to Erikson, he is an adolescent, going through Identity versus Role Confusion (website). To begin with, an adolescent is leaving the stage of complete dependency of parents, and entering a world of wanting to do things on their own. In the process of wanting to do things on their own, an adolescent is also trying to find out who they are in this world. The adolescent learns their identity through exploration of themselves and their boundaries (website). Billy chooses to find his identity by appearing cooler than he really is.

In the past gender and sex use to be considered synonymous in context. Gender was often just a compassionate, moderate, more socially acceptable way of evading the word sex. However, there is a good motive for them to be

In their article, Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet describe some of the variances between a boy and a girl and how they are treated which is essentially the idea of being “gendered” is all about. Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet make some incredibly well supported arguments to illustrate that our gender is a very important trait and it’s development is a lifelong process. Penelope Eckert and Sally McConnell-Ginet talk about how adults act towards boys and girls in which they

There are many ways that the idea of gender can be described, particularly in the essay “Performative Acts and Gender Consitiution” by Judith Butler. She tends to lean more towards the idea of gender having a physiological and biological background. Gender is a very controversial topic and this is because people tend not to talk about it. The reason for this is that anyone 's perspective on can be skewed by what has been taught and written over the years. In most books you will find the main characters to typically be a female and male who are white and heterosexual. Then they will typically fall in love by the end of the book with some kind of hardship thrown into the mix. Some authors may not realize they are doing this, but they are and without giving it a second thought. This can be intimidating for people reading these things who do not fit into what these characters are modeled to be. Butler says, “the body suffers a

Gender roles are society’s concepts of how men and women are expected to act and are shaped by cultural norms. Over the years society has influenced the way we think about gender norms through numerous media outlets; film, television, music videos, internet, etc. To support my argument I will use three class texts. “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lorde, “Reading the Slender Body” by Susan Bordo, and “The Problem of Speaking for Others” by Linda Alcoff. Through those readings you will see how society affects our view, how gender roles are socially constructed, and how history shapes what is considered normal or acceptable.

Together, they show how these gender roles affect our society and what could continue if

Growing up in a tight knit community means Billy is constrained to follow the traditions upheld by the men in his family, these include stereotypical male activities like boxing and mining. Due to Jackie, Billy’s fathers, status in the community people look up to him as a masculine figurehead, this role is soon jeopardised by Billy’s new-found passion for Ballet. One scene shows Billy coming home after ballet and running straight to his room in an attempt to hide his ballet shoes under his bed, his father walks past and asks what he is doing, Billy then hides his shoes and says he has lost his boxing gloves to which Billy’s father replies “They were my dad's gloves. You better take better care of them, okay?” This suggests Jackie wishes for Billy to continue the boxing tradition. The traditional violence of boxing is carried across into Jackie and his eldest son’s, Tony, activities. The two are seen as trailblazers for the frenzied

Gender is a learned social construction on what you do. It is a cultural system based on the binary opposition of men and women but there are also variations

There are distinct differences between Sex and Gender. Sex is divided up into two divisions, male or female, based upon their reproductive system. Gender is the notion set by society on what social behaviours are acceptable for males and females, for example the expectation that females are more caring or nurturing than men. Gender can be further divided into two subcategorise: identity and stereotype. Gender identity is the concept that your sex and gender do not have to be the same but can different, i.e. a male at birth can identify as a female. These notions of acceptable behaviour set by society create gender stereotypes for both male and female, which can cause a person to reject their gender identity if they do not conform these gender stereotypes.