Billy Elliot Movie Review Film Studies Essay

Billy Elliot was on set during the UK miners strike in 1984- 1985. At that point of time, most families like Billy s believed that guys who danced are gays and that dancing are only meant for girls. However, guys made a history on stage instead of women. There is a stereotype view whereby a male dancer is gay, but in the movie, the character that plays the gay role, is not a dancer and that the one who is not gay became a dancer. This relates to the history of dance where male dancers were the ones who ruled the stage before the female dancers and that they were not gay where as those who were gay were not dancers. In the movie, Billy s friend Michael Caffery was the gay as he slowly developed feelings for Billy. However, Michael is not a dancer and dance was not an interest for him. He only supported Billy and encouraged Billy to pursue his dreams. Despite having men who danced in history, many later believed that guys are gays if they danced as ladies changed history when they dominated the stage later on. In the movie, it was on set during the UK miners strike, this was a time when the peasants weren t doing very well financially. this could be seen in the village where the people lived. Billy s family lived in a house where there isn t room of every single person in the house, like Billy had to share a room with his brother Tony. This could be compared to the more well to do families in the different part of the village at

Stepharina Chan 2

that time, was Billy s ballet teacher Georgia Wilkinson who lived in a pleasant looking house and drove a car.

Billy s ballet teacher, Georgia belief in Billy gave Billy the chance to train for an audition for the royal academy of dance. As compared to Billy, he wanted to join the academy and audition for it, however, money was a big issue to him and also the fact that Billy s father, Jamie Elliot and Billy s brother, Tony Elliot were miners who went on strike and only gave Billy money for boxing lessons, they did not expect Billy to start dancing. As the both men were always not home, Billy had to take care of his grandmother, Billy has a responsibility to consider, Despite Georgia s interest in having to support Billy for the ballet school. At that period of time, people did not support the arts but as time passes and things change, arts developed and now, more people even come governments supported the arts industry. It became easier for anyone to join the arts with a passion and interest of their own and not according to what makes their families happy.

In the beginning of the show, Jamie Elliot was quite puzzled as to why Billy liked to dance where the dance classes only had girls and that the other boys were happy going for boxing classes. As men started the history of dancing, yet at this period of time, men dancing became an issue and a problem. As dance hit the romantic era, ladies dominated the stage and men were just like status on stage as their only purpose was to lift the ladies in partner work. As time slowly passes and men were rarely seen on stage, people tend to forget the past and believe to what was seen right then and now. The image of men being a dancer on stage was a joke at that period of time when Billy wanted to

Stepharina Chan 3

dance. Many see men dancing like the character is gay because the other guys were going for soccer practices or boxing classes where Billy was going for ballet lessons. Many had the mind set like Billy s brother tony, in the movie, tony made a huge fuss when he found out Billy had been going for ballet lessons instead of going for boxing classes like all the other boys in the village. As time slowly pass, Billy s father saw the potential and passion of dance in Billy. Despite coming from a poor village and a non-financially stable family, Billy got the support of the village and his father and later his brother s support to pursue his dreams as a dancer. Billy s will impact greatly on dancers as he slowly gained the respect of male dancers in the industry where people think of guys on stage as gay. He was the few male dancers who reconcile the history of man on stage. Dance was an important aspect in the Greek culture, rarely did men and women danced together on stage. Some women danced in some dances that men did not and so did men. It was the internal politics of the country that men fought in war and thus having a man dance on stage instead of learning how to fight was not very manly.

The film showed how men took stage like in the past where men dominated the stage before ladies did and it was because of how history slowly changed that people think that it was only right for ladies to be on stage dancing where men were going into war and fight for the country, and it was not very manly when a man want to dance instead of going to war like the others do. This relates to the past where ballet was the main entertainment before it evolved into modern dance. This film relates to the history and how dance slowly made its way into the scene and how men started to dance and when women took the stage in dancing later on.