Billy Elliot Film Essay Event that was a turning point The film ‘Billy Elliot’ directed by Stephen Daldry is about young Billy who struggles to achieve his dream of becoming a ballet dancer, due to the lack of support from his father Jackie. The ‘dance of defiance’ scene is a turning point for Jackie in this film because we see Jackie transform from a defeated father into a supportive and loving father, wanting only the best for his son. This significant change is shown through verbal and visual techniques which include dialogue, camerawork, costumes and lighting. Billy Elliot is a young boy who lives in the small mining town of Everington, in Durham. Billy and his father Jackie have a very distant relationship, lacking communication.
Harry Potter is a text of mythology with a desire for the young heroes to succeed and conquer all obstacles placed in their way. According to Joseph Campbell the hero journey begins in an ordinary world which is exactly where Harry starts off. Harry is unaware of his magical destiny after being placed with his non magical aunt and uncle following his parent’s death as an infant. Harry gets his first call to adventure when he receives his letter from “no one” inviting him to Hogwarts. The Dursleys interrupt this call by keeping Harry from his letters resulting in the refusal of the call.
Percy resorts to a rock loaded snowball to make the final blow on Dunstan, but when Dunstan gets out of the way, the pregnant Mrs. Dempster and her husband Amasa are walking by, and Mary gets hit in the head. She is forced into premature labor, and begins her decline to insanity. As a young boy, Dunstan is especially affected by the snowball incident because he is naïve and takes it upon himself to feel guilty about Mrs. Dempster’s premature labor since Percy apparently does not feel guilty about it. Dunny says that he was “alone in [his] guilt, and it tortured [him].”At one point, Dunny consciously faces the fact that the reason he is so guilty is because Percy refuses to accept responsibility: “His brazen-faced refusal to accept responsibility seemed to deepen my own guilt which had now become the guilt of concealment as well as action.” Dunny says here that he feels guilty for not telling anyone who hit Mrs. Dempster, and also because he was directly and actively involved in the incident whether he had ill intentions or not. Dunny says: “I was contrite and guilty, for I knew the snowball had been meant for me, but the Dempsters did not seem to think that.” He is reflecting on the fact that even though nobody else thought it was his fault,
“Paul’s Case” is about a young boy named Paul, who is miserable with both his home life and his school life. Paul shows his happiest times when he is at Carnegie Hall, working as an usher; whereas here, Paul daydreams a great deal about the performers in front of him and how he wants their lavish lifestyle that results in failure of his school life. Once his father, a single parent, discovered his behavior, he forces him to quit working at Carnegie Hall, apologize to his teachers and go work elsewhere. Paul’s father spends his time setting a good example for him, not realizing that he is pushing Paul away when he constantly keeps pressuring his son to follow a neighbor of theirs for he believes that he would be a good role model for Paul. Paul’s teachers are also giving up on him, saying that he is nothing but impolite and a disturbance in class.
The elders banish him and Mumble embarks on a quest to find his true identity. In the same way language in Feliks Skryznecki is an important aspect of cultural identity, so too is singing the heart-song in Happy Feet. Mumbles inability to perform this ritual results in his alienation and unhappiness. Mumble is eventually renowned for his dancing and uses this newly developed talent to re-connect with Memphis, his father, and penguin society. Dialogue in the film in an exchange between Memphis and Mumble: Whatcha doin' there, boy?, [tap dancing] I'm happy, Pa!
Ansel started school, yet he was a poor student and hated going to school due to the great quake which scared him for life by breaking his nose on impact from the ground. Charles Adams took his son out of school and had him privately tutored. Charles also bought Ansel a year pass to the Panama Pacific International Exposition. The Exposition included exhibits on painters, science, machinery, and
IDEAS (important themes in the film) | Textual examples(may have more than one example, quote, film technique for each idea) | * Family tradition/expectations/working class * Billy’s true identity * Family relationships/bonds/conflicts * Sexism | * Jacky: “Listen, have you noticed anything weird about our Billy lately?” Tony: “What are you after like, a list?” * Jacky to Billy: “You better take better take of those gloves”. * [Billy falls to an opponent at boxing] George: “Jesus Christ, Billy Elliot! You're a disgrace to them gloves, your father, and the traditions of this boxing hall!” * Billy to Michael: “I don’t want a childhood. I want to be a ballet dancer.” * Billy: “I feel a change in my body. And I’ve got this fire in my body.
He is always comparing him to other boys and criticizing him for his shortcomings. Amir spends most of his childhood trying to please his father which is one of the reasons he did not help Hassan when he was getting raped after winning the kite flying competition. Amir was too concerned with making sure his father was proud of him. But Baba redeems himself by making a new life for him and Amir in America. He is proud of his son after he graduates from college and gives all the money he had for Amir’s wedding with Soraya.
Billy Elliot is a story of a boy who was born to dance in a Place where people with stereotypical thoughts will always judge him. Even then Billy overcomes those stereotypes and continues to struggle to accomplish what he wants through his Talent and determination. In the scene A Chance to Dance, while his brother is arguing with Mrs. Wilkinson, Billy sees his family from a Point-Of-Vision shot and he is shown standing alone in a close-up shot revealing his Facial Expression which has doubt and fear and that he is not a part of his family’s world. Billy runs out and then starts to hit and kick the walls, the walls symbolize obstacles that Billy must overcome to achieve what he hopes for he then enter a toilet and he starts to dance Billy then kicks the door open representing transition into the world, Billy’s dancing is a Metaphor to free him from the restraints of his family, he then proceeds to dance on the roofs dancing gives him the fuel to escape from the stereotypical world he is in, a long-shot of clear sunny sky with Billy dancing and an ocean back view which symbolizes opportunity and freedom, walls on both sides of the frame representing more barriers that he must overcome, he then stops dancing at a fence and starts hitting it the fence symbolizes another barrier then the weather changes to cold and depressing, throughout this scene the song (A Town Called Malice) is played. In the Royal Ballet Audition scene Long-shot from above of Billy and Jackie as they Enter the Academy shows that above is the world Billy hopes to enter and Below is the world he is in then, a long-shot follows Billy into the world as he goes up the stairs to the changing rooms, a long-shot of Billy in the Changing room showing cage like fences Billy is on one side and the other ballet dancers are on the other.
BILLY ELLIOT SYMBOLISM ESSAY: Analyse how symbolism was used to deepen your understanding of the themes in the visual or oral text. In Stephen Daldry’s film, ‘Billy Elliot’, symbolism is used to deepen our understanding of the themes in the film. It is set in Durham, England in 1984 during a mining strike. Billy Elliot is a young boy who discovers his passion for ballet, however he lives in a family who struggles financially, and where he lives there are a lot of gender stereotypes, so he struggles to pursue his passion. Symbols used throughout the film are, swans, cages and mirrors.