Additionally, there is a pan of the students’ lower body of Mrs. Wilkinson’s class. Here we see Billy in his boxing boots practicing ballet amongst the students wearing ballet shoes. These scenes clearly display Billy’s movement into a new world. However, Billy’s transition into the world isn’t always ‘smooth running’ as he faces many barriers set out by society- especially in relations to gender roles. When Jackie says ‘lads do boxing and wrestling… not bloody ballet’
While there, they meet a bunch of 7th graders who are scared of August and start beating him and Jack up. Then Julian’s “goons” come over and help August and Jack escape from the fight going on. When August gets back home, he goes to see the High school play his sister Via is in. He and his family are surprised to see that Via has switched to the lead part of the play. Afterwards, Via explains that Miranda was feeling “sick” and couldn’t do it, so she let Olivia do it.
Paul Taylor “He’s been dancing since before he could walk!” A saying that lots of proud parents brag about their children. Paul Taylor’s parents however, thought that their son wanted to be a visual artist and had know idea that one day his name would be synonymous with one type of American dance. Today, at 77, Paul Taylor may be the most sought-after choreographer working today, commissioned by leading companies, theaters and presenting organizations the world over. Taylor was born July 20th, 1930, in Edgewood Pennsylvania. After growing up in Depression-era America in and around Washington, D.C., Taylor studied painting at Syracuse University.
Daldry uses the closeups on the boys wearing football boots and the girls wearing ballet slippers to show the stereotyping. Billy encounters gender stereotyping as he slowly moves into the world of being a ballet dancer, despite his family’s disagreement. Similarly, in the poem, The Road Not Taken, Frost uses an extended metaphor to describe the choices we have to make during life. It is stereotypical that people would take the road that most people chose, but the protagonist in the poem chose the road that was least taken by people, as he enters into the world, regardless of what has going to occur in the future. Both of these texts, gives the audience an understanding of the obstacles we go through in life to achieve our dream, and that not everything comes easily to us, we have to go to them.
Moving With Martha Martha Graham was a famous dancer who brought a different kind of dancing to the world. Her dance moves changed the world of dance forever. Martha Graham would be represented as a person different than most others. In the novel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, which is a non- fiction self help, Graham would be represented as an outlier. Her father helped her make many of her decisions during her life, which brought her to be the outlier she was.
In 1981 Christopher Bruce choreographed a dance called ‘Ghost Dance’ about the human rights of people in Chile and all the terrible and tragic things that were happening at the time. (HYPERLINK "http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/dance7_10/ghostdances/docs/ghost4.pdf"http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/dance7_10/ghostdances/docs/ghost4.pdf 24-08-12) Such as, murders, people being taken away from their families, tortures and many more horrific things. Christopher chose to choreograph the dance, after receiving a letter from a widow Chilean folk singer whose husband had been murdered. He was asked to do a work for the Chilean Human Rights Committee. This inspired Christopher to be more concerned towards the Chilean people; therefore, he constructed this beautiful choreographed piece, to express the horrible past, the suffering of the innocent people.
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.
At this time, the dancing masters roamed the countryside to teach the privileged children, who could pay for the lessons, how to Irish Dance. These dancing masters were usually a flamboyant, colorful male who would stay at farmers’ houses for a week; teaching the village children how to dance in the barn and develop self-control. Irish Dance involves very rigid precise steps. For a dancing master to be staying in your town, this would definitely be something to boast about. One of the first references to Irish Dance was in a letter written to Queen Elizabeth by Sir Henry Sydney saying that, “they are very beautiful, magnificently dressed and first class dancers” (Farrall).
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.
Billy accepts this challenge. * "Dad Finds Out" * He walks through a field where the riot police are resting. This juxtaposes the next sequence, where the ballet girls are dancing. * Long shots- used to show Billy's interactions * Music- lively, dramatic piano music begins to build the atmosphere * Billy is uncomfortable walking through this male world, while he looks more comfortable with the girlssense of belonging * Jackie, Billy and grandma sit around the kitchen table. There is a heated (angry) discussion.