Billy Elliot Analysis

Research and Planning: British Social Realism Films

Relating to social issuesI decided to analyse this particular film as i believe that it is very different from the previous film i advertised such as Kidulthood regarding the characters, location and storyline however, much like Kidulthood it does share the codes and conventions of British Social Realism films. One of the biggest codes and conventions that it does follow is the fact it uses real issues and stories to tell. As mentioned before Billy Elliot is set in Northern England during the miners strike of 1984-5, and was the period when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and the government wanted to close a lot of coal mines in England, Wales and Scotland, the miners went on strike due to the fear of losing their jobs however, a few years after it started all the UK coal mines were closed and thousands of people lost their job. This is a huge thing that is thought about throughout Billy Elliot which shows the seriousness of the issues spoken about however, there is comedy moments throughout through the use of dialogue and clever editing.

Wide ShotsAnother code and convention that Billy Elliot follows is the use of wide shots and establishing shot which show the audience where the scene is set so the audience can see the characters surrounding area, i think that this particular shot is very important throughout the film as his family would prefer him to box “lads do football or boxing or wrestling” where now Billy is ballet dancing outside the boxing ring where the ballet dancers rehearse showing the individuality of Billy which was a real turning point for young boys and the society in history.

Location shots Another wide shot that thought

was interesting was the shot which shows Billy and his father walking down the street but it shows a real image of working class families in the north, for example, we can see the terrace houses and is a typical image of a street in Northern England and the people that live there tend to be from working class families as the houses are very close together which somehow connotes the bond which Billy has with ballet and what his father has for the mining union.

Narrative

The narrative is extremely important within a British Social Realism film the reason for this is because it needs seem as natural as possible which is why they normally follow Todorovs theory, for example they tend to follow the idea of having a state of equilibrium at the start which in the case of Billy Elliot is when he is boxing however, the next stage is that there is a disruption of the equilibrium which would be that Billy wants to take up Ballet dancing but his father and brother disapprove which causes trouble within the family and then there is the stage of recognising there as been a disruption which is where Billy’s dance teacher takes the role as the problem solver and brings the family closer to acceptance, the final stage is the actual acceptance of the new equilibrium which is shown when Billy is performing and his father and brother are proud.

Dialogue One of the most important things about British Social Realism films is that they need

to be realistic, which most directors use the narrative and the issues explored to determine whether or not it is realistic. However, I believe dialogue is extremely important when trying to get across the characters so the audience can engage with them more, here are some quotes from Billy Elliot which actually help determine stereotypes and representations of different social groups.

“lads do football, or boxing or wrestling” this quote is said by Billy’s father representing a certain social class, for example, Billy’s father is very traditional in the sense that he has a working class background and is represented as a typical cold hearted father who cares more about what people would think of his son as a dancer rather then showing support towards his son as he wouldn’t want his son to be like a ‘girl’ however, throughout the film Jackie starts to warm to the idea of his son being a ballet dancer which breaks down

“Just because I like to dance, I’m not a poof” – Homophobic comments were not uncommon amongst people in the 80s, in fact it more common to be homophobic as a lot of people misunderstood it. In addition to this, in the 80s the UK built the first AIDs trust to help people who suffer with it, a lot of people felt that ‘AIDs came from gay people’ the term ‘poof’ or ‘puff’ as southerners would know it was a term used at men who acted feminine and it was ultimately frowned upon. So an act such as dancing was seen as very feminine and most men thought that if you dance then you may be gay.