Billy Elliot movie analysis

This is a story of Billy, an 11-year-old boy, his older brother Tony their father Mr. Elliot and their senile grandmother (Brewer 58). Mr. Elliot and his eldest son are striking miners struggling to give a proper childhood to Billy and support the motherless family but, Mr. Elliot is able to pay for Billy’s boxing classes. It has gained world accolades due to its most memorable scene when Billy makes an appearance to the school’s ballet audition with his father. Once done with his presentation during the audition and about to leave the room, one of the judges asks Billy how it felt for him to be dancing the ballet. Billy’s answer is however initially negative. He says, he does not know.

The Judges look disappointed because they expected a different answer from him, a more excited answer loaded with enthusiasm and positivity. Therefore, when Billy initially is unable to answer the question, is an indication of how limited his environment has been. Billy’s unedited feedback about dancing is a profound statement of how expression through art is liberating. Billy practically struggles to articulate his feedback, something he has never done before. This scene when Billy is giving feedback is moving as it represents the finding of his voice through dance. This is because, for Billy, a ballet which is a form of art is simply a hobby. In the film, numerous episodes are presented suggesting Billy’s homosexuality. For instance, Billy rejects Debbie in one of the bedroom scenes which creates doubts around Billy’s sexuality further bringing out a possibility of Bill’s shyness and or insecurity of youth.

Billy remains silent when Debbie asks him if he fancies her. Billy further utterly declines the offer to look at Debbie’s anatomy which he plainly says, “No, thanks. ” This is thought to provoke and leaves the audience guessing the why behind rejecting Debbie. Billy has also performed at the Covenant Gardens for the enjoyment of the emotionally dulled middle class. Ironically, there is no employment but the middle class will pay to come to watch Billy perform ballet. Billy’s dad is almost at the door of the auditorium when a panel judge reaches out to him, Mr. Elliot, good luck with the strike, hopefully, your working class struggle will go exceptionally well for you. ” According to Daldry, this scene is a joke about the liberals’ blatant failure to recognize the devastation of the miners’ strike which results in the loss of coal mines to the working class community (p.

In the film, there is an intersection of gender and class whereby the working class crises and masculinity are examined by the both Billy’s unquenchable desire to dance and the mining strike of 1980’s. This film depicts the intense struggles of individuals needs to uphold the practices and norms of their working-class community. Billy’s keens (father and brother), are concerned that Billy’s inclination to ballet depicts the probability that he is a “poof” (homosexual in British slang), hence depicting the hyper-masculine in Britain culture fed by homophobia (Kimmel 81). Brits are depicted to prefer the masculine sport of boxing over ballet which is considered a feminine practice. In this scene, both father and brother depict an archaic and uninformed working-class male understanding of art, gender sport, and sexuality.