Comparison of Billy Elliot the Movie and Novel

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Comparison of Billy Elliot the Movie and Novel

The film, 'Billy Elliot' is about a boy called Billy, who loves

dancing. The story is set in the north of England in the 1980s, where

the only jobs outside cities would be in factories or coal mining. The

director of 'Billy Elliot' uses many techniques in which to make us

like/empathise/feel sorry for Billy.

The film begins in silence with a close up on the gramophone. This

immediately makes us think that the music is going to be very

important in the film, as first impressions always count. Billy starts

jumping on his bed. The director uses the camera to get a close-up on

Billy's feet and the gramophone. The gramophone gives us the sign that

the setting for the film is in the past. As the music plays the

director uses slow motion to make Billy jump in time to the music as

it shows us his feet only, this shows he would be good at dancing and

he has rhythm. I think the lyrics to the song are quite a strong point

as it also relates to the dancing theme. 'I danced myself right out

the womb'. The director does close-ups of different parts of the body

of Billy, to show us what he does while he is jumping. The close-ups

on his face show us that he enjoys doing what he does and has a good

sense of humour and a kind-heart.

The kitchen scene gives us a surrounding of what lifestyle he lives

in. The director focuses on what things he does while he runs around

getting his grandma's breakfast ready. We get the impression from the

look of his house that he is quite poor, as the house is quite small

and cluttered. The director uses different camera angles on Billy when

he is racing around the...

... middle of paper ...

...of their dead mum

on the piano.

By now, we have the idea that Billy is a life-going character, who is

caring. We do not really expect him to like boxing because of the

rhythm he has, shown in the first scene, where he is jumping on his

bed.

I thought the way the director presented the character of Billy was

good, because we get a clear idea of what the character is like and

what his surroundings like. Throughout the beginning of the film, we

gather that he is very physically active, he has got rhythm and that

he lives in a poor house with his family who have a shortage of money.

However, his personality gets along with the lifestyle, which is

caring towards his Nan, loves his mum and overall I would say he's a

strong character as he puts up with a lot like his mum dying and puts

up with his dad and brother.

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