Discuss the Issues that Shape Male Destinies in Billy Elliot

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Recommended: Film and gender roles

In Stephen Daldry’s Billy Elliot, there are a number of different issues that shape the destinies of both Billy and the male characters that surround him throughout the film. The heavily embedded traditions of the working class mining community along with family expectations, gender stereotyping and the effect that age has on opinion and beliefs all contribute to the different destinies of the male characters in the film. A key issue that is omnipresent throughout the film, effecting all of the male characters is that of their social class and traditions. It is clear from the beginning of the film that the adult male characters, particularly Billy’s father and brother, Jackie and Tony, are part of the 1984 Miners’ Strike and therefore in trouble in terms of work and are frustrated by their inability to rectify the situation. It is also clear that because of the strike, money is tight and this in turn creates a struggling and unhappy picture of family life, which is particularly highlighted in the Christmas Day scene. It is assumed that Billy, like Tony, will inevitably follow his father down the mine and follow this path but he pushes against this after continuously witnessing the unhappiness and frustration that it causes his brother and father. He is also initially miserable with his relationship with his father and brother. This shapes Billy’s destiny to become a ballet dancer by pushing him to want something completely different to them in adult life. Furthermore, there appears to be no future in the life his father and brother are a part of as the failed miners’ strike because they are both so firmly rooted in the traditions of their working class mining community and therefore have nowhere to move on to. The only progressi... ... middle of paper ... ...s”, Constable & Robinson Ltd Cook, Pam (2007) “The British Film Institute: The Cinema Book” (Third Edition), Palgrave Macmillan, Kaufman, Michael (1987) “The Construction of Masculinity and the Triad of Men’s Violence.” ‘Beyond Patriarchy: Essays on Pleasure, Power, and Change’. Ed. Michael Kaufman. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1-29 Marris, Paul (2001) “Northern Realism: An Exhausted Tradition?” Cineaste, Vol.26, No.4 Milne, Seumas (2004), “The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners”, England, Verso Toron, Alison, ‘The Construction of Working - Class Masculinities in Tony Harrison's v’. Available from: http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JSW/number27/toron.htm, 27 July 2005 Townsend, Mark, ‘Miners' strike: All I want is for someone to say: I'm sorry.' Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/dec/02/miners-strike-orgreave-special-report, 1 December 2012

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