I Tonya Film Analysis

“My entire life I’ve been told I wouldn’t amount to anything. Well, you know what? Maybe I would.” ‘I, Tonya’ is a biopic, directed by Craig Gillespie and written by Steven Rogers. This tragic, yet outstandingly hilarious film follows the life of an abused American figure skater, Tonya Harding, who is not only known for being the first woman to complete a triple axel in a competition, but also known for her connection with one of the most astonishing scandals in sports history. The ill-conceived scandal took place in 1994 in which there was an attack on the skater, Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya’s rival. This plan completely destroys Tonya’s career. This is due to her serving a sentence of three years probation, charged 100,000 dollars fine plus 10,000

Firstly, the film shows the audience that society is brutal, it gives us a bleak view of our world; it is judgmental of those who are different and creates opinions from rumours instead of facts which means a person can have everything they have worked for stripped. I can infer that society is all about projecting an image and if you do not fit that image you will be judged harshly because of it. For example, Tonya’s gruff personality countered the traditional presentation the judges were looking for so they gave her lower scores as they wanted balletic and graceful instead of athletic and powerful. They designed figure skating to be a contest for princesses only and Tonya did not fit the image at all. She is a tomboy that hunts, fishes and chops firewood, not a princess, “Nancy's a princess.…She's a princess and I'm a pile of crap." After Tonya receives her scores following a perfect performance, she approaches the judges to complain about, “How [she got] a fair shot here?” The judges were judging her because she did not spend thousands of dollars on her dress like Nancy and danced to rock instead of classical music. I found this to be very unfair because she should not have to be a clone, a cliche movie, it is more interesting when there is a new story to tell right? Tonya believes it should be about the skating and not about her homemade dress and I certainly agree. Despite all the harsh judgments she refuses to be ignored, and triple axles her way into fame. Tonya wears her strengths and weaknesses on her homemade skating dresses with puffy spandex sleeves, challenging the expectations of the judges. However, later tonya decides she has to change even though it goes against who she really is. She learns that if you want to fit in you have to follow society's rules, to be able to stand a chance. Tonya learns this from her coach who told her that, “If you’d dressed appropriately maybe they'd score you