At the 2001 British Academy Film Awards, the film won three of thirteen award nominations. Billy Elliot received positive critical response and commercial success, earning $109.3 million worldwide on a $5 million budget. The film premiered at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, and began a wider theatrical release on 29 September 2000 by Universal Pictures.
Billy Elliot is a co-production among BBC Films, Tiger Aspect Pictures and Working Title Films. Greg Brenman and Jon Finn served as producers, while Stephen Warbeck composed the film's score. Filming began in the North of England in August 1999. Around 2,000 boys were considered for the role of Billy before Bell was chosen for the role. The film stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, Gary Lewis as his father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his ballet teacher.Īdapted from a play called Dancer by Lee Hall, development on the film began in 1999. His father objects and his community males have negative stereotypes of male ballet dancers. Set in County Durham in North East England during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy who discovers a passion for ballet. *Please note that while this information is a great starting point for these texts, relying solely on the information in this post will not be enough to get a result in the top bands.Billy Elliot is a 2000 British coming-of-age comedy- drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. However, a wide camera shot of the vast, blue ocean foreshadows his eventual freedom, and his ability to find liberty outside of his oppressed human experience. Throughout this scene, he encounters numerous metaphysical barriers (i.e the brick wall), symbolising his entrapment within the confined social expectations of the 1980s. The non diegetic and upbeat tune of ‘A Town called Malice’ overpowers the diegetic sound of Jackie's aggressive yelling, symbolising the escapism of dance and Billy's potential to overcome rigid gender roles. This can be epitomised in the 'Angry dance' scene, where Billy's choreography is exaggerated as his dances through the town, reflecting the frustration with his restriction, yet it paradoxically acts as a form of catharsis. However, Billy challenges such oppressive social rules about gender, and continues to pursue his passion for dance. Daldry has deliberately constructed this scene, using mise en scene with the violent diegetic tone of Jackie, to emphasise Billy's restricted human experience as he is unable to express himself or fulfill his passion. This is coupled with a high angle shot, which dwarfs Billy, positioning him as inferior. The tricolon coupled with the polysyndenton enacts a sequence of stereotypical masculine sports- of which were thought to be the norm for boys. This can be evidenced where Jackie, Billy's dad, berates Billy's choice to partake in dance classes, "Lads do football or boxing or wrestling". Initially, Billy's restricted human experience is a result of his entrapment within socially defined 'masculine' standards. By using dance as a form of escapism, he is able to actualise his passion and attain liberation from his oppressive world. However, Billy parallels the struggle of the miners by challenging social constructs. However, once Billy subverts such gender assumptions, he is able to embark on a more fulfilling and liberating human experience.ĭaldry draws upon the restrictive social codes evident during Thatcher's period of industrialisation and its impact on the working class community. Billy's restricted human experience is initially dictated by his heteronormative social context. In this post, we will be exploring Stephen Daldry's film 'Billy Elliot', and discussing its relevance to the 'Texts and Human Experiences' rubric.
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