Choose a Case Study of One Example of a Representation of the 'English North' in Film or Literary Form.
Jordan Benson
C3297422
Choose a case study of one example of a representation of the 'English North ' in film or literary form.
In this assignment, I will be looking at how the north is represented in film and literary. For my example, I have decided to choose the film 'Billy Elliot ' to give a modern day representation of the north in the 1980 's. The film is based around the life of Billy Elliot, an 11 year old boy growing up with his father and brother in northern Britain. The film is bset in 1984, at the height of social and political unrest due to the miner 's strikes. Whilst at boxing lessons, Billy finds no enjoyment in the sport and is more interested in the ballet lessons taking place next door, so he decides to start taking part.
When billy 's dad finds out the he has not been attending his boxing lessons but instead has been doing ballet, he acts in a stereotypically aggressive way and does not allow him to attend any more lessons. After a night of heavy drinking, billy 's dad arrives at the village hall to see billy enacting an emotive dance to one of his classmates, Michael. Billy’s dad is so moved by the passionate dancing that he comes to the realisation that his masculine and egotistical perception on ballet may be a misjudgement, and he decides to stop striking and go back to work in order to give billy a chance to get into dance school.
Aggression is portrayed as a stereotypical trait within northerners, and this is shown after Billy has completed his audition to get into the London dance school. When in the changing room, one of billy 's fellow auditionee 's tries to console Billy after he believes that he has messed up his audition, due to Billy referring to the whole trip as 'A waste of fucking time. ' Billy reacts in an aggressive manor and ends up punching the other child in the face, displaying the so called 'aggressive nature ' of northerners.
The film explores many different common perceptions on northern culture, ranging from
C3297422
Choose a case study of one example of a representation of the 'English North ' in film or literary form.
In this assignment, I will be looking at how the north is represented in film and literary. For my example, I have decided to choose the film 'Billy Elliot ' to give a modern day representation of the north in the 1980 's. The film is based around the life of Billy Elliot, an 11 year old boy growing up with his father and brother in northern Britain. The film is bset in 1984, at the height of social and political unrest due to the miner 's strikes. Whilst at boxing lessons, Billy finds no enjoyment in the sport and is more interested in the ballet lessons taking place next door, so he decides to start taking part.
When billy 's dad finds out the he has not been attending his boxing lessons but instead has been doing ballet, he acts in a stereotypically aggressive way and does not allow him to attend any more lessons. After a night of heavy drinking, billy 's dad arrives at the village hall to see billy enacting an emotive dance to one of his classmates, Michael. Billy’s dad is so moved by the passionate dancing that he comes to the realisation that his masculine and egotistical perception on ballet may be a misjudgement, and he decides to stop striking and go back to work in order to give billy a chance to get into dance school.
Aggression is portrayed as a stereotypical trait within northerners, and this is shown after Billy has completed his audition to get into the London dance school. When in the changing room, one of billy 's fellow auditionee 's tries to console Billy after he believes that he has messed up his audition, due to Billy referring to the whole trip as 'A waste of fucking time. ' Billy reacts in an aggressive manor and ends up punching the other child in the face, displaying the so called 'aggressive nature ' of northerners.
The film explores many different common perceptions on northern culture, ranging from
Bibliography: Hill, J. (2000b), ‘From New Wave to Brit Grit: Continuity and difference in working class realism’, in J http://movie-locations.com/movies/b/BillyElliot.html Russell, D (2004) Looking North: Northern England and the F. Musgrove (1990) The North of England: A History from Roman Times