Satire In Strictly Ballroom

1. The canonical of “Strictly Ballroom” consists of a world in which ballroom dancing is the norm. Scott comes from a family with a history of ballroom dancing and has been training since childhood. Scott becomes very good and encounters resistance when he tries to dance his own steps instead of the more traditional ballroom moves.
2. The Inciting incident of Strictly Ballroom would happen when Scott and Liz are dancing in the very beginning and Scott tries to pull off his own moves. The rest of the film would never happen if Scott had been disqualified from the first competition.
3. I think “Strictly Ballroom” would be classified as a Romantic Comedy. It would be Romantic because you can tell that there is something going on between Fran
and Scott. The fact that at you see Scott is the popular dancer in the studio and Fran is just a beginner/outcast makes you think that they would never normally talk and they eventually fall for one another. It would be a comedy because the whole world consists of fanatics of ballroom dancing and they have sweet Australian accents.
4.
The protagonist of the story would be Scott Hastings and he would classified as High Mimetic. He would be High Mimetic because he is better than everyone at dancing but he does not dance the traditional style of ballroom dancing that is legitimate.
5. Act I starts off putting you right into the middle of the Pan Pacific dance competition. It is here when you see Scott try to dance his own moves getting them disqualified from the competition. You then get introduced to Scott’s family his mother Shirlie and her dance partner Les. They are really intense about ballroom dancing and all they want is for him to win the Pan Pacific. The Climatic reversal would be when Liz quits as Scott’s partner and Ken Railings asks her to be his
partner.
Act II begins with Scott’s family trying to find him a replacement partner.
The first reversal of this act would be when Fran confronts Scott in the studio and tells him she wants to dance his way and she will learn anyway possible. You would think that Scott would pick someone that is better at dancing and more beautiful. There are a lot more reversals in this act that would be worth noting. The first one would be when Scott goes and meets Frans family. It is here that he learns to dance to the beat from his heart and therefore find the dance that him and Fran will dance in the last act. Another reversal would be when Scott’s dad tells him about his past. It is here he learns that his mom replaced his dad with Les because she was scared of him doing his own moves, but they still lose even though Les was her partner. The end of Act II would be when you find out that Tina Sparkles partner is going to retire and she agrees to dance as Scott’s partner. He then runs after her making the transition to Act III.
Act III would begin when Scott finally catches up to Fran and they have a really intense dance ending with Scott telling everyone that he is going to choose Fran as his partner instead of Tina. The movie ends with Barry Fief disqualifying them from the competition. The falling action of the film would be when Scott’s dad starts the slow clap and eventually everyone in the room claps with him, making you think that finally accepted that style of
dancing.
6. The scene I am going to be analyzing is the in the first act when Liz quits as
Scott’s dance partner.
The first shot in this scene is a high view of the studio where Shirly and Les are teaching a class. The next shots consist of jumps between Scott and Liz arguing about the dance style and Les and Shirly worrying about what to do next. Once the argument reaches its peak it shows a close up of Liz screaming in anger and a follow of her walking up to Les and Shirly to tell them she is not going to be Scott’s partner. The shot while she is saying this is from over the right shoulder of Shirly showing Liz’s frustration. The next shots consist of a follow of Liz pacing out of the room and her slipping on the face powder that Fran is holding in her hand.