Billy Elliot the Forum

LiamM wrote:The shadow dance is in a similar vein, but different.

Is there a (similar but different) parallel to the dream ballet in the film?

accessmenj wrote:Here is a quote from Stephen Daldry... “It’s not possible to exaggerate the cultural flowering that happened during that year in the pit villages. There was a real shift in consciousness for everybody involved in those villages...”

What was this cultural flowering, exactly, that SD refers to? (Cultural often refers to the arts and literature and expression(?).

Can someone please remind here, did SD come from the mining region?

No, but Lee Hall, the writer of both the film and the book for the show, is from Newcastle, in the heart of the mining region.

I think SD may be referring to this, about which Lee also wrote a play:

http://www.billyelliottheforum.me.uk/fo ... s&start=20

Eltonjohn wrote:

LiamM wrote:The shadow dance is in a similar vein, but different.

Is there a (similar but different) parallel to the dream ballet in the film?

I think it represents the ending, when Billy had made it to the lead role

OliverWaters wrote:

Eltonjohn wrote:

LiamM wrote:The shadow dance is in a similar vein, but different.

Is there a (similar but different) parallel to the dream ballet in the film?

I think it represents the ending, when Billy had made it to the lead role

Definitely, as the score was chosen from Swan Lake.

I've just watched the film. Funnily I thought I'd knew it well, but it turned out I just knew a few scenes from having seen it on TV by accident ten years ago or something. It was a great experience, and reading this thread afterwards was a delight, too.

Most issues that came to mind have been discussed here, even the scab-giving-money-scene. The miners' review (http://www.minersadvice.co.uk/reviews_b ... usical.htm) is very interesting. I get their point about it, but to me it didn't feel like the musical suggests "that a ‘generous’ gift would someone demonstrate that they were ‘OK’ after all; that Billy’s endeavour was greater than the conflict between the strikers and the blacklegs". The hatred is still there, but it has to struggle with the love the family finally feels for Billy. I didn't feel any redemption for the scabs. I pitied Tony for having to take the money. There was no other choice for him.

I love the change of grandma's role - in the film there's no feminist undertone, and that undertone is a great addition to the message of the show. And I like Michael being more "childish" in the musical. In the film he's a depressed teen in drag - in the musical he's a flamboyant kid with a little bit of melancholy. Both interpretations are realistic, though. But I think the coming-of-age-aspect of the story works better with the film (more scenes with Billy, just more detail - on the other hand there's the ascpect of seeing a real Billy live which makes it equal again, I guess), while the political aspect is stronger in the musical (there's no equivalent to "The Stars Look Down" in the film at all, for example).

Oh well, I just can't wait to see it live... tomorrow I'm gonna watch the bluray another time, first time with friends. Looking VERY MUCH forward to it. We're gonna have sausage rolls.

I like Michael being more "childish" in the musical.

Some thing I think is more real in the film is Michaels interpretation when Billy finds him in a dress. He's more apologetic initially, unlike the musical where he is confident and blasé.

Also I like the bit in the gym where dad finds Billy and Michael (in tutu), and Billy finally stands up to his dad by dancing for him. That is so under stated in the musical.

The film-Michael may indeed seem more real, but that's a matter of age, I guess. I know he's supposed to be the same age as Billy (11), but both boys appeal older to me, especially Michael who already has this kind of teenage depression. In the musical he just doesn't think about him being different, he's more of a careless kid.

Borrobil wrote:Also I like the bit in the gym where dad finds Billy and Michael (in tutu), and Billy finally stands up to his dad by dancing for him. That is so under stated in the musical.

You take the words out of my keyboard. I forgot to mention this yesterday. I'd really like to know why they changed that! I get that it's necessary for "Dream Ballet" to start without Dad being there, but when he finally walks in, they should have added a line for Billy to say something "stand-up-like" to him.
On the other hand, the film doesn't have the "Deep into the ground"-part. In the musical Dad is already moved by the support of his son when he walks in on him. It's a different set of feelings; probably they thought that would work better in a musical.

The pose at the end of Dream Ballet is actually a pretty clear confrontation. Billy doesn't need to say anything there, in my opinion, because the pose says it all. At this point in the show, Dad has the same epiphany that he has at the end of Dance for Dad in the movie, and he immediately turns around and goes to the Wilkinson's house to try to find a way to help his son achieve his dream.

The first "stand up to dad" part comes in the musical when Billy's dad comes into the ballet class and Billy ends up calling him a b**tard. This scene is the equivalent of the conversation about "bally" with Dad at the kitchen table in the film, where Billy defiantly says he sees nothing wrong with it.

I'm looking forward to see how the pose is played in the shows I'm going to visit. On the dvd it didn't struck me as a deliberate gesture of confrontation (like the dance in the film) but as pure coincidence. It actally took until Electricity that I really had the feeling Dad is behind Billy.