Belonging strictly ballroom

Belonging is the relationship between an individual and his or her society, being in harmony with society and your peers and being accepted no matter what your traits and attributes are this is the idealistic concept of belonging. Subconsciously everyone finds comfort in belonging to something and brings some kind of happiness to an individual. In the film Strictly Ballroom produced and directed by Baz Lurhman, the movie focuses upon a ballroom dancer Scott who has the ability and skills to be the best but opposes the cliché rules of the ballroom world to dance his own unauthorised steps so he can break free from typical steps danced by everyone. The film also greatly demonstrates the struggle in expressing ones individuality in a society that wants you to conform to the rules and regulations enforced by different cultures and governing bodies. Three main characters who find difficulty in belonging are Scott, Fran and Scott’s father Doug. Scott does not want to conform, Fran is the ugly duckling who eventually finds somewhere to belong and Doug is the same as Scott but no longer dances in front of anybody and is considered an outcast by many.

Some people choose not to belong; this is very well demonstrated in the character Scott who is one of the main and most important characters and also the best dancer of his generation and dance group. Scott has the potential to win the Pan Pacific Grand prix one of the most prestigious dance competitions, but instead he chooses to dance his own steps because he is fed up of the same cliché dance moves and wants to expand himself in the world of ballroom dancing. Scott is one of the better looking guys in this film with his slicked back hair, good style, great dancer and comes across as an outgoing person. At the start of the film he is kind of self-absorbed and a selfish guy who does not want to listen to anybody and kind of gives of the impression that people should look up to him, but a certain scene where he meets Fran the “ugly duckling” of the film and lets her in, he slowly changes and undergoes a transformation eventually becoming deeply attached to her and falls in love. When Scott meets Frans dad he is challenged to the Paso doble a traditional couples dance that originated from Spain and is humiliated in front of the family, he then learns to dance it from Frans father and grandmother. Scott feels a great sense of belonging to Fran and her family and feels like he is a part of something when he is with them instead of his own family who are always trying to force him to act differently and be someone who he isn’t. At the end of the film Barry fife encourages and leads on Scott to believe if he does not do the authorised steps he will be an embarrassment and a shame to all his family and his father Doug also a champion like him and will eventually lead to being like Doug an outcast. In the end Scott does not care about what anyone says he chases after Fran and dances the final dance with her letting go of all fear. He dances his own steps, the crowd go Crazy and applaud him and he finally gets the recognition he deserves from everyone that doubted or hated on him for what he was doing implying this saying said throughout the movie “Una vida vivido en miedo es una vida vivido en la mitad” which translates to “a life lived in fear is a life half lived”.

Without a sense of belonging, individuals lack a sense of stability and support, this statement is truly represented in the character Doug who is Scott’s father. Doug is retired dancer who has an old weathered look about him with his old daggy glasses, seasoned clothing and seedy hair. At the start of the film we see him as a quiet and shy old man who does not have any friends, keeps to himself and no one really takes him seriously. His own family have out casted him, his wife is bored of him and the dance company have also taken really no notice to him. We always see him kind of in the shadows and not in the spotlight; his dialogue is very limited, throughout the movie he barely ever talks which leaves us to think really who this man Doug really is? What happened to him? Why is he so nervous and timid? In one scene we see Doug dancing in the dance school whilst Fran and Scott are dancing on the roof. This glimpse of him being happy and having fun changes your perspective of who is and gives him some personality he seems happy doing what he wants and not caring about what other people think of him. Nearing the end of the film we see a scene where Barry Fife is talking to Scott explaining to him who his father Doug really was. He goes into saying that Doug was the best dancer there ever was everyone worshiped him he was a real champion. Doug had won the pan pacifics but one year he started doing his own crowd pleasing steps just like Scott does. He was not following federation rules thinking he was so good that he would win no matter what he did but that was not the case. When Doug lost he was shocked and started crawling down into a deep vicious downward spiral of depression and isolation that made him go crazy and made him an outcast that everyone despised. He never really recovered and never really belonged up until the end of the film after he has a talk to Scott and gets him to do his own dance steps. After this scene we find Doug as a happier guy who finally finds a place to belong again after his son followed in his footsteps and succeeded.

Fran is the ugly duckling of the film she shows us you don’t need to conform to other peoples standards to belong. Fran is the awkward, left out and ignored one in the dance school and often is a pushover and never really stands up for her opinion. In the opening scenes we see her in the crowd as Scott and Liz are dancing and then she gets knocked over by Liz showing how little they really care about her. Fran wants to belong but she finds it hard when she has the pimpled skin, big nerdy geeky glasses and dresses like a dag with her oversized shirts. Fran finds a place to belong when she confronts Scott after watching him dance alone in the dance studio. As time goes on Fran and Scott slowly fall in love with each other, always with one another and bubbling with life every time they get near each other, they are inseparable and no matter where they are they can always dance together so fluently and with joy. Everyone is always trying to push Fran outside of the circle never letting her, especially Scott’s mother Shirley who is constantly getting in-between the pair. In one scene Fran and Scott are dancing together backstage, Shirley gets Fran who has just fallen over and tells her it’s just best if she goes home. Director Baz Lurhman uses a special filming technique here to show Fran as a fragile object next too Liz, Shirley and Leonie. He puts low angles on the three girls to make them look powerful, ugly and as if to be evil and overpowering and a high angle on Fran to make her look like a little object as if to be nothing. You really get the feeling of how hard it is for this girl to fit into this ballroom world. In the end Fran gets to dance at the Pan Pacific’s and dance with her lover Scott as they illuminate the crowd and make them come to life not even needing music to move the people in the arena. She finally gets accepted for being who she really is by those around her, wins the love of her life and gets to do what she loves the most which is dance and to express herself.
To conclude we discover the movie strictly ballroom really demonstrates the concept of belonging and how someone can belong to a culture, place or person. We explore the different ways people belong and how ignorance can sometimes lead people to make an individual to become an outcast and make them feel isolated and abandoned. Unrealistically people try to force themselves to be someone they are not and fit in every day, when really it shouldn’t be about how good you look or how much money you have it should be about how you as a person are and how good of a heart you have, this is very well demonstrated in this movie as we find out by the ending of how Fran the outcast, daggy, ignored one and Scott the one who people look up to but also put shame on for doing what he truly wants eventually become accepted for who they are.