Analyzing the Characters of 'Billy Elliot' in the Backdrop of Thatcherism

The film, Billy Elliot, is about the social and personal crisis and the everyday life during the era of Margaret Thatcher. It is also about the social differences and stereotypes which still exist in the society. In this research paper I will analyse various roles in the family and the relationships of the characters in Billy Elliot during era of Thatcherism. I will focus on Billy’s relationships with people who somehow influence him from his grandmother to his ballet trainer.

We can explore the political and cultural background of Thatcherism to understand the events in the film. Margaret Thatcher was the first and only woman Prime Minister of the UK. During her three mandates there were many radical changes in every field of English economy, society and politics. Her era is called Thatcherism. Her policy contained privatisation; reduction of the power of the local governments, reduce the role of Trade Union, and reconstruction of the Welfare State. With these arrangements she and her colleagues created a very sharp North-South divide in England. The unemployment rate was higher in the North than the other parts of the country. Thatcher’s one thought was the coal mines were not economical so it would be a project to close the miners and the factories which were related to the coal mining. The miners did not really agree this theory and in 1984/5 the miners were on the strike.

The film is set in a fictional town, Everington, in Durham County. This is one of the towns which are included in strikes. It is a heavy-industry town where the strike has no point. The miners who go back to work in the mine are scabs. Billy’s, the main character’s father and brother work in the local mine. They try to cope with the current e...

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...can reach our dreams if we fight for them and we do not give up because we do not reach our aims right away. We can see scenes which from we can learn if we think about the meanings and whys and try to understand why and what happens. We can get many from this film.

Works Cited

Billy Elliot. Dir. Stephen Daldry. Perf. Jamie Bell, Gary Lewis, Julie Walters. Universal Focus, BBC Films, 2000.

Chodorow, Nancy. The Reproduction of Mothering. London: University of California Press, Ltd., 1978.

French, Sean. "I enjoyed Billy Elliot." New Statesman [1996] 27 Nov. 2000: 28. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.

Johnson, Norman. Reconstructing the Welfare State. A Decade of Change 1980-1990. Herdfordshire: Harvester Wheatsheaf,1990.

Romney, Jonathan. "Hovis ad." New Statesman [1996] 2 Oct. 2000: 45. Literature Resource Center. Web. 22 Mar. 2011.