Identity - Billy Elliot/Unreliable Memoirs

Identity is an important aspect for any individual, as it separates one from another. The concept of identity can refer to physical appearance such as gender, nationality, age and also include psychological aspects such as an individual's dreams, beliefs, religion, personality and many more. The texts Unreliable Memoirs and Billy Elliot both thoroughly explores the idea of identity and shows how identity can be shaped, changed and refined through life experiences and social interaction.

In Billy Elliot, dancing makes up a major part of Billy's identity as it is not only a means of expressing himself but also a symbol of liberation and freedom. Through dance, Billy creates his own identity and breaks out of the expectations of his family and community, such as the family tradition of being a miner. Billy emotionally expresses himself through dancing such as in the scene "Dance of Defiance" where he displays his talent and passion through an expressive dance routine. Music is used cleverly to compliment Billy in his quest to become an accomplished dancer. The song "Cosmic Dancer" is used to introduce Billy, and we can see that Billy is enjoying himself in the first scene because of the facial expressions and gestures he used which shows that he has a carefree personality. The music also highlights Billy's moods, such as anger, frustration and happiness. The music links closely with dancing and whenever he returns to his family or social life, the music stops which emphasizes the problems in his everyday life. Dancing and music is closely related in this movie and the character Billy can be seen to be heavily influenced by these two ideas. It is through music and dance that Billy's identity as an individual in a closed mining society can be clearly recognized.

Billy, as a boy, is faced heavily by gender expectation from his community & his family. His family is fairly male dominated as sis mother died when he was younger leading to Billy being more mature than other normal teenage boys. In the beginning of the film, we can see that boxing is a tradition for males in his community. Expectations are forced onto Billy to make him stay in the world of boxing, as his father sends him to the boxing school every week despite having a limited income. There is also a negative view on males being associated with dance and this is shown through close up shots of male adults faces, which showed disbelief and anger when witnessing Billy's and Michael's dance session. It is also said in this movie that "boxing is a man to man combat, not a bloody dance." However, Billy does not conform to his community's ideals and instead challenges his family and the boxing culture by exploring himself in dance. This shows Billy's attitudes and values as a person as it portrays his view on what he thinks in important in life. He believes in the phrase "be true to yourself" that his mother left for him and grows up into the world of his dream Ð'- that is professional

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