Billy Elliot uses its setting to explore the labels many working-class boys face. Billy’s journey reflects the complex intersection of class, opportunity, art, and gender through a classic coming-of-age story, where dance, creativity, and the internal struggle for freedom take centre stage.
It is hard to believe that Billy Elliot first danced his way into our hearts at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival almost 20 years ago. Billy Elliot remains a sweet, powerful, and joyous exploration of masculinity, sexuality, class, and community that gave birth to a highly successful West End musical while inspiring a range of later films, from Kinky Boots to Coda and Son of Rambo.
Stephen Daldry’s movie began with playwright Lee Hall, under the title ‘Dancer’, as he explored his own experiences teaching young dancers at a dance school in North East England. A chance meeting between Hall and fellow theatre writer and director Stephen Daldry set Billy’s cinematic journey in motion as they slowly shaped the story into a screenplay before presenting it to Working Title and the newly formed BBC Films.
Against the backdrop of the 1980s miners’ strike, Billy Elliot focuses on one community’s struggle to survive amid the most extensive social and industrial changes post-war Britain had seen. Communities built on coal found themselves at the forefront of the Conservative Government’s plans to privatise publicly owned industries and reduce coal consumption, resulting in years of Trade Union clashes that divided already vulnerable communities.
Billy sits between two worlds: one centred around his older brother and father’s fight for the industry that has kept their community afloat, and the other, a younger generation eager for change. This personal and community conflict is only intensified following the loss of Billy’s mother, leaving him in a household where male emotional blocks hinder the grieving process.
The search for Billy began in the North East of England in early 1999, with Daldry and his production team eager to find an unknown boy for the role. Public auditions drew over two thousand young boys, each bringing a unique style to the role of Billy. However, 13-year-old Jamie Bell quickly rose to the top of the pile after months of searching. Bell brought cheeky, boyish charm, tenderness, and vulnerability, alongside a love of tap and commercial dance.
Alongside Jamie Bell, Daldry sought out established actors with extensive experience working with directors such as Ken Loach, Willy Russell and Lewis Gilbert. Julie Walters would play Mrs Wilkinson, a woman trapped in a community where her creative passions were stifled by limited cultural ambition. At the same time, Gary Lewis would play Billy’s dad, a key figure in the complex discussions of masculinity at the heart of the movie.
Billy Elliot uses its setting to explore the labels many working-class boys face. Billy’s journey reflects the complex intersection of class, opportunity, art, and gender through a classic coming-of-age story, where dance, creativity, and the internal struggle for freedom take centre stage. Some would argue that the barriers Billy faces as he learns to dance are rooted in masculine barriers and insular community expectations. However, this sweeping statement does not reflect the complexity of the young male experience on-screen.
The masculine norms of the mining community sit within a vacuum where opportunities are limited by poverty, as Politicians in Westminster talk of the necessity for social change. These Politicians have no understanding of the communities they seek to transform or the economic impact of their debates and policies, creating a divide between state and community. Billy’s dancing is never seen as a weakness, but as frivolity in the face of community destruction. At the same time, sexuality and gender identity discussions are also seen as a privilege of the middle and upper classes rather than through a lens of toxic behaviour or rampant homophobia.
“Just because I like ballet doesn’t mean I’m a poof, you know.”
From the outset, Billy rebels against traditional ideas of what it means to be a working-class boy in a mining community; he loves to dance and uses it to cope with the grief that surrounds him as he defies social labels.
Discussions of sexual orientation are placed into the hands of Billy’s best friend, Michael, a character who has no interest in dance but does enjoy dressing up in his sister’s clothes. Both Billy and Michael defy the labels many would attach to their behaviours and take comfort in each other’s experimentation and defiance.
Billy fully accepts his best friend’s sexuality but also feels the need to establish that “he isn’t gay” throughout the film, culminating in a conflict during his audition with a boy who dares to touch him. This is not a conflict built on internalised homophobia, but rather, his fear of the world outside of his community and his working-class identity in an ocean of middle-and upper-class kids he perceives look down on him. Many working-class kids will relate to these feelings.
As Billy moves through the film, he seeks to find his identity as a boy who defies the labels society places upon him; his journey is one of transformation, defiance, and fear. Does he embrace a world outside his working-class roots and alienate himself from his community, or find a way to keep his working-class identity while pursuing a middle-class dream? Billy knows that he walks a tightrope in making these decisions.
Billy Elliot’s discussions of class consciousness, masculinity, community oppression, sexuality, and the divide between Government and community may relate to a critical moment in British history. Yet, they equally still speak to our society today. Since the 1980s, the divide between the poorest and richest has only widened, and opportunities for kids like Billy are more limited now than they were then, especially in the arts.
Many state schools have jettisoned drama, art, dance and music, leaving these subjects in the hands of private schools alongside the jobs and creative opportunities available. Twenty years after its release, Billy Elliot remains a poignant reminder that all children deserve the right to dance, create, and lead social change, and that all communities deserve to be understood and valued.
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