Strictly Ballroom - Echanting !

Strictly ballroom surprisingly enough, is a 1992 Australian film directed by Baz Luhrmann.
This movie is absolutely flamboyant from it characters to the dance moves created.
The whole movie is actually based on the perspective of the male lead, Scott Hastings. A boy, who wants to defy the norm and follow his heart. He is willing to giving winning for the sake of doing what he wants, FREEDOM.

    At the beginning of the film, Scott can be seen dancing with his partner, Liz. While in the competition, Scott maybe have broke into a few dance steps that was not part of the usual ballroom dancing. Liz followed him and the crowd was at a uproar although, the judges especially the president did not quite think so. Hence everyone overlooked the fact that the dance steps were great as they did not win.

Now, why did the president of the Dance Federation did not vote for them or in other words chose a different winner instead?
This is because of social influence, there are three main themes following this which are Conformity, Compliance and Obedience. First of a brief definition of these theories.
Social influence is when the beliefs, feelings and behaviors of an individual is influenced by others.

1. Conformity
      This is when a member of a group does not know that they are being influenced. Individuals usually learn this through observing the norm and act accordingly to the behaviors of the people surrounding them. In the beginning of this film, Scott's rival was given the first place by the president of the dance federation in order to make it clear that conventional dance moves are the only moves that are allowed. If Scott were to win, in group mates from his dance studio would have praised him but the opposite happened. Everyone was upset with him for throwing that stunt and shun him out. This was done by the president so that no one else including Scott would repeat this 'mistake'.

2. Compliance
     This means that an individual carries out the request that is made to them. This usually happens when it is someone of authority and is usually accomplished through persuasion. The president (Barry) spoke to Scott about his parents 'past' where his parents did not get to win the competition because of his father's new moves. This then lead the parents to feel sadden and regretful of their past, their only hope was for their son Scott to win it. Barry, persuaded Scott to do it for his parents, to dance the conventional steps.

3. Obedience
    On the other hand, obedience is when an individual is commanded to do something or behave in a certain way by a figure of power or authority. Barry who is seen as a person of power had the obedience of almost everyone except Scott, only until the very end did he loose the obedience of the rest as well. For awhile he even had gotten Scott to be obedient to him by telling him to win the prize of his parents who has always wanted it (a sort of reward for his parents sake- happiness of  his parents). Scott at the beginning obligingly obeyed until he heard the actual truth from his father. 

     The film also revolves around this theme, fear. Individualism and self-expression can be seen in the character of Scott. This allows him to break the rules and strive for what he wants, making him determined to achieve his goals without anything holding him back. Where as his parents has always lived in fear, fear has caused his mother to become anxious and worried for everything and has caused his father to become depressed and sadden because of his wife. Both we never as happy until the end of the film where they gave in to the fear and let live.

    Another theme I thought I'll write is love. Maslow's hierarchy of needs can be applied here as well. There are 5 stages in Maslow's hierarchy where the first two are already provided in this movie ( psychological and safety needs- Stage 1 and 2). Fran can be seen achieving a higher self-esteem(stage 4) as she has started to find a sense of love and belonging (stage 3) with Scott and the dance community. Her transition can be seen through out the movie.

At first you could see her in the background, where no one pays much attention to her, at this time she has pimples and is not dressed that well. Though, through out the movie she starts to change, she does not stutter anymore or wear glasses. She becomes much more confident and even so less clumsy. This is because after finding love and belonging only then was she able to boost her self- esteem.

My thoughts on the movie
   From all the various dance movies I have seen, I must say this genuinely portrays ballroom dancing. This would probably be the first Australian film that I have seen, and the angles, the way the message of the story is portrayed as well as the cheezy lines all come together so well and so brilliantly. ** Winning is not everything** 

   

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. - It's hard to avoid basic human desires

`          Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) is a movie directed by Ang Lee which was set in Taiwan. The story centers a family; A father who raised his three girls (daughters) by himself after his wife had passed away. Besides already taking the role of parenting (being both a mother and father to his children), he is a renown chef. Outside his home he is respected and sought after by his workers and others although, at home it is a different setting altogether. 

            One of the main concept that can be seen surrounding this film is the culture and Chinese traditions. It can be seen that his three children lived with him even though they had jobs of their own and are about their late twenty's. In most Asian cultures, the children only leaves the house when they are married. Besides that, children are supposed to take care of their parents, especially the oldest child. Jia-Jen, the oldest assumed she had a responsibility to be 'mother figure' of the family. She threw away her love life because of this. 

           Jia- Chein the second daughter, wanted to become a chef just like her father but was strongly advised against it by her father. From a cultural point of view, the chefs in these countries are usually males and this was probably one of the reasons why she was prohibited enter the kitchen after her interest in becoming a chef escalated. 

           Besides that, most Asian family sit together during dinner, it is more of an obligation and sign of respect. Even in the film, it can be seen that their table manners are very much present and that the way they conduct themselves during dinner are very formal. 

          What is interesting about this film is that all traditions and norms are broken by each of them including the father. The eldest daughter married even before introducing and seeking approval from the father. The second child, plans to get her own place to stay even before getting and married and as for the youngest she gets pregnant even before getting married. Most shockingly is the father, he falls in love with a women who is of the same age as his children. 

         What is depicted in this film from my point of view is that sometimes, in order to be happy, cultural norms should not be followed. We are so fixated in maintaining out social norms and worrying about others thought that we neglect our wants and needs. Besides that, culture and tradition, while there are benefits can also be detrimental for our health and our relationship with others. For example by repressing feelings and urges.

      Gender inequality as well can be seen with the second daughter. As mentioned before, she did not get her father's approval to become a chef. This was also one of the reasons why the second daughter turned out to be successful ( it probably drove her to become independent and aim higher) She is also one of the only female in her company who has a high position.   

         Lastly but most important is the attachment styles of each daughter.

Mr Chu does not know how to communicate well with his children, yes he has taken care of them but he hardly shows affection in other ways besides his cooking. Cooking for them is the only way he knows how to show love to them. This may have affected their personality.
 
    Jia-Jen being the oldest has an insecure attachment style with her father. Being the oldest, the crown was taken from her when the other two sisters were born thus she coped with this by always trying to be responsible for the family and taking the role of the mother in the family. This attachment style states that anxiousness or ambivalence is shown in her relationships. Jia- Jen fakes a story about a guy who broke her heart in order to stay at home to take care of the father. Besides that, when she was getting love-letters, she was anxious about the coach. Even when they finally did fall in love she wanted to marry him immediately and even convert him to a christian.

As for Jia- Chien, she had an avoidance attachment style. There has been friction between Jia-Chien and her father. Where he hardly comments or speaks to her and when she does comment it is usually a criticism on how the food taste bad an so on. This has an effect with her relationships with men. In the film, she is seen with a guy earlier on but it was purely a 'friends with benefits' situation. She hardly is close with any of her sisters as well and focuses all her time immersing herself in her job.

In conclusion, communication within the family is important, when there is a problem in a relationship or with the way an individual feels it shows in their health and so on. Mr Chu lost his taste buds throughout the movie, but at the end when he was finally content with his life and his children, his regained it. In the end, each family member turned out to happier as they did not bottle up any emotions which brought the family closer together.

Ghandi (1982) - Mahatma

Ghandi (1982), is a true story about one man who grew the courage to defy the British Empire in order to attain the freedom of equality.

        At beginning of the movie, stereotype and discrimination is shown towards colored people (the indians in Africa). Stereotype is a fixed image or rather perception of a person or a group of people where as discrimination is where a person or a group of people are treated unjustly based on false assumption about them (Stereotype). Gandhi, though he was from a upper class in the caste system in his country (India), he was treated as of low status in Africa. Even when paid for first class, he was not allowed to sit in the first class coach and was forced to join the lower class or be thrown out. This was one of those sparks where Gandhi started to rebel.

Although he was an activist, he never promoted violence, in fact he was totally against it. He had a different approach towards independence and the fight for their rights. He played with the emotion guilt, and the morality and principle the British stood for. This can be seen in several aspects of the movie, such as when the people was encouraged to rebel by refusing the British but not retaliate with any form of violence. The British at first however did enforce their position with violence but when the same action was not reciprocated, British people from England was not happy with the way the Birtish in India reacted. They in turn in a long term, started to feel guilty and question their position and principle towards the people in India.

    
        Now how did Gandhi managed to persuade the people in India or even Africa for instance to retaliate? Gandhi basically immerse himself in their culture and tradition. He dressed like them, worked like them and even lived like them. He represented the people thus the people felt closer and connected to him. He was apart of the in group, and once he showed his courage and determination, the people followed. This is through social learning, this theory states that and act or behavior can be learned purely through observation or direct instruction, this is more infectious if the leader is respected and is looked at as a role model and that was exactly what Gandhi was to the people. He learned from them, to become more like them in terms of the way of living and they learned from him, to resist without violent, to unite as one and to take back their country.


 You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.- Gandhi.


Towards the end though, when Independence was almost in their hands, the muslims and hindus fought against each other. Both religion felt threaten by each other as well they wanted to claim their territory (Pakistan was formed because of this). The situation got out of hand and again stereotype and discrimination was formed but this time to its extreme, hundreds and thousands of life was lost in the massacre. Gandhi had little or no power to stop this, the only thing he could do was to fast and slowly the people stopped the fight as they did not want Gandhi to die, his teaching and guidance was still important to them and he left an impact on most of their hearts. He stayed at a muslim's house to show that there were no enemies but the Hindu's was angry at this. Some followed his way and stopped the discrimination others felt threaten by this. In the end, Gandhi was assassinated for trying to unite both Muslims and Hindus by requesting for equal rights. 

- The whole world mourned for the death of Gandhi, all he ever wanted was peace, freedom and equality for all.-

         The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.- Gandhi
 

Imagine one man who woke the whole of India compromising of millions of people. He must be something.

Running on Empty - Moving.

        Running on empty (1988) is a movie about a family which has been in hiding since the 60's. Due to their situation, they had formed a close family bond just within the four of them. (Parents and children). The children has learned that sticking together is the only way they would survive, that they are strongest when the were together. Thus every year they moved about twice with different aliases. Although they have moved around quite a bit, their values and culture still remains, this is because their family values were reinforced by their father ever since they were young and they never had the chance to adopt a different way of life or culture for that matter since they were always on the move.

Changed hair color so that they are unrecognizable

The family system theory best explains this. This is a theory that views a family as a unit. This is exactly what happens in this film. The father (Arthur Pope), say this to his family

 Danny: I wanna stay.
Arthur:   Do you think this is a good time to be talking about this?! we're in trouble here! a unit is only as good as it's strongest link; we're a unit! i taught you.....i taught you all of this, dont you remember that? are we finished discussing this now?
-Danny and Arthur


This theory adds that a family is connected emotionally and that families often and very much do affect its members thoughts, feelings and actions (Psychology Press, n.d.). Families based on this theory, also wants attention and approval from its members and in turn reacts to its members need, attention and support (Psychology Press, n.d.). 

        Take for example Danny and his younger brother, they were brought up differently than their peers in their varying schools. They are very polite and far off smarter. They think more independently compared to their peers as their parents has always taught them to question authority.
        Besides that, Danny has a strong passion for music which he has taken after his mother [whom took after her mother (Danny's grandmother)]. Though, at the end he was not going to pursue it because his dad had told him not to (family's approval and support). This also shows the strength of inter-dependency within this family.
        Annie Pope ( Danny's mother), also turned out the way she is ( a wanted person) because of  her rebelling against her parents. Of-course she did it (participated in the bombing) with purely good intention of making a difference but the other reason was because of her parents, to make a point to them as well.

Annie Pope:         Will you take him, dad? He want's to study music. He's good. They want him at Juilliard.
Donald Patterson: Just like they wanted you. Still have that practice board?
Annie Pope:          So far. Danny learned to play piano on it.
Donald Patterson: So you taught him. There's some irony in this. Don't you think, Annie? Here you are, asking me to take Danny into a life that you ran from like a shot out of hell. This what he wants?
Annie Pope:          I think so. Got himself an audition without telling me. He'll need money and people to care for him. 

 Another important scene is Danny's love life. In the new town which he is living in, the meets a girl name Lorna who is his Professor's daugther. She encourages him to go to Juliard, to have an future as well as finally let someone in and fall in love. From my gathering, without her support, he would not have had the encouragement to tell his dad about Juliard or even taken the audition for that matter. College would not have mattered much if it was not for her asking him about it.

Social learning theory would fit in to this. This theory shows that partners learn from their relationship behaviors (Bardbury & Kamey, 2010). They have learned to trust each other hence that is why Danny tells Lorna about who his family really is, they also transmit positive outcomes to help better the other. Danny would not have took college as that important if it was not for Lorna who speaks about college. He learned a few things and a different way of thinking with Lorna around, he finally wanted to stay in one place and not move around so much, he finally made a decision on his own and decided to talk to his parents about it.

Both this theory is important but family system theory would have had a bigger impact on Danny, only with his parents blessing did he finally pursue his ambitions. This is because Danny is from a nuclear family, which only consist of the four of them whom always had each others back and was always close in terms of space and in terms of relationships (only constant relationship they had).

P.S. First movie of River Phoenix that I've seen. Since watching it I have become a fan of his work (acting), what a shame he had to die so young, just when he was at his peak (like Heath Ledger). Off to watch more of his movies now, cheers!

 References (Links):
http://www.wwnorton.com/college/psych/intimate-relationships/ch/03/summary.aspx
http://psypress.co.uk/smithandmackie/resources/topic.asp?topic=ch11-tp-03#Effects%20of%20Relationships
 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096018/trivia?tab=qt&ref_=tt_trv_qu