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**