Since it's a rom com, allow me to first post up a few close-up shots of our main protagonists being all lovey-dovey together.
We were told the director, Baz Luhrmann has a visually exaggerated filming style, and I very much agree with it after experiencing the exuberant atmosphere in Strictly Ballroom. From stunning costumes to vivid colours, the whole movie screams "lively". This is especially so for the dance choreography which had me entranced, as I personally love watching people dance and find their body movements extremely beautiful.
LIKE THIS
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AND THIS WITH THE SUBTLE PRODUCT PLACEMENT
What I learned from this movie (aside from the fact that Spanish sounds amazing) is the importance of courage. It is a recurring theme in the movie, from the beginning when Fran overcame her fear and inferiority to approach Scott so she could dance with him, to the end when the couple performed Paso Doble steps despite opposing views all around them. These are things that require one to step out of his or her comfort zone and take that little extra step that majority of people are not willing to take. Besides, the characters themselves also kept on emphasizing on this point, in which the phrase "Vivir con miedo es como vivir a medias", meaning a life lived in fear is a life half-lived, was repeated multiple times throughout the movie.
Strictly Ballroom portrayed fear as an element which halts success, most evident example would be Scott's father, Doug Hastings, who used to be a ballroom champion but had his talents buried as his partner was too afraid of breaking the norm. The main antagonist, Barry Fife, persuaded Shirley Hastings to switch partners for her competition so they can afford to continue operating their dance studio and to be accepted by the dance community as "a part of them", which Doug failed to do due to his unconventional "crowd-pleasing" dance moves. This begs another question that many of us constantly ask ourselves: reality or dream? Do we choose to pursue what we want and risk not being able to support ourselves, or compromise with life and live the rest of it in peace and a hint of regret? Or is there another way where we can have the best of both worlds? Of course, the answer varies from one person to another, but to Doug and Scott, the right thing to do is almost definitely to have faith in yourself and do what you believe is right.
Speaking of courage, another major topic that can be discussed points to the famous "conformity, obedience, and compliance" social psychology trio (I will address the three terms separately down below). Scott's character is shaped from the very beginning of the movie, a non-conformist who wishes to break free of the status quo and try something new without being restricted in a tight little frame. It is just as what was discussed in class, dance is a form of expression, and the irony resides in the multiple rules and restrictions put upon those ballroom dancers, requiring them to follow a strict guideline in order to win while what they were doing was supposed to be free and genuine. The director might have picked ballroom dancing because of this contradiction. In a supposingly free and expressive field where, ironically, fixed sets of rules are used as a basis of evaluation, is there any room for innovation, creativity, and breakthroughs?
Scott and Liz lost in the opening scene because of his "crowd-pleasing moves"
1. Conformity
Conformity refers to a change in attitude or behavior of a person to cope with either real or imagined group pressure (Myers, 2014).This phenomenon can be justified through two generally categorized factors, namely normative social influence and informational social influence, with the former used in order to be accepted by the majority and be seen as normal, and the latter used to obtain information from the norm about situations that one is unfamiliar with (Ciccarelli & White, 2015). As mentioned above, Shirley Hastings (Scott's mother) was afraid of being different and chose to not dance with her husband in the Pan Pacific Grand Prix, as she wanted them to keep their jobs so they can be accepted by the dance community and survive on their dance studio. It clearly reflects a fear of failure as well as fear of being different, as their livelihood was on the line and the risk outweighs the potential reward. When it came to Scott, the same cycle repeats itself whereby everyone tries to convince him to be like the majority, especially Barry Fife whom was worried about the Federation losing profit as nobody knew how to dance Scott's new steps, and thus nobody can teach it except for him.
2. Compliance
Compliance refers to "behavioral
conformity by the target to the source’s requests or demands" (Delamater
& Myers, 2011). When considering compliance, the fundamental concern is
about producing a particular behavior from the target, irrespective of whether
the target’s beliefs and attitudes change (Delamater & Myers, 2011). Barry
Fife is a master of manipulation, and often uses his tricks to make others do
what he wants. His first victim (as far as we know, anyway) was Doug, whose
wife was tricked to partner up with another man causing him to miss his chance
at the Pan Pacific Grand Prix. Next, he tried to convince Scott to give up his
dance plans by making up stories about Doug and Shirley, guilt-tripping Scott
to not pair up with Fran. Even though Scott showed unwillingness and struggled
through his decisions, he still complied to Fife's wishes before the truth was
revealed to him by Doug.
3. Obedience
At the mention of "obedience",
the infamous Milgram's obedience experiment might have crossed most of our
minds. Indeed, Strictly Ballroom used a similar mechanism in which Barry Fife,
the prestigious figure of the Federation, often has his way by having others obey
to his status. For instance, he arranged for Scott's dancing partner, planned
the Grand Prix's winner, and have everyone agreed to not include any new steps
in the coming competition.
Additionally, there are also a few extra points about the movie that I found interesting and would like to cover:
1. why the heavy makeup on certain characters?
While I understand that ballroom dancing may require one to stand out as much as possible, thus the heavy makeup and resplendent gowns, it suddenly occurs to me the director might have wanted to emphasize on the contrast between Liz's group of people and people like Fran and Scott, the former loud, confident, and just-like-the-others, while the latter different but comfortable in their own skin.
2. Fran's transformation
Pretty much sums up my thoughts
I personally don't agree with the common romance plots of the "ugly duckling transformation", seems as if the ultimate goal of all characters, man or woman, is to become physically attractive as that is something that comes with success. Fran may be becoming more and more confident in herself, thus the change in her appearance and style of dressing, but her initial shabby image compared to how she looked like in the end kind of left a sour taste in my mouth. Even though we know for a fact that attractive people might have an upper hand at life as they are generally perceived to be better people or have better abilities (Miller, 2014), what about individuals who are not physically attractive but also wants to achieve success?
Last but not least, a personal tribute to the last scene, where nobody gives a damn about rules on the ballroom floor and just danced together to their hearts' content. That might be what Baz Luhrmann was trying to tell the audience all along, that dancing is best experienced in fun and enjoyable times.
References:
Ciccarelli, S. K., & White, J. N. (2015). Psychology (4th ed.). England: Pearson Education Limited.
Delamater, J. D., & Myers, D. J. (2011). Social Psychology (7th ed.). USA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Miller, R. S. (2014). Intimate Relationships (7th ed.). NY: McGraw-Hill.
Myers, D. G. (2014). Social Psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.
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