Indledning
The novel Billy Elliot was written by the author Melvin Burgess, but Billy Elliot was originally a screenplay written by Lee Hall, who is an award-winning playwright, translator, and screenwriter.
Lee Hall’s first screenplay was Billy Elliot and it became such an international hit, that he was met with a lot of recognition and he has now engaged in a lot of projects
like writing screenplays for the musical film the Rocketman and Cats that both primaried in 2019.
Melvin Burgess is a British author, who is a writer of children's fiction. He got really famous after publishing his novel Junk, which is considered a controversial young-adult novel.
When writing Billy Elliot, Burgess was in close contact with Lee, as he wanted the novel to be as faithful as possible and he didn’t want to make too many changes.
Billy Elliot is a novelization where we follow Billy Elliot through his life, with the circumstances that he faces during this time. The story touches upon themes like passion, identity, gender stereotypes, and social classes.
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Uddrag
The main part of the story takes place in Everington in County Durham , North East England in 1984-1985. A demonstration of this is Jackie saying, ”Thatcher won.”
Durham was at that time a coal mining lower working-class city and in the ’80s the miner’s strike was raging in the small town and affecting Billy’s family a lot.
We read about Billy’s trip to London, where he is going to go to the audition at The Royal Ballet School. The story also tells about the middle class in Everington and how their lives differ from the miner’s families’.
The upper class is mentioned as well. “And the school itself was so vast and posh...The changing rooms were awful. They were full of these posh kids.”
The main locations that are mentioned are Billy’s home, the boxing or the ballet class, and the road that the miners are striking and fighting with the police.
The environment of the community is built around gender-stereotypical norms. Jackie is disappointed when he discovers that Billy has chosen ballet over boxing.
When Billy is discussing with his dad about ballet, Billy’s grandmother justifies that she used to dance ballet, to which Jackie says “For your nan. For girls, Billy.
Not for lads. Lads do football or boxing or wrestling or summat.” This indicates that Jackie has a very traditional view of male roles in society. The society is very patriarchal and the people within it are very narrow-minded.
Billy is only 12 years old . He lives with his father, brother, and grandmother. Billy takes care of his grandmother . Billy is quite sensitive but also very brave.
His dad does not approve of him taking ballet lessons, but Billy does it anyways. This shows that he is a very determined and passionate person.
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