Belonging Case

ENGLISH

“Belonging is fundamental to the human experience” discuss this view with detailed reference to your prescribed text and at least ONE other related text of your own choosing.

People have the longing to belong and to be accepted by a group or community. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections and acceptance we have with other people, communities and the larger world. These ideas of belonging are represented in texts which explore aspects of belonging and an individual’s potential to challenge or improve a community group. The film ‘strictly Ballroom’, directed by Baz Lurhman and the film ‘Forrest Gump’ directed by Robert Zemeckis all represent ideas of belonging formed by life experiences. ‘Strictly ballroom’ is a comedic ‘mocumentary’ set in the highly competitive world of ballroom dancing where the stereotypical plot follows an attractive male lead dancer Scott Hastings. He finds love with an ‘ugly-duckling’ female partner who dances from the heart. Within the ballroom dancing world in order to belong, creativity and individual ideas need to be sacrificed. The power held in the ballroom dancing world is by those who value tradition and fight to stop individuals such as Scott Hastings from breaking away from the norms and long held standards of behaviours. Barry Fife is the president of the dancing federation remains and is not altered. In the first scene of the movie Scott is shown dancing in competition with his partner Liz. When he stumbles into a difficult situation he abruptly resorts to improvises ‘non-federation’ dance moves, revealing the freedom of movement that Scott so greatly desires. The “flashy, crowd pleasing” steps shocks and disappoints Scott’s partner, Barry Fife the president, and his mother who dramatically states “did I fail him as a mother?” this dialogue is used to create satire and humour to show the audience just how serious ballroom dancing is taken.

An authority figure, head of an organisation, expectations of conformity by followers negatively affects the followers or ones sense of personal belonging. Luhrmanns strictly ballroom effectively undertakes the exploration of his idea through the portrayal of the young “non-conformist” Scott Hastings struggle to win the Pan Pacific’s competition by the pursuit of his own personal dance, a rebellious action ensured to disrupt the natural order of the Australian dance federation or ballroom dancing world. Operated by the corruptive Barry Fife. As Scott throws his polka dot t-shirt in a corner of the studio revealing a simple shirt underneath. This is a simultaneous suggestion of his ‘breaking away’ from his old ballroom Partnership with Liz and reliance on ‘flashy clothes’ to self-express himself in ballroom dance, further suggesting that his sense of belonging towards traditional ballroom dance has been shifted into feeling a sense of belonging towards