Billy Elliot Int 2 / Higher Film Study

By 1980’s demand for coal had dropped by 67% since the 1920s. Why? There were alternative cheap oil and gas power available. Re-structuring of the coal industry was long overdue….Effect? Uneconomic pits had to close and productivity had to be increased so that in the long run, at least some Miners jobs would be secure.

Important Definitions Trade Unions A trade union is an organisationorganisation or group of workers who joinworkers together to negotiate, hours, benefits, and working conditions. ….. Why do we need Trade Unions? Union members and supporters of unions claim that they are necessary because the people that run companies want to pay as little as possible.

Collective Bargaining The leaders of a union work with management (the people who run the business)/ or Government in order to get a contract that gives workers what they want. management contract What happens if they don’t get what they want?

Strike and Picket Line A Strike is when a large number of workers stop working in protest of pay or conditions. (in this case, the closing down of mines and the loss of jobs.). Strikes are sometimes used to pressure governments to change policies. The workers walk in front of where they work, chanting and holding signs. This is called a Picket Line.workers protest chantingsigns Workers on strike would sometimes forceably try to prevent a desperate worker from crossing the picket line. Violence would often break out and riot police often controlled situations. However, most workers would not cross a picket line. This is a way of showing solidarity (or support) for the union.

Scabs Scabs refers to any circumstance in which union workers themselves cross picket lines to work. Why are they called scabs??? They argue that the picket line is symbolic of a wound and those who break its borders to return to work are the scabs who try to heal that wound before it treated/fixed.

Privatisation the process of transferring ownership of a government run business, to the privatebusinessprivate (Jobs are often cut in a bid to make the business more efficient – stop overstaffing, excess expenditure with the aim of making profits.)

Margaret Thatcher’s Cunning Plan! “by the 1970’s the coal mining industry had come to symbolise everything that was wrong with Britain.” (inefficient/costly/supported = must be fixed) Anticipating mine worker strikes, the government built up the national stocks of coal ready, if necessary for a long strike haul. (i.e. ‘strike for as long as you like.. You are only hurting yourself)

Music as a social voice The album's subject matter included social displacement, unemployment, racial conflict, drug use, and the responsibilities of adulthood.unemploymentracial conflictdrugadulthood We hear music of this genre throughout the film. = it is an anchor, tying the images we see with the social attitudes at that time.

In a nutshell… Billy’s father and brother work and live in the poor mining community of Durham, North England. Privatisation and anti-union measures by Margaret Thatcher in the previous decade had seen the closing of many mines and the decline in heavy industry. => Major upheavals in employment meant threats to the struggling mining communities and the deeply entrenched traditional attitudes shaping men (which define them and restrict them.)

Consider … How does SETTING (time, place, context/atmosphere) shape a character? What is a man? What does a miner look like/act like/sound like?