It is safe to say that with her being still alive, the strike, as well as the conflict between Billy and his father, wouldn’t be as intense as they are in the film.
Although his wife is dead, she plays an important role in this film and contributes to Jackie’s character enormously. “ Jackie’s following reaction indicates that he realizes that Billy prefers his mother’s decisions to his father’s which caused him to feel like he failed as a good parent in this situation. When he permits Billy to play his mother’s piano, Billy states that “ would let. The mixture between grief and frustration resulted in his strict way of raising his children.Īnother scene from the film shows that Jackie is in pain that’s caused by his wife’s death as well as the strike. Maybe Jackie would have been a different type of father if the miner’s strike didn’t take place. She tells her son that “ proud that ” and that “ love forever.” This letter reveals the fact that his mother knew she was going to pass away and therefore wrote this letter to her son, which is not something many parents would do.Įspecially when Billy’s and Tony’s father starts crying for the first time during their Christmas celebration because he had to destroy his wife’s piano for firewood, his grief and devastation becomes clearer. Her character can best be explored by reading the letter she wrote for Billy. This can also explain why the sky is filled with white clouds throughout the whole film. It seems as if their own sunshine has left the Elliot family. His wife’s friendly and loving traits infected the whole family with these characteristics and formed a happy family. This shows that Billy’s mother’s death led to a behavioral change in him. In the film, pictures of him and his wife are shown which display a happy and smiling Jackie Elliot. The death of his wife changed him completely. By looking at him more closely, the reason for that can be easily identified. However, Jackie’s unfriendly and even violent actions towards his children and mother imply that he’s anything but that. In this case, Jackie’s wife, who seemed like a loving, caring, and friendly individual, passed away.Īs a single parent, Jackie seems to want his family to stick together and tries his best to protect it in order to prove to himself, and to his deceased wife, that he’s a good father. It’s always extremely painful to lose a loved one. In the film Billy Elliot, the death of Billy’s mother plays an important part in terms of Jackie’s parenting style as well.
Not only does a certain situation influence the parent’s way of raising their children. Especially during complex times like these, it is hard to find a balance between going on strike and being a good parent. There is no doubt that raising children becomes a more challenging task if only one parent is present.
Jackie’s strictness can clearly be recognized when he tells Billy to “…stay here and look out for. He rather yells at him and forbids him to keep doing ballet and says that “ bustin’ ass for those 50 pences.” That is the price of one boxing or ballet lesson. When he finds out that Billy is doing ballet, he becomes furious because he doesn’t have the time and patience to talk to his son about it in a pedagogically correct way. Jackie’s involvement in the strike caused him to not want to deal with any other problems. Sending his son Billy to boxing wasn’t only to distract the eleven-year-old from the current situation of his family and the deterioration of the economy. Throughout the majority of the film, Billy’s father did not seem happy or satisfied. This causes devastation and, as mentioned before, a frustration that can easily turn into anger. Especially for a father, whose main task is to provide his family with its needs and essentials, having no income affects his ability to do just that negatively. Without an income, it becomes extremely challenging to care for a family of four.