PSY317 weekly reflection: Strictly Ballroom

Strictly Ballroom(1992)

The movie Strictly Ballroom is mainly about the theme of compliance involved in the dancing competition. Scott the main character started off as the guy who refuse to comply with the group, friends and families expectation on how to dance. Scott was the 'special' one in the group identity which dance using his own created steps. Being different was not perceived as good phenomenon in the movie, everyone did not accept the way he danced and even felt frustration and sadness for Scott's behaviour. For instance, the reaction of the Barry Fife which felt frustrated for Scott's dance and denied his dance by not recognizing his dance, Scott's mother which felt sad and even said she failed as his mother for not guiding him to dance 'appropriately' instead of his own dance steps. In addition, Liz was also angry towards Scott for not dancing normally and following the customs of the original dance. Friends of Scott also avoid to comment on Scott's dance whether was it they liked it as they did not dare to admit the dance was good which is different with the group expected behaviour and answers. Most of the characters in movie tried to ask compliance from Scott to stop dancing differently from the others so that Scott can win the competition. Scott was able to refuse to comply with the request until Barry Fife attempt to gain compliance from Scott by telling a fictional 'truth' about the past of his parents and he should win the trophy of the competition to fulfill his parents expectations and wishes which made Scott eventually comply for the first time in the movie.

Also, in the movie we can see how Scott stand against the peer pressure from his surrounding to conform and comply with the group expectations. Scott first started trying to get affirmations from his friends and families on whether is it the way he dance not good. He focused on the question their thoughts on the dance instead of whether the dance was complying to the group's needs. Scott was trying to gain support for him to resist the conformity pressure on him. Then, Fran appeared in front of Scott which she recognizes the way Scott dance and provide the necessary support to Scott to perform and dance in his free will instead of conforming with his surroundings. They supported each other and provide each other the courage to stand against conformity even in the means of being rejected for being different in the group. Finally, although Scott once comply and conform to the group needs, Scott's father, Doug provide the necessary support and guidance to Scott to once again overcoming the conformity pressure. Eventually, Doug also was the first one to stand up and support Scott and Fran publicly on the recognition of their dance which then the influence slowly came to the audience to show up their true feelings and comments of their dance. To overcome conformity being alone without any support is nearly impossible, we are human after all where we need support and recognition from the others. To stand up against peer pressure on conformity, being alone is stressful but when we have someone that support us, the will and strength to fight against conformity will be strengthen. This is what I learned about overcoming conformity from the movie where to effectively ensure our thoughts and behaviour are not influenced by conformity, we need to be critical in thinking and gain support from someone that understand us.