"A life lived in fear is a life half lived. " Discuss with reference to the characters in Strictly Ballroom. There are many characters in Strictly Ballroom that had lived their lives in fear. That kind of fear is not like a fear of heights or being afraid of dying, it is being afraid of other people who could destroy their lives forever. That kind of fear forces people to cower in front of others and not be able to make their own decisions. A life half lived is a life full of regrets.
Shirley Hastings, Doug Hastings and Barry Fife all lived their life and therefore, their lives were half lived. Shirley Hastings, Coot's mother and a cosmetics consultant, was known for her excellent dancing with her husband, Doug, when the
...y were young. She lost her confidence when Barry Fife convinced her that she would lose the Pan Pacific because of Doug making up dance steps on the stage. Now she is afraid of Scott following on the same path and losing the Pan Pacific, especially because only federation steps are allowed now.
In the film, Shirley exposes how much she wants Scott to win when she panics because Scott couldn't find a partner, when she tries to push him onto the dance floor with Liz at the Pan Pacific and when she then weeps as Scott runs off to find Fran. Doug is also afraid of the way Scott dances but in a totally opposite way. Doug had lived his life in fear and when you look at him, you can see he regrets his past decisions. Doug Hastings, Coot's father, wa
known for his excellent dancing when he was young.
He was passionate about dancing but lost his confidence when Shirley refused to dance with him at the Pan Pacific. Now Doug is afraid that Scott will not dance his way. To him, it's all about the dancing and when Scott dances non-federation steps, Doug is always filming because he is extremely proud of his son. Near the start of the film, you can see Doug secretly watching a video of Scott dancing his own steps and then wipes away tears of pride in his son.
At the Pan Pacific, Doug also persuades Scott to dance his own way with Fran. Barry was completely against that because he, too, lived his life in fear. Barry Fife, winner of the 1967 Pan Pacific, is the president of the dance federation. He had also lived his life in fear and his life was half lived trying to prevent everyone from doing what he was afraid of. Barry is afraid of losing his power over the dance federation. Scott dancing his own steps would cause a revolution and would result in Barry losing his power.
We can see how much Barry is afraid of losing his power when he tries helplessly to disqualify Scott and Fran at the Pan Pacific before things got too serious. There are a lot of characters in Strictly Ballroom who had lived their lives in fear. Some of these characters include Shirley Hastings, Doug Hastings and Barry Fife. They held back because they were afraid of what others could do to them and did not live their life to their full potential. This film
shows us that to be happy and content, you need to stand up to others and do what is right. Strictly Ballroom Essay Analysis Essay By Acceptable
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