Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom (1992) revolves around the lives of ballroom dancers Scott Hastings and his partner Fran as they make their journey to the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix, while trying to incorporate their personal styles of dancing. Several elements of this film can be explained through psychological paradigms.
Expressions of individuality vary from culture to culture; considering the film’s setting in an individualist country like Australia, self-expression is of particular importance (Kim & Sherman, 2007). The phrase “express yourself” is ubiquitous in Western culture; it is a theme that is present from advertisements to films. In this culture, self-expression is associated with positive outcomes, the most prominent of which is freedom. To be able to express oneself is to be free, and within these cultures it is not a privilege, but a right. In relation to that, dance has played an important role in the lives of millions of people throughout history. Whether for professional, recreational, or even religious reasons, dance has always been a medium for self-expression. However, the film sees the world of ballroom dancing encapsulated in rules and regulations, with unique steps being frowned upon and in Scott’s case, actively discouraged. Considering the nature of self-expression in culture and of dance at its core, it comes as no surprise that Scott would want to deviate from standard steps and perform his own dance moves. If analyzed from a goal orientation perspective, Scott’s disposition for demonstrating ability in achievement situations would be categorized as “prove performance goal orientation”. Defined as the “desire to prove one's competence and to gain favorable judgments about it" (VandeWalle, 1997), this could serve as an explanation for Scott and Fran’s motives as they want to be positively evaluated by others.
An important part of the film was the compliance exhibited by the other dancers towards the federation guidelines. In terms of the social identity theory, identification with a group increases an individual’s personal self-esteem (Tajfel, 1978). When a group collectively possesses high self-esteem, an individual is likely to have high levels of personal self-esteem as well, so long as they identify themselves as being a part of the group. Scott’s desire to perform his own dance moves is seen as a threat to the prestige and honour that comes with being a part of the dance federation, possibly resulting in a lowered self-esteem for the group and consequently for the individual. Therefore, this accounts for why individuals such as Liz, Wayne, and Scott’s mother would go to certain lengths to stop him and Fran from dancing their own steps. Barry Fife makes use of this to conflate his own agenda, saying things such as “One bad egg can rot the whole barrel” to manipulate others into preventing Scott from dancing non-Federation steps.
References
Kim, H. S. & Sherman, D. K. (2007). “Express yourself”: Culture and the effect of self-expression on choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1-11.
Tajfel, H. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 61-76). London: Academic Press.
VandeWalle , D. (1997), Development and validation of a work domain goal orientation instrument, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 8, 995-1015.
An important part of the film was the compliance exhibited by the other dancers towards the federation guidelines. In terms of the social identity theory, identification with a group increases an individual’s personal self-esteem (Tajfel, 1978). When a group collectively possesses high self-esteem, an individual is likely to have high levels of personal self-esteem as well, so long as they identify themselves as being a part of the group. Scott’s desire to perform his own dance moves is seen as a threat to the prestige and honour that comes with being a part of the dance federation, possibly resulting in a lowered self-esteem for the group and consequently for the individual. Therefore, this accounts for why individuals such as Liz, Wayne, and Scott’s mother would go to certain lengths to stop him and Fran from dancing their own steps. Barry Fife makes use of this to conflate his own agenda, saying things such as “One bad egg can rot the whole barrel” to manipulate others into preventing Scott from dancing non-Federation steps.
References
Kim, H. S. & Sherman, D. K. (2007). “Express yourself”: Culture and the effect of self-expression on choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 1-11.
Tajfel, H. (1978). Social categorization, social identity and social comparison. In H. Tajfel (Ed.), Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 61-76). London: Academic Press.
VandeWalle , D. (1997), Development and validation of a work domain goal orientation instrument, Educational and Psychological Measurement, 8, 995-1015.
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