“OUR BODIES KNOW WE BELONG; IT IS OUR MINDS THAT MAKE OUR LIVES SO HOMELESS”
A sense of belonging come from a sense of identity
Not all, but some individuals go through the devastating experiences of not being able to connect to groups and communities or even themselves as a matter of race, culture, religion and so on. Imagine you’re aged 6, living in a world of poverty, violence and war, not having an education, not knowing right from wrong. Then one day you find out that the next morning your family and yourself will be fleeing to another country. Another world, new people, different cultures, races, a new way of life.
The opening scenes of Strictly Ballroom directed by Bas Luhrmann explore aspects of not belonging and non-acceptance. Scott Hastings, a professional dancer in the ballroom world, living in his fantasy filled with glitter, costumes, music, judges, competition, popularity, a guy loved by the audience, a family man but always finds himself rebelling against the ballroom world rules. Only wanting to find a way out to dance his own steps. This automatically reveals to the audience a sense of alienation by choice bringing out a case of non-belonging. From this we understand that some people may have to sacrifice their own true identity to belong to a certain group. This is presented through the opening scene, a sequence of mid shots and an extreme closeup of the feet moving across the floor showing the perceptive and disciplined posture indicative of ‘proper‘ ballroom dancing signifying that everything is as it should be. This is portrayed by the emphasis on the perfect and elegant dancing of the ballroom couples. The rules and conventions of the ‘ballroom world‘ show the obeying of rules and the concept of belonging.
‘Migrants’ by Bruce Dawe displays a group of migrants attempting to settle into their new home country ‘Australia’. The minute they boarded the new country, all there hopes of dreams, freedom, passion, wealth flew out the...