Billy Elliot due 12/1 @ midnight

I had never heard of the movie Billy Elliot before, but it was an interesting story. When Billy first saw the ballet dancers he was very curious about what they were doing and really had little interest in boxing. As time went on, he began going to ballet classes instead of boxing and kept it a secret from his family. What Billy got out of ballet can be noted in positive psychology. Positive psychology is basically the vision of a good life and well being, what makes life worth living. He got a lot of enjoyment out of ballet and the more he did it, the more he liked it. Positive psychology is related to hope, optimism, meaning, flow, competence, love, passion for what you do, talent, skill, creativity, etc. I think all of those things could be seen in Billy doing ballet. I think the ballet teacher helped Billy realize his full potential or self-actualization. Self-actualization is a striving for something, to use one’s talents, capacities, and potential. Once Billy’s father found out he was doing ballet he was not allowed to do ballet anymore because ballet was not for boys, it was for girls. Despite that, he continued working with the teacher in private lessons and she thought he was good enough to try out for a ballet school in London, she saw what he could be. In terms of causality orientations, Billy had an autonomy-causality orientation. This behavior is in response to needs and interests and is a personal choice. No one forced Billy into ballet; he acted out of his own interest and wanted to do it. From the time Billy started ballet, you could see that he was a growth-seeking individual. Grown-seeking individuals center their goal around learning, improving, and reaching their full potential. As he went on, his form, balance, and posture improved. He even showed his friend some of the ballet positions one day in the gym. He worked hard with his teacher and she would make him do things over until he got it right, when they did one on one lessons she even joined in with him so that he could learn the routine. Toward the end of the movie, I think Billy had developed a good interpersonal relationship with his father and brother, who at first were not supportive of his ballet. They helped him get the money to go to school, they were relating to each other in a loving way as they really had not done before, the father and brother learned more about ballet and this opportunity Billy had, and they all realized that this is what Billy wanted to do with himself.
There were definitely some examples of psychoanalysis studies in the movie. Psychoanalysis studies topics like, traumatic memories, addictions, anxieties about the future, repressed memories, fantasies, etc. One example was when Billy was in the kitchen drinking milk out of the container. He had a memory of his mother telling him to use a glass and to put it back in the fridge. The father had anxieties as well. He and the son were on strike from work and didn’t have money to buy things they needed. At one point the father had to chop up the wood from the piano for firewood to stay warm. Billy’s brother definitely had an overwhelming impulse for revenge towards the company he worked for. He was an avid protestor and at one point was arrested by the police. The grandmother had this fantasy that she could have been a professional ballet dancer and at one point began practicing ballet. The second postulate of a contemporary psychodynamic understanding is the mental processes that operate equal to one another. Billy wanted and feared the same thing at the same time. He wanted to get into the ballet school, he loved ballet, but when it came time for the audition he was very scared, stressed, and uneasy. After he was done he got upset at a kid in the locker room and hit him in the mouth. I think not only Billy but his father and brother had ego development. Billy had to learn how to do ballet and he was dependent on his teacher for showing him what to do. Eventually he knew what he was doing and went on to be a great ballet dancer. The father and brother at first were not supportive of his ballet, but eventually they changed their minds and even went to see him, you could see in their faces that they were very proud of him. I think Billy also had aspects of the fourth postulate of contemporary psychodynamic understanding; this is what is learned about self and others from childhood guides adult social motivations. Basically, that lifelong personality patterns begin at childhood. I think as a child Billy had a lot of autonomy, was creative, persistent, worked hard, and had a need for achievement. As a result he continued to work toward ballet, he persisted in spite of disapproval of his father and financial situations, he put in a lot of time, and at the end he was a very good ballet dancer at a very good school.

M/E Terms: Positive psychology, self-actualization, autonomy-causality orientation, growth-seeking individual, interpersonal relationships, psychoanalysis study examples, second postulate of contemporary psychodynamic understanding, ego development, fourth postulate of a contemporary psychodynamic understanding.

In the movie Billy Elliot, Billy struggles with pursuing a passion that is not accepted by his family. In the beginning of the movie, he is a boxer because that is what his dad wants him to do. He becomes interested in ballet, but experiences cognitive dissonance with this because he knows it is not socially acceptable for a boy to be involved in ballet. In this movie, the concept of unconscious motivation is shown clearly. Unconscious motivation involves individuals controlling their sexual and aggressive urges by placing them in the unconscious. These take on a life of their own and become the motivated unconscious. Aggression and the emotion of anger are shown in all of the characters throughout the movie. Billy’s brother and father constantly yell at him and also at each other. Billy lives in a violent home and witnesses his father hitting his brother. It seems that a lot of their anger comes from the death of Billy’s mother. Billy has some anger of his own because his mother is dead and also because of the way his family acts. He also becomes angry at the fact that no one accepts his interest in ballet. It seems like Billy’s family is acting in accordance with the concept of the id in the beginning of the movie, because they are selfish and don’t seem to really care about each other. Towards the end of the movie they become more like the concept of the ego. Billy’s father goes back to mining while the strike is still on just to give Billy a chance and earn some money for him. This is an extremely hard and unselfish thing for Billy’s father to do. Once he saw how important dancing was to Billy, he was willing to do whatever it took to help him reach his full potential. Billy, his father, and his brother all use defense mechanisms to cope with their pain. The mechanism of displacement, which is when a person directs their anger elsewhere, is used by all three. Billy’s father yells at Billy even when Billy hasn’t done anything to make him mad. His brother seems to yell at everyone including Billy, their father, and Billy’s teacher. Billy uses displacement after he witnesses his father hitting his brother. Seeing this makes him angry, so when he goes to ballet lessons he yells at his teacher even though she did nothing to make him angry. He walks out on their lesson and starts yelling at her when she finds him in the bathroom. He tells her she is a failure and says other things he would normally never say. His unconscious anger with his family is motivating this behavior. Billy also uses the defense mechanism of sublimation, which is converting unacceptable desires into acceptable behaviors. There is a scene where Billy’s teacher and brother fight, which upsets and angers Billy. After this happens, he starts dancing all around his neighborhood. This is the first time we really see him dance and it is clear that dancing is an outlet for his anger. Sublimation is the most adaptive defense mechanism. It is a great thing in this situation because it helps Billy become a famous ballet dancer. Billy does not realize that he is using dancing as a defense mechanism and that is why his pain and anger is unconscious motivation for his dancing. During his interview, he kept answering with “I don’t know” to every question because all of his reasons for wanting to dance are unconscious. However, once he starts to think about it, he is able to explain the way dancing makes him feel. It is clear that he is happiest when dancing and that is one of the main reasons he becomes so good at it.
Terms: cognitive dissonance, unconscious motivation, id, ego, defense mechanisms, displacement, sublimation,

Billy Elliot is a movie about a boy who is trying to find his self. Billy comes from a hard working family of miners. His dad and brother both mined and expected Billy to do the same. This is where a dissonance came about. Billy had no desire to become a miner; he wanted to become a professional dancer. Billy’s father also wanted Billy to become a boxer, just like his grandfather. Boxing class was at the same time and same place as the ballet class. Billy was afraid to start attending ballet class because he knew the schema’s his father and brother would develop about him if he became a dancer. They would think that he was girly, homosexual, and fragile—nothing like what they raised or wanted him to be. After attending one class, Billy knew that dancing was something that he wanted to do. He was internally motivated to dance, he did it purely because it was something that he enjoyed and it was something that took him away from the life he was in. Dancing is what made Billy develop his consistent self. Because of dancing, Billy knew who he was and knew who he wanted to be. Dancing also gave Billy self-actualization. Self-actualization is defined as a process of leaving behind timidity, defensive appraisals, and a dependence on others that is paired with the parallel process of moving toward courage to create, make realistic appraisals, and achieve autonomous self-regulation. This is exactly what Billy did. Because his love for dancing, Billy was finally able to step up to his dad and proceeded to try out and get accepted into a professional ballet school in London. As an eleven year old, Billy moved away from his family to do what he loved most. He eventually did become a professional ballet dancer.
Throughout this whole movie, Billy and his father had an internal need to grow. Billy’s needs for growth were motivated by his love for dancing and ballet. His father and brother’s need for growth was in their personal lives. After Billy’s mother died, Billy’s father became a distant, cold, unhappy man. Once Billy opened up to him about his own needs for growth, he was able to grow back into the loving father that they once had.
When Billy went to London to try out for the ballet, he was afraid and excited at the same time. This is what Freud would’ve explained as a mental combats against the will and the counterwill. The conflict between the will and the counterwill is explained by Billy’s id and ego. Billy’s id is his unconscious, impulse-driven motivation to dance. Billy’s id just wanted him to dance because that is what gives him pleasure and happiness. Freud would’ve believed that the reason that Billy did not want to try out at the last minute was because he was listening to his ego. His ego was trying to protect him from getting hurt or experiencing failure. (Today’s psychoanalysts don’t believe in Freud’s theories of the id, ego, and superego but do believe that people have mental conflicts where emotions are not always consistent)

Terms Used: dissonance, schema, intrinsic motivation, consistent self, self-actualization, growth needs, will, counterwill, id, ego, unconscious

In the moving Billy Elliot, it was a boy with a dream and ambition to be a ballet dancer. It wasn’t made out to be as simple as he himself made it out to be. There were a lot of inconsistencies and issues socially and personally that kept Billy from fully engaging in his dream. At first when Billy learns of his interest in ballet, having to stay after his boxing lessons, he tries to keep it a secret. His consistence self, the self schemas that direct behavior to confirm the self-view and to prevent episodes that generate feedback that might dis-confirm that self view, allowing himself to see himself as a dancer. While at the same time, not believing that he had to be homosexual or whatever word that used was used in regards to being feminine; along with any other cognitive dissonance that would occur through it all. And then there is also the possible self that Billy sees himself as. The possible self is the self-schemas that motivate the present self to move toward a desired future self. He saw himself as a ballet dancer, and when he was told not to continue practicing and even hoping to audition, it was that possible self that motivated him to go against his father.

It was clear that, that struggle for the future possible self was a challenge. He had to fight the social definition of himself that his father’s persistence on and the social view of a young man. Social defined individuals accept external definitions of who they are. The social norms that are placed upon them, Billy went against the grain as it were. He was socially defined as an individual that resist the external definitions and instead favor internal definitions of themselves, which was his dancing. He was determined enough to continue with what he wanted to do. At the same time he sought out conditions of worth from his family, which are behaviors and personal characteristics that are judged either positively/negatively or worthy of acceptance or rejection. At first Billy was receiving nothing but negativity and rejection for his dancing, but eventually he gained positivity and acceptance. This further allowed Billy to become a more growth-seeking individual. This allowed Billy to enter himself around his personal strivings around learning, improving, and reaching his own personal potential. It wouldn’t have occurred so effectively or some positively if he didn’t have the positive feedback that he eventually got from his father and even his brother. Even his community got involved to help raise some of the money to get Billy to London and eventually to the Royal Ballet School.

Terms: positive feedback, considerations of worth, consistent self, possible self, social definition, self-definition, cognitive dissonance, growth-seeking individual

In the beginning of the movie, Billy suppresses his desires to be a ballet dancer into his unconscious for a long time. One’s unconscious thoughts hold unfulfilled wishes and unreachable actions. Deep down, Billy wanted to be dancing ballet rather than boxing. During boxing practice, he would stop and watch the ballet class take place. However, he started to suppress those thoughts, or push them out of his consciousness, because he knew his father would be so angry. After his father finds out about the dance class, he stops going and avoids the gym until he can’t resist it anymore. Billy takes control of the situation through implicit motivation. Even though it is highly unacceptable to do ballet in his household, he persists and finds a way to continue his lessons. He sneaks behind his father and brothers back and starts taking private lessons from Mrs. Wilkinson.
Billy and his father both experience ego development during the movie. At first, Billy’s dad refused to let Billy do ballet or have anything to do with. Slowly, he starts to change his mind, and accept the fact that Billy is great at ballet. Mr. Elliot ego grows and matures to learn to accept Billy’s talents. We can really see the growth when Mr. Elliot steps down from the riots that he committed so heavily in and returns to work in order to get find money to support Billy’s ballet. Billy grows admirably through the movie. He takes a dream and makes it happen showing his autonomy in his ballet work.
Billy Elliot shows a great deal of self-actualization throughout the movie. Self-actualization is the process of leaving behind your old self and striving to use one’s talents, capacities, and potentials. Even thought he was pressured to do boxing, he still took matters into his own hands to reach his potential. He secretly takes lessons from Mrs. Wilkinson, practices in the bathroom and makes his life ballet. He realizes his talents lie in ballet and not boxing, and pushes to reach those potentials.
Billy experience positive psychology while doing ballet. Positive psychology is the feelings and experiences that make life worth living. Enjoyment, passion for work, persistence, talent, are a few of the specific feelings associated with this phenomenon. I think Billy received all of these doing ballet. His passion for his work can be seen when he checks out books from the library and practices in the bathroom in order to get better. Persistence was shown when he continued to dance even when everyone was against him.
Validation seeking individuals, or growth seeking individuals, focus their internal strivings on learning, improving and reaching personal potential to reach their needs. Billy displays this many times during the movie. Because Billy didn’t have family members to share his experiences with, he focuses on learning new techniques and becoming better. He practices every chance he gets. When he accomplishes something new, he is so excited. For instance, when Billy finally nailed his turn, he danced all the way home with a huge smile on his face. Billy strived to achieve validation in ballet.

Terms: Unconscious, suppression, self-actualization, implicit motivation, ego development, positive psychology, growth-seeking,

From the beginning of the film we can see that Billy is intrinsically motivated to dance. He puts a record on out of his own initiative and is clearly in a state of bliss as he is dancing to it. Music is clearly a passion of Billy’s as he plays the piano in his house with regularity as well. Even when his father discourages him from playing and shuts the piano, he pushes against him and continues to play. It is evident that he wants to be a dancer deep down. He stares at the dancers even when he is supposed to be boxing.
The death of his mother is also a clear motivator for Billy. He even goes so far as to cut the grass around her grave with a pair of scissors.
The phrase “please yourself” is evident through the film. It appears ironically, every time Billy mentions boxing. He does boxing based on extrinsic motivation provided by his father and brother. Societal pressure is also apparent in his motivation to continue to box. He mentions that dancing “makes me feel like a sissy.” He looks in the mirror regularly and positions his posture so that he appears more masculine. He is aware of his motivation to dance but he tries to deny it or suppress it. He tries not to think about it but it always comes back into his consciousness. His passion for dance is clear in almost every instance of Billy’s life.
He is intrinsically motivated to dance and acts upon his desire by joining the dance class. He goes to the library and takes books to actively pursue his developing goal of becoming a dancer. Even after his father tells him to stop dancing and boxing he continues to pursue his passion, taking private lessons from the instructor. Dancing is what Billy should be doing if he is truly interested in “pleasing himself.”
Although His goal is not very specific at first, it is optimally challenging. He continues to fail again and again but he never quits. It takes real effort day in and day out to get better at ballet. You can tell that Billy has a high degree of self efficacy because he never gives up. Even when everyone around him tells him that he shouldn’t or can’t do it, he perseveres and continually gets better.
He eventually narrows his goal to getting into a dance academy. Despite all of the negatives working against him he eventually succeeds and becomes an amazing dancer. Near the end of the film his father finally comes around to support Billy in his efforts to become a dancer. In one scene the father is asked if he is completely behind his son and he replies “yes of course.” This support, combined with his internal drive, pushes Billy to work even harder at dancing. Not only this, but he no longer has to suppress or hide his desire to become a dancer. He can put all that he has into it. He can truly enjoy the moments allowing him to perform optimally. This optimal performance leads Billy to become the Star of a Ballet show. In the end he performs with his family in attendance.

Suppression
Intrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic Motivation
Goal Specificity
Goals
Self Efficacy
Drive

Many aspects from chapter 14 and 15 are incorporated into Billy Elliott. We see Billy training to be a boxer, but then soon discover that he has a passion for dancing which is an unacceptable activity seen by his father and brother. Billy’s father and brother experience ego development through out the movie. This is the process in which they have a healthy development involves moving form an immature socially dependent personality to one that is more mature and interdependent with others. They are completely against the idea of Billy being a ballet dancer and do everything in their power to make sure he doesn’t follow through with it (they fight, hit, and don’t accept the dance teacher). However, when Billy’s father realizes this is something Billy wants to do, he goes back to his mining job to make money, is encouraging and accompanies Billy to his audition. Billy’s father uses the defense mechanism displacement throughout the movie. Displacement is the threatening impulse or desire is redirected somewhere else. One example would be when Billy’s father is angry at him for being a dance. His father smashes his wife’s piano because he is angry. Also when Billy’s father hits his brother, Billy lashes out at his dance teacher for no reason. Sublimation is converting unacceptable desires into acceptable behavior. When Billy’s father, brother and dance teacher fight and argue, Billy runs out and dances throughout the neighborhood. This is his outlet for aggression that he has built up. Congruence is the exnent to which the individual denies accepts the full range (or rejects/incongruence) of his personal characteristics, abilities, desires and beliefs. Billy would have incongruence with his personality characteristics, beliefs, etc. He expresses one set of characteristics and feelings publicly and then has a different set of characteristics and feelings for himself. He shows this when he first wants to become a ballet dancer. To the public, he tells his father he is going to boxing practice, tells his teacher the first day that he has to box instead of dance, and hides his ballet shoes from his family. In private, he takes private ballet lessons and trains without anyone else knowing. Billy also is a validation seeking individual. He needs the approval of others to feel good about himself, and fulfills others’ conditions for awhile. He seeks the approval of his father so he hides his dancing from him for a long period of time. He fulfills his father’s status of being a “manly man” and encourages Billy to be a miner when he gets older. For awhile, Billy doesn’t believe he is good enough to audition for the ballet school. Because he is validation seeking, he has a lack of personal worth and competence. His teacher encourages him and builds up his self esteem and becomes a growth seeking individual. He is centered on his personal striving in to getting into the school, improving his pirouettes/dancing, and reaching his personal potential. According to the text, meaning in life grows out of three needs. The first is purpose; this is giving today’s activity and struggle a sense of purpose. It helps us generate future oriented goals. This would be when Billy struggles to find a purpose in his life. He doesn’t really enjoy boxing because he is doing it to please his father. Once he discovers ballet for himself, this brings him purpose to his life. He then sets the high, yet attainable goal in getting to a ballet school in order to become a professional dancer. He trains incessantly and does whatever it takes in order to achieve this. The second need is for values; values define what is good, right and when we internalize or act on a value. The third is efficacy and this is having a sense of personal control to enable us to believe that what we do makes a difference. Billy believes that dancing will make a difference in his life. He is refusing to adopt the miner lifestyle and make something more of himself and decides to pursue this career. He had to leave behind his family and friends in order to do so, but it paid off in the end. In the beginning, Billy lives in a household where there is a lot of tension and no one gets along. However, once he has dance to look forward to, he experiences eudaimonic happiness. This is experience of seeking out challenges, exerting effort and being fully engaged and experience flow, acting on true values and feeling alive. Once he gets into the school, he strives to make a career out of his dancing and probably faced many challenges to reach this point and had to put forth a great deal of effort to become a professional. Because he loves it and is successful, he experiences flow.

ego development, displacement, sublimation, congruence, incongruence, validation seeking, growth seeking, purpose, value, efficacy, meaning of life, eudaimonic happiness, flow

Billy Elliot provides us with a great example of how possible selves play a role in motivation and emotion. As the movie begins we see Billy attending boxing lessons even though it is obvious that his passion lies in dancing. He is unenthusiastic in the ring and even starts dancing instead of fighting his opponent. He is taking these boxing lessons because it is what his father wants him to do, not because he wants it for himself. This means that he and his father have different views of Billy’s possible self. Eventually the cognitive dissonance he experiences is too much for him to handle and Billy gives up on the boxing altogether to pursue his real passion, ballet. Billy is afraid to tell his family because he believes that it will effect how they feel about him. Maslow’s hierarchy has a level called love and belonging needs which is right below esteem needs. At the point the movie starts Billy is willing to give up his esteem needs to ensure that his love needs are still met. He is obviously unhappy with his life, but up to the point the movie starts he has done nothing to change it.

After Billy starts dancing and his father finds out his father is very unhappy about it. He tries to make sure that Billy won’t continue dancing but is unsuccessful. We see an improvement in Billy’s attitude that comes from pursing his dreams. He is beginning to engage in the six behaviors that encourage self-actualization which are; make growth choices, be honest, situationally position yourself for peak experiences, give up defensiveness, let the self emerge, and be open to experience. Billy beings to do all of these things and before our eyes we begin to see his process of self-actualization. He makes growth choices by choosing to practice ballet in private without the knowledge of his father. When his father comes into the gym while Billy is teaching Michael to dance Billy finally gets a chance to be honest with is father, and the change we see in his father is immediate. He situationally positions himself for peak experiences by continually practicing ballet with his private teacher and, once his father has accepted his passion, by going to the tryout at the ballet school. He is never defensive about the fact that he likes ballet. He is very open about it and does not feel as if it is something that he should be embarrassed or defensive about. By doing all of this we see the true Billy Elliot begin to emerge and his openness to experience increases after he enrolls in the ballet school. By following the recipe he has managed to become self-actualized and achieve his dreams.

Our textbook states “the subject matter of positive psychology is the investigation of positive subjective experiences such as well-being, contentment, satisfaction, enjoyment, hope, optimism, meaning, flow, competence, love, passion for work, hope, courage, perseverance, self-determination, interpersonal skill, talent, creativity…” Billy is an excellent example of what can come from someone who has an innate grasp of what positive psychology is. After his audition when the woman asks him why he dances I believe that his answer is all of the things that are studied by positive psychologists. Although he cannot articulate why he dances there is obviously some type of unconscious motivation for him to do so. Freud would say that finally this unconscious motivation came into consciousness and he was unable to resist any longer.

It is clear that Billy is a person whose growth-seeking need is much higher than his validation-seeking need. Billy does not express concern about what others may think of his dancing. A person who needs to be socially validated “often use interpersonal situations to test or measure their personal worth, competence, or likeability.” On the other hand people who seek to grow “center their personal striving around learning, improving, and reaching personal potential.”

Terms: growth-seeking, validation-seeking, positive psychology, six behaviors that encourage self-actualization, possible self, cognitive dissonance, congruence, Maslow’s hierarchy

There are some aspects of Freud’s psychodynamic theory that are present in the movie Billy Elliot. In psychodynamic theory there is the clashing of psychological forces. There is Ego on one hand, which is one’s will, desire or excitation. On the other hand there is Id. This is a repression or inhibition, and includes guilt. This can be seen when Billy Elliot is dancing. He has a strong desire to dance, and is excited whenever he gets the chance to do it. As he says in his interview, dancing is like electricity flowing through his body. He has a conscious volition or will to dance. His desire to dance is through his Ego. Yet there is the Id that is an unconscious counter-will. He knows that his father would disapprove of him dancing, and that dancing could be seen as gay. The id makes him feel guilty over dancing, and at times inhibits him from dancing. He stops showing up for practice a few times because of this. He also gets upset at his dance instructor, and has a hissy fit when he is feeling guilty over dancing and doesn’t feel like he can do any of the dance moves. The clash of Id and Ego are clearly present throughout the movie.
A person’s attachment to their caregiver at a young age is very important. This is related to the object relations theory. The object relations theory focuses in particular on how childhood mental representations of one’s caretakers are acquired within one’s personality and persist into adulthood. In other words, how one views their parents and the attachment they have with their parents both contribute to one’s personality in adulthood. When Billy’s mother was alive, she provided a safe and secure household, where Billy was loved and cared for with affection. But after his mother dies his father is left to raise Billy and his older brother all by himself, as well as take care of the grandmother. Billy’s father is short tempered and under much stress because of the strike his union is currently under. Therefore he lashes out several times at Billy and Billy’s older brother. He forbids Billy from dancing, yells at Billy, and hits Billy’s older brother. Therefore Billy’s need for relatedness is not fulfilled. He seeks comfort by dancing and forming a friendship with his dance instructor.
Billy goes through a process of self-actualization throughout the film. Self-actualization is an inherent developmental striving, the process of leaving behind timidity and a dependence on others. It involves moving towards the courage to create and achieve self-regulation. At the beginning of the film Billy is more timid of his brother and those around him. He goes to boxing lessons because he is told to do so. Yet when he discovers dancing he breaks free from his dependence on others and becomes much more independent. He becomes much less timid as he learns the fundamentals of dance and realizes how good of a dancer he actually is. Another aspect of self-actualization is the realization of one’s talents, capacities, and potentialities. As Billy continues to rehearse and take lessons from his teacher, he realizes his potential and how good he actually is. Not only this but those in Billy’s life realize this as well. When his father catches him dancing with his friend in the gym, he is extremely upset. But Billy proves to him just how good he really is, and this causes a change in his father’s attitude. Billy recognizes his talent and knows he needs to audition for the Royal Ballet School. This recognition of his talent is Billy’s self-actualization.
Terms used: Psychodynamic theory, id, ego, repression, object relations theory, self-actualization

Billy Elliot tells the story of a young boy who has the realization that he is very passionate about dancing. This comes directly in the face of his family’s expectations, which causes a great deal of strife for Billy throughout the movie. For a while, Billy chose to box because he sought the validation of his family members. However, once he discovers his natural affinity for ballet, Billy realizes that further striving to excel in boxing would be psychologically incongruent with his actual self. He is forced to keep up the façade of boxing practice in order to avoid the disdain of his father and older brother, who value more stereotypically “macho” pursuits. For so long Billy had allowed the perceived self that his relatives saw for him to trump his own growth needs. He fulfilled his psychological needs of esteem and need for belongingness from. Toeing the line in this manner also reduced the likelihood of his lower safety and security needs being compromised (e.g., his father or brother pounding him). Billy essentially viewed any deviation from the desires of his relatives as having the potential to deprive him of these deficiency needs. As Maslow points out, the presence of such needs suggests a failure to move towards growth and actualization. This sort of conflict is not unique to Billy – in fact, it is a typical part of growing up.

As human beings get older, they are commonly inclined to move toward self-actualization. This usually manifests itself in a rebellious attitude often found among adolescents. This ‘rebellion’ is produced by an increased ability to depend on one’s self and to formulate one’s own thoughts and opinions. Moving from the heteronomous beliefs of the family to a personal autonomy causes Billy’s father to resort to physical violence. This is because he firmly believes that dancing and other ‘feminine’ activities should be limited to ‘poofs’ and could be perceived an indication of homosexuality on the part of his younger son. Attempting to instill this sort of attitude in his children initially causes Billy a great deal of cognitive dissonance. Nevertheless, he soon realizes that this is an incongruent belief - despite his love of ballet, he is still attracted to girls. This orientation is most notable in his interactions with his dance teacher’s daughter.

Billy’s dad clearly has been employing conditional regard in order to socialize his sons. This strategy has caused Billy to blindly obey until this point, but now that he is exerting independence some negative side effects have surfaced – Billy is anxious about having to rehearsal against his father’s wishes and gets angry when confronted, telling his father that he is a “bastard” and that he “hates him.” At this point it is extremely clear that Billy possesses an internal locus of causality. He is motivated by his own needs and interests and largely disregards the external pressures of his family’s disdain and the larger societal stigma associated with male dancers. This refusal to conform allows Billy to focus on reaching his full potential as a growth-seeking individual and to pursue his long-term goal of attending ballet school in London.

Terms: validation-seeking, incongruence, façade, esteem, need for belongingness, safety, deficiency needs, growth, self-actualization, heteronomy, autonomy, cognitive dissonance, conditional regard, internal locus of causality, growth-seeking individual, long-term goal

In this Britain-based film, eleven-year-old Billy Elliot doesn’t feel very interested or competent in boxing, though that’s what his dad wants him to do—it’s a family tradition. After observing and then trying it out, he does become interested in and feel more competent in ballet dancing. Billy is aware of the schemas of male ballet dancers and is afraid to like dancing or be good at it because he fears that by dancing, he will fulfill a stereotype threat that all male ballet dancers are homosexuals. His dad also fears this, which is probably a big part of why he doesn’t support Billy’s desire to dance for most of the film. His father wants him to be involved in a sport that is more gender role confirming.

Billy’s grandma seems like she might have dementia. She left the house and Billy found her wondering in a field. He takes care of his grandma—he has a caring personality. Billy’s biological temperament is mellow, introverted, calm, but the cultural priorities of being a male, and a coal minors son, conflict with it. There is dissonance as he battles to follow his biological temperament and desires and not follow the cultural norms.

Billy sets a goal to become a better dancer through his adaptive unconscious—he starts by taking a ballet book from the library to help him practice—and his teacher mentors him until he is ready to audition. The ballet teacher is not easy on him through this process, but she gives him encouragement. She believes in his ability and his potential. She empowers Billy to audition for the Royal Ballet School. She even gives him free private lessons to help him. The aspects of Billy’s conscious volition (his desire, excitement), as well as the eventual support from his dad and brother help him to reach his goal.

There are a few instances in the movie of when the characters experience anxiety and their defense mechanisms are shown. The first example of this occurs continuously throughout the movie. Billy’s dad is stricken with grief of his wife’s death coupled with the stress from being on strike at the coalmines. He takes his anxiety and transfers it onto Billy mostly, but also onto the grandmother and Billy’s dance teacher. The second example of this is when the fighting between Billy’s dad and his brother consumes his concentration and he can’t focus on his dancing. Billy takes his frustration and transfers it to his teacher. Though both examples of displacement help to ease the stress at the moment, it is not a healthy mechanism for the long-term. Both characters realize this and end up dealing with their anxiety by sublimation.

Throughout the film, Billy wants his father’s support and approval. He doesn’t overtly seek validation from his father, though. Billy experiences growth seeking when he finally stands up to his dad and shows him how he can dance. His dad realizes how good Billy is and how he has a chance to do something good and meaningful with his life. From that point on, Billy’s dad decides to support him and his goal. His dad takes a big risk and brings himself to cross the picket line and go back to work in the mines so he can afford for Billy to go to ballet school—a scary thing when there are mobs of protesting miners are attacking the bus and being violent toward other miners who have to go back to work also.

In summary, Billy continues to work towards self-actualization, the full realization and use of one’s talents, capacities, and potentialities. The final scene of his performance in Swan Lake is an illustration of Billy reaching self-actualization as a dancer. He has experienced eudaimonic well being as he sought out challenges, exerted effort, became fully engaged and experienced flow, felt alive (as he told one audition judge, he felt like “electricity” when he danced) and authentic.

Terms used from the chapters: competent, stereotype threat, biological temperament, cultural priorities, adaptive unconscious, conscious volition, defense mechanism, transference, validation, growth-seeking, self-actualization, eudaimonic well being

In the movie Billy begins to take boxing lessons, but while going sees a dance class that he becomes more interested in. He suppresses his desire to be a dancer into his unconscious knowing that his father and brother will make fun of him. Billy experiences in congruence due to this situation. Congruence can be explained as when a person accepts a specific set of desires and goals, in congruence is when you see yourself in one manor and others see you in a different view. Billy’s dad rationalizes that “lads don’t do ballet” to justify his opinion behind Billy not being involved in dance. Eventually Billy stops caring about what his father will think and stops hiding the fact that he is taking lessons. As Billy continues his passion for ballet he experiences self-actualization as he realizes the true talent he possess. Billy has become intrinsically motivated due to his wanting and interesting in learning more about dance. Extrinsically, Billy is motivated by wanted to keep his dad and brother happy. Billy’s openness to do something outside of what was the norm for his gender is one of the key components to self-actualization
Throughout the movie we see Maslow’s Need Hierarchy come into play. Billy had a security need, knowing that being a ballet dancer he would make more money, made him feel more secure. Billy didn’t feel like he belonged when he was boxing because he was not good at it and if he wasn’t good at it like his father and grandfather had been, he felt he really didn’t belong. On the other hand, while doing ballet Billy felt that he totally belonged because it was something he was good at and enjoyed.
Billy showed a lot of autonomy in this movie. Despite the amount of family issues going on he showed a lot of self-regulation and self-control. He was able to go and learn ballet on his own and he stole a ballet book so he could practice at home.
Billy doesn’t have the best relationship with his brother and father and therefore doesn’t have a high need for intimacy or affiliation until he meets Debbie and Mrs. Wilkinson. These two provide a positive environment for him to be surrounded by
By Billy finding dance he in a sense found himself. It provided him with an escape from his families issues and the dancing provided a purpose in his life it allowed him to express himself in a way his family had not let him before, it showed him value, because he possessed a new talent and it gave him a sense purpose because he knew he had talent and was being able to freely express it.
Maslow’s Need Hierarchy, security needs, belongingness, unconscious, congruence, rationalization, self-actualization , intrinsic needs, extrinsic needs , self-regulations, self-control, intimacy, affiliation

Billy Elliot is a movie about a young boy trying to pursue his passion of ballet dancing despite the expectations of his working class father and brother and their working class friends. It is a movie about finding your passion and rising above what everyone else thinks of you. Its about accepting others for who they are and doing whatever it takes for those you love. It's inspiration and entertaining and Jamie Bell grew up to be a very good looking man...just so you know. Anyway, this story demonstrates a lot of the concepts you find in chapter 14. This chapter covers unconscious motivation stating that most of our mental lives take place at the unconscious level. When we first meet Billy, he is your average (for the time and place and social class) eleven year old boy. He is at the gym trying (and failing ) to learn to box. His adaptive unconscious is working very well in helping him act like how he is suppose to. He has established goals and judgments that state what a boy should be doing and thinking and he is just acting on these things without much thought. However, one day he notices a group of girls learning ballet and immediately takes interest. He decides to try it out with them. He discovers on that first day that he already has a strong implicit motivation to it. He found it to be so enjoyable and it sparked an emotion that boxing couldn't. He didn't seem to understand why he was so drawn to it, but once he started he didn't want to stop. However, he tries to hide this passion for his family knowing that they would not approve which leads me to conclude he suffered from conflicted emotions since he knew that it was frowned upon and he probably shouldn't enjoy it so much; ego v. id. However, Billy does show eventually that he doesn't care so much for what other people think, he loves dancing. This shows an autonomous level of ego development. His “thoughts, plans, goals, and behaviors originate from within the ego and its resources, rather than from id impulses or from other people's demands and pressures”. He has surpassed his father and brother, who are still in the conformist stage, in ego maturity. You can see the difference in maturity when looking at their individual ego defense mechanisms. Billy's father and brother are demonstrating rationalization; they convince themselves that ballet is for girls and queers and that there must be something wrong with Billy. They rationalize their negativity towards ballet so that they can keep Billy and his dancing from embarrassing them. Billy on the other hand demonstrates sublimation; he turns his frustration into working hard on becoming a dancer. He uses it to fuel his passion which is at a higher maturity level than rationalization. Throughout this movie, you notice how much of what the characters do and think is controlled by their unconscious motivations. They all begin believing in social rules and allow themselves to be governed by what others think. They run through the motions and I’m sure a lot of it is because they are working class and they don't have many options outside of working class activities. It wasn't until Billy broke out of this auto pilot and began to act on his impulses did the rest of them open themselves up to grow and eventually foster Billy. I almost cried when the dad and brother were crying at the mine because they realized they had to give Billy a future. Saddest thing ever.
unconscious motivation, adaptive unconscious, implicit motivation, ego, id, autonomous, ego development, conformist stage, ego defense, rationalization, sublimation

The movie, Billy Elliot, serves to exemplify the psychological principle of self-actualization, the “full realization and use of one’s talents, capacities and potentialities.” This also talks about how people who fail to self-actualize are maladjusted into society. This relates to the movie, because Billy Elliot was trying to find himself. The entire time he was trying to find himself through dancing. It was apparent that when he finally was allowed into the dance that he was much happier and more at peace. This was because of his self-actualization. His comments at the end of his audition for the Royal Ballet School serve as evidence of this. He said he feels alive and forgets everything and feels like electricity.

Also, in relation to the textbook, there were several example of psychodynamics and conflicting thoughts and ideas, which according to Chapter 14 is fairly common. One example of this was with Billy, himself. Billy wanted to dance like no other, but he also wanted to please his father. These conflicting mental processes causes a lot of tension in his life. When they began to quit conflicting because his father decided to approve of his dancing, the tension was removed. As with the self-actualization, Billy appeared much more at ease.

Another example of this was when Jackie Elliot, Billy’s father, watched Billy dance full out for the first time. The emotions playing across his face were very diverse and sometimes contradictory. They varied between awe and disgust to incredulity and shock. They were so diverse that when Jackie left the gym running, the audience had no idea what he was thinking or what he was doing. It wasn’t until he arrived at the Dance teacher’s house that the audience knew he finally approved of his son’s decision to dance.

Another example was when Jackie arrived at the mine to work. After working so hard to get better wages and working conditions for the miners, Jackie knew he had to go to work to earn money for Billy’s audition. He ended up breaking down because the conflicting emotions were so great. Instead, he sold the jewelry of his wife, who had died a while previously. This brought a whole new array of conflicting emotions to the fore.

Also, by using the object relations theory we can say that it is a good thing Billy’s relationship with his father was greatly improved .Otherwise, this could have had a very serious impact on his view of himself and others. This was because he was constantly hiding things from his father in order to please him and save face. This could have led to a need for affiliation and doing or appearing to do things in order to please others.

Self-actualization, object relations theory, psychodynamics

Billy Elliot is a movie that deals with many motivation and emotion concepts, specifically relating to chapters fourteen and fifteen. It regard to the psychodynamic perspective, Billy developed certain thoughts and desires for ballet, pre-puberty. His impulses and motivation to dance was unconsciously built in him biologically. When Billy began to dance he experienced heightened states of arousal and increased energy throughout the body. Billy had experienced unconscious urges for dancing. He was always encouraged to be a man and forced to do boxing. It wasn’t until he finally saw the ballet class and heard the music that he understood he wanted to consciously become a ballet dancer. His father also experienced some unconscious thoughts. He was under a great deal of stress and the pressures of the strike, leaving him to pay little attention to Billy and his needs. He unconsciously, in a hidden sense, had intentions that were to support Billy in his decisions. He was caught up in the conformity of men not typically becoming ballet dancers, which in the end did not matter to him. When Billy dances, he gets lost in thought. There is an adaptive unconscious thought process happening. He is able to instinctively perform without any conscious thought once he feels the flow. His dancing skills became routine. Billy also never understood very clearly why he was so drawn to dancing. There was implicit motivation that operated unconsciously. He had little understanding for his behaviors, but new he was motivationally inclined to fulfill his needs. There was some urge to suppress his feelings at first, mostly because of fear from his dad and what people would say. Billy’s friend, Michael, however, had to deal a great deal with suppressing his sexual orientation which made him uncomfortable. Billy’s dad had a big ego. He was impulsive and wanted autonomy over his children and work. He was struggling with his ego defense mechanism. His conflicting id made overwhelming anxiety occur from the environment he was in. The continuous changes and anxiety were able to decrease from his defense mechanism and the reality of the situation with his children and work. Both Billy and his dad were confined to positive psychology. After acceptance of Billy’s life decisions, they were able to seek the growth and development it took to incorporate a positive life style of living. It took some time for Billy’s dad to come to terms with his son’s choice, but his self-actualization developed into an encouraging stance behind his son. He became dedicated to encourage and develop Billy’s growth. Billy’s ballet instructor was optimistic of Billy from the start. She understood his potential and encouraged him forcefully to reach his true potential. She had a high relatedness toward others through dance. She was unselfish, but instead socially attached and emotionally connected to her students, primarily Billy. The motivations and unconscious activity of others were in fact positive in Billy’s growth.
Terms: psychodynamic perspective, unconscious, adaptive unconscious, implicit motivation, suppression, ego, ego defense, positive psychology, self-actualization, optimism, relatedness to others.

Billy Elliot depicts the story of a boy who goes against social norms and his family’s wishes to become a dancer. In the early stages of this journey to becoming a dancer, he portrays the idea of Freud’s psychodynamics, which the brain is in conflict with its thoughts. Deciding between pursuing dancing, an activity which seems enjoyable, or continuing with the male-accepted activity of boxing. Society has taught him that his will should be to pursue more male-oriented to activities. However, his counter will is motivating him to pursue dancing instead. This doesn’t come without a battle with his dad and brother who strongly oppose Billy’s intentions of pursuing dance. It almost appears as if their ego hasn’t matured enough, that it is still being influenced by the id rather than the superego. They both seem to be in the conformist stage of ego development, as they let societal influences greatly determine what they believe Billy should do with his life. However, as the movie progresses, they move towards the conscientious and autonomous stages because they start to support Billy because they see his enjoyment and passion for dancing. You see their full transformation when they attend his recital at the end of the movie.
Billy’s pursuit of dancing portrays the values of positive psychology, or fulfilling the question “what could be?” Positive psychology notes that many people will fall short of “what could be,” but instead Billy doesn’t let his interest in dance diminish and he later pursues it instead of boxing. Billy also portrays positive psychology by actualizing the human potential in himself, or his hidden talent of dancing. Part of the reason that Billy’s brother and father don’t seem to be able to have the mentality to support Billy’s pursuit of dancing can be supported by the difference between deficiency motivation and growth motivation. Billy feels as if his basic needs, or the needs at the base of Maslow’s Hierarchy, are being met because he is better able to pursue growth needs, or more specifically his passion for dance. Billy’s father and brother struggle with Billy’s pursuit of dance potentially due to the fact that while on strike, they have to access their deficiency motivation instead of growth motivation. In addition to functioning on growth motivation, Billy can be described as a growth-seeking individual, as he choose dance because it was his chance to learn, improve, and reach his personal potential. Describing his as a growth-seeking individual is reaffirmed because instead of allowing negative outcomes to provoke adjustment, he uses negative outcomes as his way of learning and moving forward towards his goal of dance.
Finally, Billy uses his relationships with his coach, friend, brother, and dad in order to reach his potential or actualizing tendency. He supports his friend, Michael, who is homosexual even though society wouldn’t typically support a young homosexual. His coach, Georgia Wilkinson, helps him promote the freedom to learn dance, which is one of Billy’s ultimate potentials. He is somewhat able to relate to his brother in their common dislike of their father’s ability to suppress his thoughts about their dead wife/mother. Finally, through the conflict and lack of support from his father at the beginning of the movie, Billy is able to create and define his self, as a hard-working dancer.

Terms: psychodynamics, will, counter will, ego, id, superego, conformist stage, ego development, conscientious stage, autonomous stage, positive psychology, deficiency motivation, growth motivation, growth-seeking

In the movie, Billy Elliot, we see a young Billy Elliot discover his desire to dance. In the beginning of the movie, Billy is complying with his father’s wishes to take up boxing lessons despite his lack of interest in the sport. One day he saw a group of girls learning ballet and it immediately drew his attention. He decided to try it out with them and discovered that he enjoyed it immensely. From this scene, we can see implicit motivation at work. For some unconscious reason, Billy is drawn to dancing. As he dances, he feels enjoyment and competence because he found something that he was good at.
As Billy learned how to dance, he felt a sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. With each new move he learned, he would begin to feel more competent in what he was doing. In chapter 14, this is called ego effectance. As Billy felt more competent, the more motivated his ego effectance was to take on new and challenging tasks (such as learning how to jump and do a 360 degree spin). During the scene where he was learning how to jump and spin, he continued to practice although he wasn’t succeeding in completing the move. Because he had been successful in other areas of dance, his ego effectance motivation helped to maintain his persistence until he was finally able to successfully complete the move.
Another concept from chapter 14 that is seen throughout the movie is defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are a protective function that the ego employs to avoid anxiety. In the movie, we see Billy, his dad, and his brother using the defense mechanism of displacement. Displacement is when you take your anger or stress from one area in your life and project it on to something or someone else. For example, Billy is having trouble dealing with his brother and father rejecting his desire to dance. In turn, he takes the anxiety and anguish that he feels out on his dance instructor. We see Billy use displacement again after the auditions when another kid is trying to comfort Billy. Angered by his audition, Billy takes his frustration out on the unsuspecting boy. This next example of displacement is by Billy’s dad. Dealing with the loss of his wife and the stress from the coalmine strike, Billy’s dad takes his anxiety and frustration out on Billy and his dance instructor.
Another defense mechanism that can be seen in the movie is sublimation. According to the text, "sublimation is transforming a socially unacceptable anxiety into a source of energy that produces no adverse consequences and is made socially acceptable." Billy uses sublimation when his ballet teacher and brother get into an argument. Instead of joining in the argument, he takes all of his frustration and anger and channels it into dancing. We see him passionately move through the streets in a series of dance moves to vent out his frustration.

Terms: implicit motivation, ego effectance motivation, defense mechanism, displacement, sublimation

Billy Elliot is about an eleven year old boy who is living in a town where mining is the main source of income. The Social definitions of boys in this town are that boys are tough and play sports like boxing, football, and wrestling. At the beginning of the movie he would be expected to grow up to be like his brother and father and get into the mining profession. A social definition is when you seek to define yourself by others standards. Billy seeks to create his own standards for himself and has a self-defined definition. He discovers his passion for dance and with the help of his dance instructor develops a long term goal to go the royal ballet academy. While discovering his passion he also experiences cognitive dissonance. He knows that his community does not approve of boys dancing and goes back and forth on his acceptance of his discovery.
Billy is also struggling with the idea of growth-seeking vs. validation seeking. This goes along with society’s views on the definition of males. If Billy were validation seeking he would have just stuck with his boxing classes to please his father and brother. This would have caused him to be vulnerable and maybe even mental health issues. Because he chooses to pursue dance he improves himself, his learning, and in the end reaches his full potential. He fills his need for intimacy with his dance instructor. His mother dies before the movie begins and he lacks an intimate relationship with a mother figure. She supports him, disciplines him, and cares for him like a mother would and fills the gap. Toward the end of the movie, Billy had developed a positive interpersonal relationship with his father and brother, who at first were against his participation in ballet. They helped him get the money to go to school and were relating to each other in a loving way as they really had not done before. They both realized Billy’s potential and supported his passion throughout the rest of Billy’s journey to become a professional dancer.
Growth-seeking, validation-seeking, goal, long term goal, social definition, self-defined definition, cognitive dissonance

Billy Elliot is a young boy who has yet to reach his self-actualization. He has not realized his full potential or his own talents. His dad makes him go to boxing practice even though he is not good at it and he is not intrinsically motivated. However, as the movie progresses Billy gains autonomy and starts to regulate his own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. When he begins ballet he knows he must keep it a secret from his dad, who would not approve. Billy’s dad lacks openness to new or different experiences and Billy knows that. As Billy continues to practice, his teacher makes him aware of the potential he has to be a great dancer. Billy is slow to act on his growth needs, but comes to realize that he really enjoys ballet and that he does have a lot of potential. He begins to recognize his growth needs/self-actualization needs which provide him energy and direction to become what he is capable of becoming; in his case, a great ballet dancer. Every person has the basic tendency to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing self. This actualizing tendency motivates people to try new and challenging experiences. Billy’s actualizing tendency is what led him to try ballet and come to find out that he had a true passion for it. However, one reason why people sometimes fail to reach their goals or to try new experiences is because they are in a non-supportive environment. Billy’s dad and brother would not support his ballet dancing and Billy knew that so he hid it. He basically wore a façade to hide the fact that he was dancing instead of boxing, in order to keep his dad happy. However, one big factor that encourages self-actualization is being honest. Once Billy took responsibility for his ballet dancing and was honest about it, his dad slowly came to accept it, which provided a supportive environment for Billy. As Billy’s sense of self started to emerge, he gained the need for approval and acceptance from others. This need made him sensitive to the feedback he got from his teacher and his family. His teacher provided him with positive and worthy feedback, whereas his dad and especially his brother provided him with very negative feedback. Once Billy’s dad accepted that he was going to be a ballet dancer, Billy’s full potential was able to be reached. Billy’s need for autonomy was satisfied now that he could make his own decisions about what he wanted to do. He became a growth-seeking individual and focused on learning and improving his ballet dancing, which eventually got him to being a professional dancer. I think a big reason why Billy was so drawn towards ballet was because it stemmed from an implicit motive. He automatically attended to the ballet dancing because he had a strong emotional tie to it. Dancing and music made him feel free and happy and he was very mindful of that. So, instead of suppressing his love for ballet, he embraced it.
TERMS: intrinsic motivation, self-actualization, autonomy, openness, growth needs, actualizing tendency, non-supportive environment, façade, sense of self, need for approval, feedback, growth-seeking individual, implicit motive, suppression, mindfulness.