Belonging

Belonging is an emotional connection to a place, culture, person or group. It can also be an inner place that can be reached through experiences and reflection. Belonging also relates to the notion of a sense of place, a feeling of belonging to the local, being enmeshed in an environment, a social class, a cultural context or a particular area. In addition, belonging can be associated with the construction of the self through socialisation and the desire to belong. It can result in a sense of identification and a means of locating oneself within discourse and ideologies or it could lead to the downfall of the individual through the comfority. Texts explore many aspects of belonging, including the potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group. They may reflect the way attitudes to belonging and are modified over time. Texts may also represent choices not to belong, or barriers which present belonging. Perceptions and ideas of belonging in texts can be constructed through a variety of language modes, forms, features and structures. In engaging with the text, a responder may experience and understand the possibilities presented by a sense of b elonging to, or exclusion from the text and the world it represents. This engagment may be influenced by the different ways perspective is given voice in or are absent from a text. Skrzynecki’s poetry has shown to do more than just recall the journey he and his family have made from their homeland. His poetry has also shown to continue this journey and also invites the reader to participate through his usage of descriptive languages and imagery. Such poetry that serves this function includes Feliks Skrzynecki and Migrant Hostel and Postcard. Throughout the 3 poems, all three are shown to hold one particular theme, journey. Each poem is shown to relate to a different period of that journey indirectly, through the usages of description of a particular thing, event or person, which he found to be significant during this period. Peter’s description during his stay shows a negative attitude towards his arrival in this new country, often commenting it in relation to concentration camps, where people were treated as a flow of traffic, known as numbers coming and going, “No one…comings and goings.” Peter is shown to adopt an adult migrant role in this poem, one who has yet to adopt to the Australian society. Peter Skryznecki’s poetry shows the sense of alienation and not belonging within the Australian society. Migration raises issues of belonging and alienation as migrants move to a new land. The chosen poems that will be discussed in detail is Postcard and Feliks Skrzynecki and the prescribed text that is chosen is a movie which is called ‘Strictly ballroom’, directed by Boaz Yakin. In this poem, a simple postcard sparks off a chain of reverie in the poet’s mind that addresses the demands of cultural heritage made on exatriates years after they have left their homeland. Even though Peter Skrzynecki was only four years of age when his parents immigrated to Australia, the pictorial scene of Warsaw has a strong impact on him. He can predict that the postcard image of the ‘Old Town’, will reawaken his father’s pride in his homeland and his mother’s nostalgia for her ‘Beloved Ukraine’. He does not predict the impact the post card will have on him. Strangely, it also has the power to reach out to him and the poet personifies the city as she whispers an invitation that he will probably be unable to resist. We are taken through the numbered stages of his response. We listen to the two-way conversation between himself and the city that, even though he does not know it in the way his parents do, nonetheless beckons him home. Readers are left with the feeling that the poet’s hypnotic ‘stare’ is indicative of a pull that cannot be ignored even if it cannot be understood. His attempts to be dismissive of this cultural connection are in wain. His conclusion that he has seen similar ‘red buses’ and that ‘all rivers have/ an obstinate glare’ seems equally useless. There is a connectedness to this place that defines logical explanation. He seems compelled to answer the city’s siren voice as she whispers confidently ‘We will meet/before you die’ Within stanza one the postcard is a kind of correspondence that denotes temporary residence and holiday rather than permanence. The context of place, ‘Warsaw: Panorama of the Old Town’, sender ‘a friend’ and the recipent is clearly indicated. The poet also challenges us the reader’s expectations by giving the postcard haunting qualities. These are not the sort of things that are typically ascribed to a quickly scribbled missive whilst on holiday. It is not the postcard itself so much as what it signifies in terms of connection to homeland and a prior existence and sense of belonging. Ironically the postcard would mean totally different things to his parents. He is requested to show it to his parents and he knows their respone will be personal and experiential. Stanza two, the scene of Warsaw city, however typical, has powerful resonance due to the recipient’s family background. It is a loaded image that speaks to a former time in their lives. The scene depicted is a typical postcard scene of ‘Red buses on a bridge’. By highlighting features of the scene, the poet is stressing the commonplace aspect of the card as well as using visual imagery that enables the reader to clearly picture the scene. This emphasises that the image has both literal and figurative connotations. In stanza three the tone changes, becoming more reflective. The city is personalised, she is alive, a ‘Great city’ to those that loved her. This typical postcard takes on an added subjective significance. Warsaw was the scene of massive destruction and change during WWII. The jewish ghetto was also the scene of an armed uprising against the Nazis who ‘massacred’ and ‘exiled… Its people’. Although now distant in time, it remains frozen in memory, having “survived/In theminds/Of a dying generation/Half a world away”. The city is changing, the Polish migrants are aging but the city itself and what it represents to past inhabitants lives on. “They”, the migrants now settled in Australia have become the spiritual custodians of Old Warsaw, shielding it from change. They retain connection with their city, their spiritual homeland, shown by remaining vicariously concerned for its welfare. Political references are made to the “White Eagle’s flag”, the nationalistic standard that denotes their ethnicity. They also identify with Poland and her flag, mourning her miseries and celebrating her victories. Within stanza four the poet ponders about what makes this place so special, while still recognising that it i. Skrzynecki feels that the city calls to him and he asks it to “let me be’. This phrase stresses the undeniable pull of his cultural heritage, which affects him in ways he cannot fully understand. He predicts the effect the postcard will have on his parents. His father ‘Will be proud’, while his mother will be nostalgic. She will speak of her ‘beloved Ukraine’ reinforcing mankind’s inherent love of home. He rehetorically asks about his choice of home: ‘What’s my choice/ to be'’ He has no similar affinity for any one place which increases his fascination for its impact on them and those like them. He can recognise the pull but does not fully comprehend it. Stanza five, he concludes that he can mirror his parents’ ‘praise’ but rhetorically asks what else he ‘can give’. A metaphorical battle is taking place in him. The city of his birth has a magnetic quality and demands an acknowledgment that he is loath to give. There is an inkling fear of commitment, a hesitation to acknowledge this vague but undeniable allegiance to our birthplace. He cannot give their emotional response and asks whether it wants ‘The gift of despair'’ The city is personified and given a force that demands recognition and reverence. Within stanza six, “I stare” highlights how drawn he is to this place. It is almost as if there is a contest of wills, his refusing to “answer/The voices” calling to him. The bond is undeniable, haunting and mesmerising. The ‘brightness’ of the Warsaw skies in stanza one is mirrored by its ‘cloudless’ skies in this stanza. There is a crispness and clarity in the image that enhances its positive ability to draw the viewer. The city is alive with history and a culture that the poet has little knowledge of. He comprehends the ‘voices’ that ‘whisper’ to people such as his parents but reservations make him want to refuse to answer them. It is a photograph of a world he is not really part of and yet is strongly affected by. Last but not least stanza seven, talks about the city which has uttered a challenge that she will receive his homage as much as he may resist her demands. The power of his cultural heritage is reinforced by the use of direct soeech, ‘We will meet/ Before you die’. The high modality and imperious tone makes it seem pre-ordained that he will return, albeit against his will. The poet has highlighted the significance and impact of cultural identity regardless of context. The city retains the power to ‘Whisper’ to him across the years and the miles. It signifies a cultural element in his identity that cannot and should not be ignored. The scene transfixes him, asserting a hold over him that he finds difficult to dismiss. The city is given the qualities of a siren, tempting and alluring. He is one of her own and she will not let him escape the spell she casts over all her people, close or far away. The word ‘We’ personalises the image of the city calling to him and making an assignation before death. Peter Skrzynecki’s poem Feliks Skrzynecki is a tribute to his father’s dignity in the face of loss and hardship. The poem has two comparable contexts; the father/son relationship and adaptation to migration. Visual imagery and remembered elements about the father’s appearance, work, attitudes, activities, friends, and beliefs serves a dual purpose. It helps shape our perceptions of his father figure while also informing us about the relationship the poet shared with his ‘gentle father’. Feliks is depicted as a strong, determined, hardworking and reliable man whose personality is marked by inner strength. Throughout the poem, Skrzynecki shows admiration for his father’s stoic optimism in facing the hardships of his life such as “Five years of forced labour” and cancer. In stanza one the word “my father” establishes his attitude towards his father. Also the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” is a cliché which means his father is his own man. He is indifferent of standards made by others. Skrzynecki’s father loved his garden very much that the poet describes it as loving it as an only child. His garden was a treasured place, offering solace and refuge, where he willingly worked from ‘sunrise to sleep’. Figurative techniques include similes, which help define the paternal portrait given by the poet. Alliteration is also, as in ‘mind’s making’ to show how the poet’s father was his own man, not driven by pressures enforced by others. The hyperbole of sweeping his garden “ten times around the world” helps give the reader a sense of the father’s dedication to his self-imposed task. The son talks of the reminiscences, experiences and cultural ties shared with friends who can identify with the loss of homeland, language and traditions that shaped their early life. This is a world from which the son, to a large extent, feels excluded. There is a cultural divide of time, place and language cutting him off from the Polish companionship his father enjoys. Skrzynecki’s father has made a transition from what is known to a new world marked by different social, political and cultural norms. Stanza two Felik’s fulfils the stereotypical characteristics of a father, hardworking, stoic and a good provider. Manual images of a worker whose hands are ‘darkened’ and cracked ‘like the sods he broke’ help individualise him. This is a powerful image which shows the hard physical labour experienced by Feliks during the war also the son seems to be in awe of the father. The child is an observer rather than a participant who cannot really measure to his father’s dedication and fortitude. Feliks appears to have extraordinary strength which makes his son wonder “why his arms didn’t fall off” from the strain. There is the sense that Skrzynecki also wonders if he could ever outdo his father’s efforts. The dashes are used to elaborate on the point that is being made. In the third stanza the son seems to be detached from his Polish heritage. The Polish way seems strange to him thus not feeling a sense of belonging. Poet describes an immigrant experience but also presents the child’s perception of adult behaviour. The composer does not belong in both ways. The words ‘violently and flowered’ suggests that Felik’s life with his friends in Poland was physical and hard work. Positive connotation of these words creates nostalgic tone arising from the migrants experiences. “Five years” refers to a moving couplet demonstrating the father’s stoicism. The words: never, dug, but I’m alive are diction words which reiterate the poignancy and the son’s admiration of his father’s stoicism. “Dug” indicates the harshness of his surgery. Also the word shows that after the trauma of war, labour camp, displacement and migration, cancer is not as major. In the fifth stanza he comes to the realism that he knows very little about his cultural background, he uses the word “remnants” which indicates appreciation of his cultural background as he grows up. The poet mentions a phrase “who asked me in”, this is a metaphor and uses it to show his contempt at the ignorance of bureaucrats who cannot see or understand what people like Feliks have experienced. The second last paragraph uses visual imagery which shows beauty, peace and harmony in the new world. He feels a sense of belonging and a strong contrast to his past experiences. Feliks is finally happy because he has finally found a sense of belonging also placing the word “happy” in the beginning of the sentence. The poet realises that he has never been content with his life and that is a result of feeling a lack of belonging to his cultural heritage. The last stanza talks about the poet learning English to fit in in a result he forgets his past and heritage. In the sixth line he uses simile to emphasis the loss of his native language. He uses strong imagery showing that inevitably the result of migration is that the son will move further away from his father’s heritage in the new land. The gap between the father and son widens. He words “pegging” which a metaphor of a Roman soldier is moving away plus irony is used showing the son is learning Latin yet forgets Polish. “Hadrian’s wall” is a symbol of division and barrier. Hadrian’s walk was built in 121AD by the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, is in England and is used to protect Roman Britain from northern invaders. It is symbolic of a wall separating the ‘northern originating’ father from ‘southern-living’ son. The concept of belonging and acceptance is a major part of our modern society. Most stories and films represent belonging or alienation in one way or another. Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann and the ‘Ugly Duckling’, a short story by Hans Christian Anderson, both represent the concept of acceptance and rejection through the use of many film and language techniques. Strictly Ballroom represents belonging using a variety of techniques to distinguish between the world of artifice and the more realistic world. The image of the artificial world, shown as the ballroom world, is glitzy and colourful. Luhrmann has presented this world as having power, whereas the character of Fran, shown in plain clothes and reading glasses, is initially shown as powerless, because she does not belong to the ballroom world. When central characters Scott and Liz run into Fran, barely acknowledging her existence, the audience can understand how insignificant she is in their world. When we see something from our past it can trigger a memory. A childhood doll or train set can take a person back to a particular time in their life. Although we may not remember everything about that memory, we can piece together significant information to write about. Memories can be happy, sad, bitter or sweet. Write a paragraph by free writing about a memory from your childhood triggered by some special item. ‘Strictly Ballroom’ successfully creates humour by satirising aspects of the ballroom dancing world, showing the restrictions placed on the individual’s desire for self-expression and individuality. The opening scene highlights a fantasy world, depicting silhouettes of ballroom dancers gracefully dancing to the famous waltz, ‘The Blue Danube’, followed by images of the glitzy and glamorous dancers in their brilliant costumes. It is a world the audience is set up to admire: we would all would like to belong to it. Or would we' … Context The screenplay of Strictly Ballroom was written by Baz Luhrmann and Andrew Bovell. The film was directed by Baz Luhrmann, and was well received internationally when it was released in 1992. Since Strictly Ballroom, Baz Luhrmann has directed two other internationally successful films—Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge—and, at time of print, was directing Australia. He is known for his artistic and innovative cinematic styles which blend film techniques from Hollywood musicals and dance films with more traditional techniques. The film opens at the Waratah Championships for ballroom dancing where Scott Hastings dares to dance his own steps, dazzling the audience with his samba routine. Those who value tradition—mainly his mother, his dance coach Les Kendall, and Barry Fife—abhor his behaviour. They are united in their opposition to Scott’s rebellion and prevent him from exploring his individuality, because the traditional world of ballroom dancing gives them a sense of belonging, and they do not wish for this to change. Changing the established order is difficult, because people in power make the rules and are responsible for ensuring they are followed. Therefore when Scott dances his own steps he is disqualified and prevented from participating in the competition. He is excluded from the group and his sense of belonging is devastated. The film can be divided into four parts. Part 1 The traditional values of the ballroom dancing world are established though the opening scene at the Waratah Championships for ballroom dancing where Scott Hastings dances his own steps during the samba. His partner, Liz Holt, walks out on him and Fran, an unlikely candidate, offers to be his dance partner. The love story is thus established between the handsome, competent dance champion and the plain, professionally untrained daughter of a Spanish migrant. She entices Scott to dance with her because she understands how he dances. Explanation of Characters Scott Hastings: Scott is youthful, handsome and a champion dancer, and has many opportunities ahead of him. At first he is portrayed as arrogant, especially in his treatment of Fran. He is obviously a talented dancer, but is bored with the routine way he has been taught to dance. He challenges his mother and the Dance Federation when they insist he follows established conventions. He undergoes a transformation through his relationships with Fran and her family, as he learns the value of family spirit and dancing from the heart. Character quote What the quote tells you about the character and belonging Liz: I don’t think! I don’t give a shit about them, we lost! Liz represents the dominant values of those who belong to the ballroom dancing world – follow established rules in order to win. Winning is the priority - not thinking for yourself or consideration of others. Explanation of Setting and modeled response Scene: The living room of Scott’s home Mood: This is a domestic setting which at first appears warm and inviting. Trophies are proudly displayed on the back wall. It becomes clear from Shirley’s outrage about her son’s unconventional steps at the Waratah Championships, however, that her priority is winning, not her son’s self-expression. This is further illustrated by the large number of trophies occupying the cabinet. Arguments take place in the living room, too, which shows that the family is not as close as the setting would suggest. Explanation and analysis of various language and visual techniques and modeled responses Symbolism: Dancing shoes How it relates to belonging: In the scene in which Rico challenges Scott to dance the paso doble, there are close-ups of Scott’s shoes while he dances. When Ya Ya asks him to show her where he feels the rhythm, the camera focuses on Scott’s shoes. The viewer becomes aware that Scott’s motivation to dance comes from learning the intricacies of making the steps, which is what has made him belong in the rigid ballroom dancing world. When Ya Ya taps his chest to show him where the rhythm should come from, we understand that he has a lot to learn from Spanish culture. Dancing shoes are also shown in close-up when Scott dances, especially when he dances his own way, illustrating his freedom and individual expression, and his rebellion against a restrictive type of ‘belonging’. Many scenes in ‘Strictly Ballroom’ represent the ideas of the true spirit of love, family and belonging, in contrast to the false values and superficiality of belonging to the ballroom dancing world. One key scene is when Scott goes to the Toledo Milk Bar to ask Fran to dance with him at the Pan Pacific Grand Prix. Fran’s father challenges Scott to dance the paso doble, and they move to the backyard where chairs are askew, streamers are falling down and colourful lanterns hang from the roof. The lighting is low-key and the atmosphere is romantic, warm and inviting. In this environment, Scott is ridiculed for not dancing from the heart. Close-ups of people laughing are juxtaposed with long shots of Fran and Scott dancing, showing that the onlookers are laughing at the way he dances. Fran and her family are Spanish immigrants, and Luhrmann portrays them as coming from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’, literally by showing a train pass by their house. They are initially seen in darkness and the stark contrast from the glitz and glow of the ballroom world creates an image of the family as being rough and unrefined. However, as Scott spends time with them, they are revealed to be passionate dancers, and after spending mere hours with the family, Scott is accepted into their world, whereas Fran is yet to be accepted into the ballroom world after 2 years of dancing in beginners. Luhrmann’s use of juxtaposition emphasises that Fran doesn’t belong. A close-up image of Liz’s face, her bright, over-the-top makeup and styled hair, is followed immediately with an identical close-up of Fran’s simple, plain face. This shows the obvious dissimilarity between the two characters, and emphasises Fran’s alienation from the ballroom world.