In Stephen Daldry's Billy Elliot, there are a number of different issues that shape the destinies of both Billy and the male characters who surround him over the course of the film . The strongly held traditions of the working-class mining community along with familial expectations, gender stereotypes, and the effect age has on opinions and beliefs all contribute to the different fates of the film's male characters. A key issue that is omnipresent throughout the film, influencing all the male characters is that of their social class and traditions. It is clear from the beginning of the film that the adult male characters, particularly Billy's father and brother, Jackie and Tony, are part of the 1984 miners' strike and are therefore struggling at work and are frustrated by their inability to to remedy the situation. situation. It is also clear that due to the strike money is in short supply and this in turn creates a difficult and unhappy picture of family life, which is particularly highlighted in the Christmas Day scene. It is assumed that Billy, like Tony, will inevitably follow his father down the mine and follow this path, but he resists after continually witnessing the unhappiness and frustration this causes his brother and father. He is also initially unhappy with his relationship with his father and brother. This shapes Billy's destiny to become a dancer by pushing him to want something completely different from them in adult life. Furthermore, there seems to be no future in the life her father and brother are part of after the failed miners' strike because both are so firmly rooted in the traditions of their working-class mining community and therefore have nowhere to go. The only progress...... middle of paper......s”, Constable & Robinson Ltd Cook, Pam (2007) “The British Film Institute: The Cinema Book” (third edition), Palgrave Macmillan, Kaufman , Michael (1987) “The construction of masculinity and the triad of male violence”. “Beyond Patriarchy: Essays on Pleasure, Power, and Change.” Ed. Michael Kaufmann. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1-29Marris, Paul (2001) “Northern Realism: An Exhausted Tradition?” Cineaste, Vol.26, No.4Milne, Seumas (2004), “The Enemy Within: The Secret War Against the Miners”, England, VersoToron, Alison, 'The Construction of Working - Class Masculinities in Tony Harrison's v'. Available from: http://www.lib.unb.ca/Texts/JSW/number27/toron.htm, July 27, 2005 Townsend, Mark, "miners" strike: All I want is for someone to say: I'm sorry. ' Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/dec/02/miners-strike-orgreave-special-report, 1 December 2012