Contextualizing the film “Billy Elliot” The 1984-85 miners’ strike in BritainThe UK miners' strike of 1984–85 was a major action affecting the British coal industry. The strike was led by the National, established in 1888 as a syndicalism federation and one of the largest labor unions in Britain. This places the setting and the backstory to Billy’s brother and father’s issues, as these are the ordeals that he also has to face.

‘Iron Lady’ PM Margaret Thatcher and her economic policyMargaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. "Iron Lady", was a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism. Thatcherism claims to promote low inflation, the small state, and free markets through tight control of the money supply, privatization and constraints on the labor movement. Margaret Thatcher provides the context behind the miner’s strike in Britain, which causes the tension that builds among the Elliot Family.

Trade unions in Britain and the fight against privatizationPrivatization is another form of capitalism. It is the process that concerns two steps, first is the buying of all outstanding shares of a publicly company by a single entity, making the company privately owned, the second is a demutualization of a mutual organization or cooperative to form a joint-stock company. This builds further to why Billy’s father and brother must leave every morning to protest against Thatcherism. Due to this, the father and brother take their rage out on Billy, which becomes and ordeal to him.

Social Classes in Britain The different social classes that are seen in Billy Elliot are mainly the lower class and upper class. The Social Class System is bases on royalty, occupation and wealth. Depending on how much you have and what you do for living places you in a different class. Billy, being from a family that works off the coal industry fits into the lower class. He faces the issues with money from time to time but does overcome this. The context of the Social classes comes to the idea of capitalism and privatization. This once again relates back to Billy’s father and brother’s occupational issues. Furthermore it is shown in the film that within each social class there is a different norm for hobbies, one of which is ballet which falls into the upper or high middle class. By billy, one of the lower class begins to learn ballet; he begins to break away from the norm