Footloose is a 1984 musical based in America. The film is about dancer and rock and roll music lover Ren McCormack played by Kevin Bacon.
He is an energetic Chicago teen who moves from the city to a small town where the local minister has banned dancing and rock music. The small town is called Beaumont where Ren and his mother move in with his aunt and uncle. He quickly makes friends with a guy called Willard who tells him the city council has banned dancing and rock music. Ren is speechless, as his life revolves around dancing. He attends the local school where he also falls for a rebellious girl named Ariel whose father is the Minister who banned rock music and whose boyfriend Chuck is a trouble maker and has lots of fights. After trading insults with Ariel’s boyfriend Chuck, Ren is challenged to a game of chicken involving tractors in a local field, and despite having never driven one before, he wins. Chuck is obviously raging and has a burning hatred for Ren. Ariel starts to hang out with Ren and they quickly become friends. Ariels father the Minister forbids her from seeing Ren as he believes Ren is a bad influence on her and thinks hes a ‘troublemaker’.
Ren and his classmates decide they should have a senior prom in which dancing and rock music is present and so Ren goes before the city council and reads several bible verses to recite scriptural support for the worth of dancing to rejoice, exercise, or celebrate. He makes the town stop and think, including the Minister and the prom takes place. Ariel and Ren go together and they have a ball.
This film uses some interesting camera angles for example at the start peoples feet are filmed dancing, I think this looks so good because it automatically makes the film look energetic and full of life. The colour of the film is quite grainy and you can tell that it was made back in the 1900s. I think this is a really nice touch because you really do get a feel for the era, the clothes the characters wear are all of that time, like high waisted jeans, cowboy boots and battered american sneakers.
The soundtrack for the film is also very set in its time, including ‘Holding out for a Hero’, ‘Lets hear it for the Boy’ and ‘Footloose’. The dancing is also exquisite and very creative, I would recomend this film to anyone of any age, its a proper feel good film and the story is very interesting and educating.
Jessica Morris's AS Blog 