Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall Essay

In this pick out, based upon a screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis residence h ein truth(prenominal) from a novel from Waterhouse (which written in 1959 influenced by the prevailing theme of the mid-fifties the protest of the angry young men), coach John Schlesinger creates the fantasized universe of billy goat b pretermit cat (Tom Courtenay), a young man works at the Shadrack and Duxbury funeral parlor who intakes of becoming a great writer. Julie Christie provides some romance for the fumbling clerk.Denys Coops cinematography in effect captures the drab keep and imaginative world of wands actuality, lending only relevance to the film in substantive life. he-goat is an original character whose magic trick life is funny throughout. Known to his officemates as Billy liar because he is a compulsive liar, fisher cat escapes his dour existence by creating a fantasy life as the military leader of the fictional, semi-fascist invoke of Ambrosia. This fantasy supplie s the power and control wanting(p) in his daily life where he feels trapped in his job at the funeral parlor.Though chronic lying is non admirable and his coldness towards his family and his fiancees is dislikable trait, still, overall, Billy is an attractive character, and we can pity him as his rather pathetic pretenses are exposed, piece of music still seeing the justness of the exposure. Waterhouse has managed to reverberate the basic nature of people organism dissatisfied with what we have and therefore create by mental act all means to be what we dream to be. Billy Liar remains a pleasing counterpoint to the depressive movies Room at the Top (1958) and Saturday Night and Sunday cockcrow (1960).According to Gale (1996), this film that was originally a novel led some commentators to dapple Waterhouse in the Angry Young custody School. It is in some styles a study of provincial dissatisfaction. Our operates are very(prenominal) similar to Billy in m some(prenominal) an(prenominal) ways, the reality and fantasy of who we are sharp at odds. Most of us live with a family which is the quintessence of ordinariness so we compensate by a adequate fantasy life and, unfortunately, by dishonesty, much(prenominal) like Billy in the film. redolent(p) of Fishers character, we lie our way through life, not out of animosity or even out of any conscious desire to cause harm or to cause hurt to those some us, just purely because we cannot live with, or face up to the demands of, our real lives. The overall mood in the film is, however, disquiet Fishers dreams include cleanup spot people, such as his parents, who place impedimentas in his way. The film shows that the only real obstacle confronting Fisher is a lack of courageousness combined with no obvious talent. overmuch like in real life, we all have a secret mental imagery of doing the unthinkable, murderous or otherwise, to people we extremely dislike. Our judgment is often clouded by anger for other people, which lead to ineffective use of our God-given talents, which in turn hinders the come that we otherwise could have achieved easily. Despite its very British setting, the film has a common dimension which is even more poignant in todays profit age.In a sense, Billy Liar is an adroit satire about a society caught between socio-economic classes. Billy Fishers character is therefore essay against the limitations of his class, family and urban environment for a break in opportunity to display his ability. This theme is applicable even today, as we all filter out daily to move up the mixer and economic ladder of society, as a response to our natural trait to be forever dissatisfied.One cannot help but be fond of and relate to Billy Liar, a unique character that deeply depicts in what boils down to a sidesplitting yet solemn and incontrovertibly powerful movie. It is apparent that this film appealed and is still good-hearted to audiences precisely because Billys lack of courage, commitment and his flights of fancy are not so far removed from those of ourselves. some of us live in dreams where we do spectacular things but given the accident we would not have the courage to get through them.Likewise, the film affirms that, ultimately, we must live with, rather than in opposition tom the real world, no matter how painful and doubtful the experience of that invariably will be. term on one level this film could be dismissed as a whimsical fantasy, there is a Billy Liar that exists in all of us. function CITED Gale, S. (1996). Encyclopedia of British Humorists Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese. Philadelphia Taylor and Francis.