MovieChat Forums > Flesh and Bone (2015) Discussion > There must be a few real ballerinas on t...

There must be a few real ballerinas on this board...

posted 9 years ago by daughterofolaf
23 replies | jump to latest

Two questions...

1. Are ballerinas truly the bitchy, foul-mouthed, no-class individuals that this show portrays them to be? I get that there are unpleasant people from all walks of life and lovely people from all over as well but the first episode here basically shows us nothing but a bunch of foul, nasty-ass people except for the main girl and the one with the super super short hair. I can't imagine that they would all be so disgusting but that is how this show is portraying them: generally gross people.

2. Do a ballerina's feet truly take the sort of beating we see here with nails falling off and all that? It may seem like a dumb question but I have not seen a lot of movies about ballerinas that were supposed to be realistic (as it seems this show is intended to be) and the only one that comes to mind is Center Stage and while their feet were shown with some blisters they showed nothing like what was shown here. I would wonder how they can even walk if their feet are really in that condition all the time. :-/

Thanks.

"Why couldn't the monkey arrange this from INSIDE the garbage can?"

[–] BettyX 9 years ago

i know an ex-ballerina that left on her own free will that was a dancer in a popular NYC ballet company. She tells awful stories about the competitiveness of it all. From sabotaging shoes to the constant gossip that never ever stops. She said most the real "bitch" happens the higher you rise and it wasn't as competitive when she was in smaller companies. Her big mistake she said was to move on to a bigger more popular company because she had some good experiences before NYC. She retired when she met her husband and they decided to have children. She had no regrets of leaving and said her life was much better out of the spotlight. She still has some food phobias as well and she has been out for about 5 years.

[–] glenn212 9 years ago

This may all be true. But when you're writing a television show, you must consider the audience and whether it will have someone to pull for. In 'Flesh and Bone,' there isn't a single main character who is even remotely normal.

In Screenwriting 101, you're told that there should be a character the audience can identify with, sort of a guiding moral compass--even if everyone else is a lunatic. And it doesn't mean the person has to be Mary Sunshine or Mother Theresa. Good storytellers know how to write three-dimensional, believable, yet flawed characters who compel you to feel for them and pull for them to succeed. The "Flesh and Bone" characters are two-dimensional. They're either villains or victims. These are not people we would want to associate with in our own lives, so how are we going to pull for them?

I expected more from the show creator who was on the "Breaking Bad" team. She's obviously very talented--and had a good concept here--but it just didn't pan out. It happens.