MovieChat Forums > Flesh and Bone (2015) Discussion > I am SO SICK of these 'ballet stories' t...

I am SO SICK of these 'ballet stories' that are BS

posted 9 years ago by ciocio-2
16 replies | jump to latest

I haven't even made it halfway through the first episode, and already this show is annoying me mightily, with the portrayal of some evil, horrifying, ballet concentration camp filled with nasty, bitchy, beyond jaded ballet demons, overseen by psychopathic scream queens and monsters. Oy! The humorlessness! The dour, nasty, pathetic bitterness! Believe me, if things were as portrayed in shows like this or BLACK SWAN, the ballet world would be a lot less competitive than it is, because NO ONE would want to live and work in that world. Yes, there are elements of over the top behavior, bitchiness, and plenty of competition in ballet companies. But far outweighing that is heart, love for the work, and friendly collegiality that tends to draw co-workers together, to eventually be a kind of family. Lots of hard work, a great sense of fun, and some sympathy and support when things get crappy now and then. You find great respect for the history and heritage of dance and theater, and art generally, and lots of intelligent people with varied interests and talents, which they do their best to pursue as they can, within the confines of demanding dance schedules.

At most auditions, you'll see lots of smiles, from those auditioning and those watching or directing them. Yes, it's serious business, but a dancer needs to present him or herself as someone pleasant, with a good attitude, whom a director would want to work with. And, as competitive as it is, guess what? The director and company are also auditioning for the dancers; why would they present themselves as nasty, rude, negative people--unprofessional people, to behave like that--to prospective dancers they may want to hire? Things aren't always going to be sunny and smiley, but if people on either side can't even manage to be pleasant and professional at an audition, those are people who should not be in the profession, and with whom very few people would care to work.

There's plenty of drama inherent in the world of ballet, without this constant overblown, dark, tragic and evil portrayal that is simply BS.

Just make a movie that makes me care, one way or another. I'm open.

[–] KingKhan1389 9 years ago

I completley agree with you! I was thinkingthe same while I was watching thefirst episode.

Sorry for my sppeling, english is not my native labguage.;)

[–] jadegreengirl 9 years ago

Really? Because a lot of the dancers on these shows say these types exist.

People are evil everywhere. Of course they present well when needed. But every professional setting I have ever been in has been cutthroat. That is called life.

You could take these types of characters and inject them anywhere. It is just a more interesting TV show or movie because dancers have great bodies. People behave horribly in every profession, especially when they are young, they have access to money, and other young people.

Methinks thou protests too much.

[–] mpboylanjr-54038 9 years ago

Well you can't take the lead actress and inject her with anything. She is a bore !!! My god she cannot act at all. They needed some hot chick who could dance and nothing more. I actually finished the series because I didn't want it to be a complete waste of time only watching 4 episodes. It is like taking Ambien watching this girl act. She reminds me of piper Perabo in Coyote Ugly. Hot chick who is such a bore with no personality or acting skills. I hoped this would go somewhere and it just kept free falling off a cliff.

THERES NO ROOM IN MY CIRCUS TENT FOR YOU !!!!

[–] rissa-rissa 9 years ago

I find the fact that they used actual dancers, unlike Bore (Black) Swan, to be totally refreshing.

Claire's character was meant to be one dimensional and closed off to the world. Since you watched the entire season, I'd expect you to understand why she was the way she was.

[–] mpboylanjr-54038 9 years ago

Yea, I get why she was that way. It's because of the terrible place she grew up and the sick relationship with her brother. She only could love him and besides that she wants to be loved to feel real like the book she loves. It's so damn stupid !!!

THERES NO ROOM IN MY CIRCUS TENT FOR YOU !!!!

[–] bab7410 9 years ago

Well, given her living conditions, she's not a fancy ballerina, sure, but she has some very real mental afflictions which I believing you are mocking in a totally cruel way. She's a fictional character, but this is television, what did you expect? Nowadays, the female character doesn't just* take off her shirt, she can provide a VERY real character for someone to relate to in SOME way, perhaps not totally.

I suppose children of an emotionally conflicted background don't relate to you, however, some of these kids deal with very harsh elements of poverty, feeling unloved, having no one to relate to, and can end up feeling squandered in their lives. That doesn't mean you* are any better than them. It just means they didn't get to live up to their own potential, which they HAVE, yet realize has been out of reach for them!

She clearly dissociates from her own pain, so often, that she is quite fragile. Other times, she has assessed that she must succeed in order to survive, she's talented, but with a fractured mind. I think this type of female is owed some respect! In our modern day world, a young woman like this, one would typically have some empathy or none at all I suppose, but mental health still has such a stigma associated to it because of people like this poster, because this is not the first post I see where you are all !!! exclamation points, wrong, no! Geez, she's introverted, you are extroverted, doesn't mean you have to trash her storyline... wow.

[–] redd4576 9 years ago

Not sure who you are looking at, but the girl playing the lead actress is not hot. She's a plain jane. The girl playing Daphne is hotter.

[–] MELlSANDRE 9 years ago

But every professional setting I have ever been in has been cutthroat

Out of curiosity I'd love to know what "Professional Settings" you have been in, or what your definition of "cut-throat" is, exactly.

I have been lucky to work directly for the top echelon in top companies in both the Legal field and the O&G (Oil and Gas) business and neither, despite the connotation attributed to them, have been "cut-throat."

I do not have Attention Deficit Disor ... Ooooh, look at the bunny!

[–] rissa-rissa 9 years ago

I find it very hard to believe that a principal dancer from any company, would go out of his or her way to be welcoming to a brand new member of the corps. Especially if said newcomer begins to steal leading roles that are generally designated for soloists and above.

[–] kelii3 9 years ago

It's a work of fiction and there would have to be some artistic license to make the series interesting to viewers or there wouldn't be much of an audience. But I also believe as someone else noted, in any highly competitive profession some of these ugly scenarios in the series actually do happen. It's human nature.

[–] BlobbyLight 9 years ago

yeah, nothing more than dumbed down shock for ratings desensitizing tv.. a pathetic display of american behavior.

[–] cuechick 9 years ago

I hear you and feel your frustration, so full of stereotypes and was just over the top with the backbiting. I was really bugged by the eating disorder stereotypes. Dancers at this level have to eat a lot, they burn so many calories. I am sure there are some with food issues but it is not every dancer.

Still, I liked that they used real dancers, I thought all did a good job considering few have much experience. I think much of the problems mentioned had more to do with the writing and how they were directed. I will take a real dancer who's acting skills are a little rough over an actor trying to portray a dancer any day. Natalie Portman I thought barely passed and she had months of training and CGI too pull it off.

With this, I just accepted it for what it was (a glamorous soap opera) and was able to enjoy as that.

[–] Ithilfaen 9 years ago

With this, I just accepted it for what it was (a glamorous soap opera) and was able to enjoy as that.

You never watched soap operas, have you? Or were you sleeping? I don't blame you if you were.

For every lie I unlearn I learn something new - Ani Difranco

[–] enigmaticcrows 9 years ago

Some good thoughts here and in this thread in general. I get where you going, but that didn't bother me at all. Honestly you can name any profession and find a flat cliche that Hollywood leans on to dramatize it. I expected that going in. I knew from the ads that it would have a very arch soap opera spin to it.

What I didn't expect was for every single character who had lines to be so broken, tragic, and unsympathetic. I would have enjoyed the limited series much much more had they held back on that a bit. It was ALL far too over the top in every ones story lines. It was hard not to hate every single one of them.

That said I did find it compelling, though by the end I was just disgusted with the choices they made in the writing.

[–] ciocio-2 9 years ago

So true, enigmaticcrows. To me, that's a pretty fatal flaw, to have pretty much no characters that one can even care about. The one clearly positive character, Toni, the choreographer, seemed overdrawn in that direction, being surrounded by all the horridness of the others, and she being like some fairy godmother who wandered in from a different world. My favorite character, I think, was the pianist.

Just make a movie that makes me care, one way or another. I'm open.

[–] moviefool09 9 years ago

It's a work of fiction and there would have to be some artistic license to make the series interesting to viewers or there wouldn't be much of an audience. But I also believe as someone else noted, in any highly competitive profession some of these ugly scenarios in the series actually do happen. It's human nature.

Yup. Exactly. I have no idea why there are threads here popping up, challenging the 'realism' of the ballet world, etc. Folks, it's FICTION. This isn't a documentary. The ballet world is simply a backdrop in which to place these characters and their psychological turmoil/struggles. It could just as well have been ANY competitive environment.

Some people just choose to focus on the wrong things, and miss an amazing, haunting story in front of them.

"The future is tape, videotape, and NOT film?"