Summary Of The Film 'Tommy The Clown'

For this analysis, I analyzed the documentary Rize. The story setting is focused on African American youth, during a time that was very controversial in African American history, in the United States. The introduction to this documentary depicts this time that was filled with violence and rioting involving African Americans, including the Watts Riots in 1965 Los Angeles, as well as the infamous Rodney King Riots in 1992 Los Angeles. In the documentary Rize, the themes of expression of emotion and dance as social and personal healing are represented by the dancing, costumes, characters, and music in the film. According to our lecture notes, “Through dance, people of different races, ethnicities and even nationalities can come together to overcome their differences and at the same time achieve their dreams of fame and, perhaps, fortune” (Lecture, Second Wave Dance Films). This is a significantly important theme throughout this documentary, and leads me to my first point about the film, the theme of expression of emotion and …show more content…
Tommy is the founder of clowning and he tells the story of using dance as an outlet, to break away from the violence surrounding him. In the video, Tommy is referred to as a father figure to kids and young adults in the community. Tommy refers to his young group of dancers as “clown dancers”. He disciplines them as a father would, and if they mess up, they cannot “clown.” There are several scenes that show Tommy with the groups of children and young adults. It is reiterated several times throughout the film, that if these kids were not into this “clowning,” they would be in gangs, or worse. Thus, showing the profound influence of Tommy and dance on their lives. As a whole, the scenes of these kids dancing demonstrates the passion and drive they have towards “clowning”. The documentary depicts several scenes of the “clown dancers” in