Dancing for Freedom in Ken Loach’s Jimmy’s Hall (2014)

Abstract

Ken Loach is best known for making films that address issues around poverty, social injustice, and the struggles of the powerless. Jimmy’s Hall is one such film, narrating the story of James Gralton. This paper discusses the ways in which Loach uses dancing as a metaphor for freedom from social, political, and religious oppression in the Ireland of the 1920s and 1930s.