The Fits centers around Toni, a child on the verge of becoming a teenage girl. Throughout the film, it is clear that Toni is different; stoic and awkward, she does not fit in with the dance crew. This is only exaggerated by the arrival of a mysterious ailments that is causing the girls to have seizures, which begins around the time Toni joins the Lionesses. While the cause of the fits is never explicitly told to the viewer, the film ends with Toni getting the fits herself; it is then that Toni is able to perform with the group and become a beautiful dancer despite her differences. While the progression is shown as the film goes on, the final clips of The Fits – specifically how they are shot – perfectly represent Toni’s transformation into a woman without losing the independence that makes her unique.
The finale of the film – set to chilling music asking, “must we choose to slaves to gravity?” – is split up into three different types of scenes the flicker back and forth between each other. The first type depicts Toni having the fits as the other girls gasp. In my opinion, this scene represents Toni’s originality. Toni’s fits are not like the others; instead of falling to the ground and twitching, she remains upright and floating as she thrashes about, giving her body total freedom to move as it desires. It is shot as a close up of Toni – either from the front or behind – and the focus is totally on her. Even when the other Lionesses are in the shot, they quickly fade to the background, allowing Toni’s violent thrashing and conflict to shine.
The second type of scene are long shot scenes depicting the Lionesses performing their routine. The best example of this is when the dancers are in the empty swimming pool. I think this shows the side of Toni that has embraced womanhood. In the long shots, the viewer cannot tell which one is Toni; all of the girls are wearing the same outfit and they dance perfectly in sync. She could be any of them, and this makes her like all of them; she has learned the discipline, confidence, and cooperation it takes to become a woman and a member of the dance team.
The final type of scene is a close up of Toni as she dances with the Lionesses. This is also set in the empty pool as the dancers are performing, but now the viewer can only see Toni. This scene is shot to make Toni look alone and different, but the Lioness uniform and the blurred girls around her show us that she has joined a community of confident women. These specific close up scenes bring together the independence and difference of Toni within the context of her performing womanhood with the Lionesses, creating a beautiful ending to this coming-of-age story.