So this movie ended up on my Moviecation list not because it’s on the IMDb Top 250 (it’s not), or because it’s on the AFI Top 100 (it’s not), or because it’s a Best Picture Winner (it’s not). Dirty Dancing is just kind of one of those movies you need to see for general pop culture purposes, and I got tired of seeing it on Netflix or having it come up in conversation and having to say I hadn’t seen it.
I mean what the HELL does this mean? I’m not kidding, my actual interpretation of this line was that some snooty teenage girl at a school dance got shut down by the protagonist, and left in a corner to sulk. She then crossed her arms, pouted her lips, and whined, “Nobody puts baby in a corner!” as she perpetuated the infantilization of teenage girls.
Turns out, Baby Houseman is our protagonist, and a badass one at that, played by Jennifer Grey (of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off fame). She is vacationing with her parents and older sister at a resort in the Catskill Mountains in the summer of 1963.
Where she meets our love interest, Johnny Castle, played by the incomparable Patrick Swayze. Johnny is the rough and tough man from the streets who luckily found a job working as a dance instructor at the resort. The weird combination of raw sexual energy and hardened-exterior make him a problematic fave in the first half of the film, when he cares for his dance partner who is dealing with personal crisis.
These are Baby’s first words to Johnny.
Baby sees the trouble Johnny’s partner is in, and offers to replace her in an upcoming dance performance at a nearby resort. Johnny dislikes the idea at first, but I think you can imagine what happens.
Not to mention we get a training montage!
Thank you Kenny Ortega! Speaking of Kenny, the movie actually does have a weird High School Musical 2 vibe to it, but I guess a lot of movies involve a group of musically talented teenagers enjoyed their summer working for the fabulously wealthy? Although in this case Baby would be the Sharpay because she is a guest.
This was my favorite scene for some reason, when Baby and Johnny lip-sync and dance to “Love Is Strange.” A LOT of the songs prominently feature the word “Baby” in them, which I kind of loved. Anyway this scene felt so natural and fun, and Ardolino definitely encouraged improvisation between the two leads and often left the cameras rolling when they were interacting.
But look how emotionally deep the film also is! Baby’s relationship with Johnny is complex because she’s rich and her dad forbids her from seeing him. There’s a lot of “I love you but I come from a world where I’m supposed to look down on you” kind of stuff and it’s interesting and engaging and heartbreaking. Imagine Titanic but with High School Musical 2′s plot.
Oh right so here’s the totally-famous lift from the final scene, aka the performance to the Oscar winning song “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.” So amazing, so classic.
I do want to get into a little analysis I’ve been working up now that I’m out of gifs, and it has to do with the infantilization stuff. In Baby’s opening monologue, she explains how the man she loved most in the world was her dad. Throughout the course of the movie, Baby lies, betrays, and disobeys her dad for probably the first time in her life. But she does it all as a means to get closer to this other man, a man who can’t guarantee her financial stability but can promise her a life of excitement and… dirty dancing.
And I’m kind of left wondering, how am I supposed to feel about this girl who basically runs and jumps from the protection of one patriarchal figure to another? It reminded me of The Little Mermaid a lot, in that maybe the protagonist navigates these complicated patriarchal systems under the guise of a longing for independence? Her name is BABY for Pete’s sake! And Johnny definitely symbolizes a kind of sexual freedom that is kept from her under her father. Anyway the screenplay is actually semi-autobiographical for the writer, Eleanor Bergstein, who did vacation in the Catskills, perform in dirty dancing competitions, and go by the name Baby. So is this all speculation?
Not to mention this is Emile Ardolino’s first time directing a feature film, but he did win Best Documentary in 1983 for He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’, which I think explains a lot of the style of the film.
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