You want to hear something crazy?Baby does not respond.
Last night, I dreamt we were walking along, and we met your father. He said, "Come on," and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie.
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| Johnny telling Baby about his dream as they listen to the song "In the Still of the Night" |
That happened on the night of Saturday, August 31. The talent show will be on the following day, Sunday, September 1.
Johnny had his dream during the previous night from Friday to Saturday, August 30-31. The dream might have been prompted by the events that had happened on Friday, which I have summarized as follows:
Friday, August 30Baby slept in her hotel room with Lisa that night.
At breakfast, Jake tells his family they are going home the next day (Saturday). Because Lisa wants to perform in the talent show (Sunday), Jake relents to stay. After Jake has re-examined Penny in her cabin and left, Baby and Johnny enter the cabin. Penny asks how their performance went on the previous night, and Baby says she didn't do the lift. After Baby leaves the cabin, Penny tells Johnny to stay away from Baby.
The Houseman family is inside a room because it is raining.
Baby returns to Johnny's cabin and they have fun and talk in bed.
That night, Baby and Lisa are in their hotel bedroom, and Lisa says she intends to "go all the way" with Robbie. Baby advises Lisa to wait and do it "with someone that you sort of love".
During the night between Friday and Saturday, Johnny has his dream. If Baby had spent that night in Johnny's cabin, he would have told her about his dream on Saturday morning.
(Maybe Vivian Pressman slept in Johnny's cabin that night. Vivian sure planned to sleep in Johnny's cabin during the following night.)
Then during Saturday the following events happen.
Saturday, August 31Then Johnny tells Baby about his dream that happened on the previous night.
Baby and Johnny do the "Love is Strange" dance in a practice room. Neil insists that Johnny teach the employees to dance the pachanga for the talent show. Baby advises Johnny to discuss the dance choice with Neil again. Johnny says he might have to go back to a house-painting job.
The radio announces:
It's almost over. The Labor Day weekend is here. Soon it's back to the old books and back to work. What a terrible thought!Johnny gets mad because Baby won't tell her father about their relationship. Johnny leaves, but Baby finds him in Penny's cabin. Baby and Johnny go out onto the cabin's porch and begin to make peace with each other. Johnny fights with Robbie.
Various people are preparing for the Sunday talent show. Vivian invites Johnny to meet her later that evening. While playing cards, Moe offers Johnny money to give Vivian a dance lesson. Johnny refuses the money. Lisa goes to Robbie's cabin and finds him having sexual intercourse with Vivian. Baby goes to Johnny's cabin and has fun with him in bed again.
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Let's think some more about Friday.
Friday morning at breakfast, Jake announced to his family that they all would leave on Saturday. Then he relented and agreed to stay through Sunday.
Later on that Friday afternoon, Baby went to Johnny's cabin and had fun with him in bed. While there, Baby surely told Johnny that her father knew she and Johnny were had become intimate. Her father had learned from Lisa that Baby had been away from their hotel room during the entire Thursday-Friday night. Her father was angry and had decided to separate Baby and Johnny by the family's leaving a day early.
Furthermore, Baby was worried that her father would watch her -- or arrange for someone else to watch her -- until the family departed on Sunday.
Because Baby thought she was being watched, she slept in her hotel room during the Friday-Saturday night.
This was the situation when Johnny went to sleep on Friday night and had his dream.
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Although Johnny spends considerable time with Baby during Saturday, he does not tell her during the day about his dream.
After the "Love Is Strange" dance, Johnny becomes angry at Neil about the talent show. Then Johnny becomes angry at Baby because she is not telling her father about them. The latter angry moment would have been a fit occasion to tell Baby about his dream, but he does not do so.
Johnny continues to be angry. He fights with Robbie.
He is stressed by preparing for the talent show.
He does not relax until he is in bed at night, and then he tells Baby about the dream he had seen during the previous night.
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So, Johnny's dream indicates that he wants Jake to become his buddy -- a day after Johnny has had sex with Jake's 17-year-old daughter right after Jake ordered her to stay away from Johnny.
Johnny barely knows Jake, who now has a valid reason for despising him. Baby is trying to prevent Johnny and her father from coming within eyesight of each other.
Johnny has sex with Vivian Pressman. Does Johnny dream about her husband Moe putting his arm around him?
Johnny has sex with lots of women. Does he dream about their husbands, boyfriends and fathers?
The entire Houseman family will leave on Sunday night or Monday morning. Then Baby and Jake will be gone from Johnny's life forever.
Why does Johnny care so much about Jake liking him during those couple of remaining days?
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Let's look at Johnny's dream story again.
You want to hear something crazy?What really irks Johnny is that he feels socially inferior to Robbie. This feeling makes Johnny so angry that during the day following his dream he beats Robbie up.
Last night, I dreamt we were walking along, and we met your father. He said, "Come on," and he put his arm around me. Just like he did with Robbie.
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Johnny's beating Robbie up was Johnny's second encounter with Robbie during that day.
After the "Love Is Strange" dance and Johnny's argument with Neil, Baby and Johnny are walking outside and talking. Johnny says he might have to go back to painting houses.
Then Baby and Johnny notice Jake, Robbie and Lisa walking and talking about the Domino Theory. Baby makes Johnny duck down with her so they won't be seen by her father.
After Jake, Robbie and Lisa walk away, Johnny gets mad at Baby because she is not telling her father that Johnny is "her guy". Johnny is extra mad because he has just seen Jake walking and talking with Robbie.
A short time later that same day, Johnny beats up Robbie.
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I suspect that the dream was inserted into the Dirty Dancing story by Patrick Swayze. Eleanor Bergstein's original script portrayed Johnny as a confident, unapologetic and bold character -- similar to her character Ben Lewin in her previous movie It's My Turn.
All the insecure and neurotic characteristics of Johnny Castle were added by Swayze.
When Swayze wrote Johnny's monologue about the dream, Swayze did not even bother himself to write a response for Baby to speak. The scene is a moment for just Swayze to shine as an actor and to make his character Johnny more emotionally complex.
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Right before Johnny told Baby about his dream, he put on a record of the song "In the Still of the Night". The song plays while he is telling he about his dream.
The song's first two stanzas:
In the still of the nightSince Johnny chose this particular song to play while he told Baby about his dream, he apparently is fantasizing somewhat that he might become engaged with Baby and eventually join the Houseman family. Then Jake might put his arm around Johnny as his future son-in-law.
I held you,
Held you tight,
Because I love,
Love you so.
I promise I'll never let you go --
In the still of the night.
If Johnny joins the Houseman family, however, he might become Robbie's brother-in-law. Earlier that day, Johnny had seen Jake, Robbie and Lisa walking together. Obviously, Robbie and Lisa had reconciled.
Furthermore, Baby surely had told Johnny that Lisa intended to have sex with Robbie that same night. As far as Baby and Johnny knew, Lisa and Robbie were having sex right while Johnny was telling Baby about his dream.
If Lisa and Robbie were becoming an intimate couple and if Johnny was fantasizing about becoming engaged with Baby, then there was a real possibility that Johnny might become Robbie's brother-in-law.
In that sense, Johnny might have felt that his dream was prophetic -- that Jake eventually would embrace both Johnny and Robbie as his sons-in-law.
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