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The Kellermans' Rules for the Dancers
You got your own rules. Dance with the daughters. Teach 'em the mambo, the cha-cha, anything they pay for. That's it. That's where it ends.Later in the movie, in Baby's presence, Penny remarks the resort's dancers might be fired for violating the resort's rules about sexual relations.
No funny business, no conversations, and keep you hands off!
Jesus, Billy! Now she's gonna run and tell her little management boyfriend and then we'll all get fired.Baby's knowledge of the possible employment consequences for Johnny should have informed her about Johnny's obvious self-restraint in his personal relationship with her. It's likely that he feared dire consequences for himself -- and also his dance partner Penny Johnson -- if he were caught in a relationship that his employer forbad.
Why not sky-write it? -- "Penny got knocked up by Robbie, the creep."
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Her Father's Relationship With Max Kellerman
By seducing Johnny, Baby risked causing trouble in the relationship between her father and Max.
Baby's trouble-making might reflect not merely on herself, but rather on her entire family.
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Her Own Relationship With Neil Kellerman
By seducing Johnny, Baby risked putting Neil into a managerial situation of having to punish Johnny. Neil's situation might be especially agonizing because it might affect his own personal affection for Baby and affect his grandfather's special relationship with Baby's father.
Although Baby's romantic relationship with Neil was rather casual on her part, she surely perceived that Neil was trying to move that relationship forward. She did not break off that relationship clearly with Neil before she decided to become sexual with Johnny.
Baby did not inform and discourage Neil gently. As Baby tried to keep her sexual relationship with Johnny secret, there was a growing possibility that Neil would learn about it in a way that might be shocking, traumatic and humiliating for him.
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Her Father's Recent Favors to Her
Then, only an hour or two before Baby seduced Johnny, her father got out of bed in the middle of the night at Baby's request and went to Penny's cabin to provide his unpaid medical services in a troubling situation.
On that occasion, her father realized that she had lied to him about the purpose of the $250 loan. Although angry, her father controlled his temper. He refrained from rebuking Baby. In particular, he refrained from humiliating Baby in front of her friends, and he refrained from informing Baby's mother about Baby's recent conduct.
In this situation where Baby's father had treated Baby with extraordinary trust and self-control, he now warned her to stay away from Johnny and Penny -- for Baby's own good.
Despite the extraordinary favors that Baby had received from her father so recently, selflessly and generously, she betrayed her father immediately after he asked her to stay away from Johnny.
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Penny and Johnny Owed Money to Baby
Also, the medical treatment of Penny's post-abortion problems might require another loan of money.
Furthermore, Baby now had substituted for Penny is a paying job. Perhaps Penny and Johnny felt obligated to give Baby half of the money that the Sheldrake Hotel had paid for the performance.
In general, Penny and Johnny were poor, and Baby belonged to a wealthy family.
When Baby indicated to Johnny that she wanted her relationship with him to become sexual, Johnny apparently was not eager to do so. He went along with her seduction despite his own better judgment.
Monetary considerations might have affected his decision. Just as a woman might feel obligated sexually to a man who has spent a lot of money on her, Johnny perhaps felt himself obligated to Baby.
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Penny's Precarious Condition
In addition, Penny might need medical support or statements from Dr. Houseman or might need more money for medical treatment.
Furthermore, Johnny was preoccupied mentally about Penny's dire condition.
Although Baby surely felt that the night after her dance performance with Johnny was an optimum time to initiate a sexual relationship with him, Penny's medical emergency now made this night a bad time for Johnny, for Penny and for Baby herself in various respects.
Even if Baby still wanted to initiate a sexual relationship with Johnny, she should have postponed her actions to a later day, largely because of Penny's condition.
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Her Age Difference With Johnny
Johnny is in at least his mid-twenties (Patrick Swayze was 34 years old when he played the role), and so he is too old for Baby. She seduced him into a relationship that probably would cause trouble for him merely because of their age difference.
Furthermore, the age difference between herself and Johnny would distress her parents if they ever found out about the relationship. Her parents already had various reasons to object to the relationship, and the age difference would be another big reason.
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I will criticize the ethics of Baby's seduction decision further in Part 2.
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In the meantime, watch the following superb video lecture by "Political Philosophy Guy" about normative ethics.
RAAPPPEEEE@!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhere does the rule of thumb about age differences come from?
ReplyDeleteHis is a great movie. Who cares How old the actors were etc just sit back and love it one more time
ReplyDeleteWhat the actual effect? It pains me that not only have you had these thoughts, you've gone to the trouble to write them down and publish them for the world to see.
ReplyDeleteFor goodness sake it's an epic film for most people with amazing memories stop over analysing it just let ppl enjoy the film for what it was and the era it was bought out totally different from the judgemental world we live in now
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite all time movies 🎥 I watch it every year..
ReplyDeleteYou're an idiot. You should stick to cartoon movies since Dirty Dancing is obviously too grown up for you. You sound like a prude! And you make me sick. I would delete this if I were you. You just look stupid as f**k!
ReplyDeleteI’ve been married 42 years. I was 24 and my husband was 46. We are now 66 and 88...age is only a number.
ReplyDeleteThe incel is strong with this one
ReplyDeleteSurely this is not really serious. I have laughed all the way through, whilst also appreciating another point of view
ReplyDeleteLike any 17-18 year old (Baby's age) really thinks through any/all of the implications of their actions before sleeping with someone. And any 25 year old (Johnny's age) refuses the advances of a beautiful young woman he's come to admire, respect, and find himself attracted to.
ReplyDeleteWait, she is about to start college. So if she is 17 at the start, by the end of the film that is significantly less likely. Next the age of consent is 17 now In North Carolina so in the 60's it wouldn't be unreasonable for it to be the same age. Also in the 60s, when the American culture was significantly different a 10 year difference wasn't uncommon.
ReplyDeleteLet me approach it this way. Abraham was 10 years older than Sarah and God seemed ok with that.
Now from the other angle. At what point did men get the right to tell how/what a woman should do with her body?
Yeah, a child can't "seduce" an adult. Adults are adults and therefore responsible for not trying to fuck children.
ReplyDelete