Baby Houseman's Heroic Journey -- Part 3

This post follows up Part 1 and Part 2.

I do not think that Eleanor Bergstein wrote her Dirty Dancing story with the Hero's Journey model in mind. I do, however, think that comparing that story to that model is a thought-provoking exercise in literary analysis.

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Deb Peterson, in her article The Hero's Journey, explains that this genre's story begins in the hero's ordinary world. Peterson's article -- which uses the movie The Wizard of Oz as an example -- includes the following passages.

The hero's journey begins with the hero in the ordinary world, going about ordinary life, except that something isn't quite right. What he does in the first scenes demonstrates a flaw of some kind, a lacking to be overcome, for either the hero or someone close to him or her.

According to Christopher Vogler, author of The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure, we see the hero in his ordinary world so we recognize the difference when he enters the special world of the story. The ordinary world generally conjures a mood, image, or metaphor that suggests a theme and gives the reader a frame of reference for the rest of the story. ....

The ordinary world is sometimes set in a prologue and often strains credibility to prepare the audience for the special world .... Writers often foreshadow the special world by creating a microcosm of it in the ordinary world. (e.g., Dorothy’s ordinary life in the Wizard of Oz is depicted in black and white, the events mirroring what she is about to encounter in the technicolor special world.)

Vogler believes that every good story poses both an inner and an outer question for the hero that becomes apparent in the ordinary world. (e.g., Dorothy's outer problem is that Toto has dug up Miss Gulch's flower bed and everyone is too busy preparing for the storm to help her out. Her inner problem is that she has lost her parents and doesn’t feel "at home" anymore; she's incomplete and about to embark on a quest for completion.)

The hero’s first action usually illustrates his or her characteristic attitude and the future problems or solutions that will result. ..... Most heroes are on a journey of completion of one kind or another. Readers abhor the vacuum created by a missing piece in a character, and so are willing to embark on the journey with him or her ....

Many authors show the hero unable to perform a simple task in the ordinary world. By the end of the story, he or she has learned, changed, and can accomplish the task with ease.

The ordinary world also provides backstory embedded in the action. The reader must work a little to figure it all out, like getting pieces of a puzzle one or two at a time. This, too, engages the reader. ...

In Dorothy's ordinary world, she suffers from two problems, according to Peterson.

Dorothy's "ordinary world" in The Wizard of Oz

Dorothy's obvious, "outer" problem is that her dog Toto is about to be put to death for biting a mean neighbor woman, Miss Gulch.

Dorothy's fundamental, "inner" problem is that both her parents have died and so she is being raised by her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who fail to defend Dorothy and Toto. Dorothy does have a home with her aunt and uncle, but she feels alienated from it.

In order to protect Toto and to learn to appreciate the home that she does have, Dorothy, will have to go on a heroic journey -- which is foreshadowed by the song "Over the Rainbow".

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In Dirty Dancing, we the audience never see the Houseman home, but we do see two microcosms of their home.

1)  The inside of the family car as they are driving to Kellerman's Mountain Home.

2) The inside of their special cabin at Kellerman's Mountain Home.

Lisa and Baby behaving as if at home inside their car

Baby behaving as if at home in the family's cabin.(deleted scene)

Lisa behaving as if at home in the family's cabin (deleted scene)

In the first such microcosm -- the family car at the movie's beginning -- Baby appears to be happy, but she has two problems in her ordinary world.

Everybody called me "Baby", and it didn't occur to me to mind

I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my Dad.

In Baby's ordinary world, her only romantic prospects
are men like her father

In order to become perceived as adult and in order to broaden her romantic perspective, Baby will have to go on a heroic journey.

More broadly, Baby's opening narration foreshadows that her ordinary world soon will change within the next few months. Baby's imminent heroic journey at Kellerman's will begin a series of changes that will continue with the assassination of President Kennedy and with the arrival of the Beatles.

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In the following video, Eric O'Dell, minister of the Amazing Grace Spiritual Center, preaches a sermon titled "The Gospel of the Wizard of Oz".

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This series continues in Part 4.