Dirty Dancing Analysis: Baby Houseman's Heroic Journey -- Part 4

This post follows up Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

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 in this genre the hero leaves his ordinary world by responding to a "Call to Adventure". Peterson's article -- which uses the movie The Wizard of Oz as an example -- includes the following passages.

.... The Call to Adventure can come in the form of a message, letter, phone call, dream, temptation, last straw, or loss of something precious. ...

Dorothy’s call to adventure comes when Toto, representing her intuition, is captured by Miss Gulch, escapes, and Dorothy follows her instincts (Toto) and runs away from home with him.

Almost always, the hero initially balks at the call. He or she is being asked to face the greatest of all fears, the terrible unknown. This hesitation signals the reader that the adventure is risky, the stakes are high, and the hero could lose fortune or life ... There is charm and satisfaction in seeing the hero overcome this reluctance. The stiffer the refusal, the more the reader enjoys seeing it worn down. ...

The hero’s doubt also serves to warn the reader that he may not succeed on this adventure, which is always more interesting than a sure thing, and it is often a threshold guardian who sounds the alarm and cautions the hero not to go ....

Dorothy encounters Professor Marvel who convinces her to return home because the road ahead is too dangerous. She goes home, but powerful forces have already been set in motion, and there is no going back. ...

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In Dirty Dancing, the Call to Adventure happens when Baby Houseman, on her first day at the resort, accepts Billy Kostecki's invitation to act as the magician's stooge. That evening she goes alone to the resort's main building, to a back door, through which she will meet the magician.

Baby responds to her Call to Adventure by going to the main building
to meet the magician and to learn how to perform as his stooge.

At that back door, Baby gets her first peek into the resort's secret world when she spies Max Kellerman instructing the waiters and entertainers about how they should and should not treat the young female guests.

Baby overhears the resort's secret rules about how the male employees
are supposed to treat the young female guests.

Baby learns from Max Kellerman's secret instructions that:

* the waiters were hired because of their higher education and excellent career prospects.

* the waiters are encouraged to romance the young female guests.

This information would be the key for Baby to begin a romantic adventure knowledgeably during her vacation at the resort. Since she hopes to "find a guy as great as my Dad", she now knows that she should position herself to be approached romantically by a waiter, who is likely to be a pre-med student.

Later that evening, Baby goes through with her stooge act in the magic show. Thus she becomes the center of attention for a while. There's a good chance that some pre-med student working as a waiter will notice her and approach her soon.

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In the genre of The Hero's Journey, the scene of The Call to Adventure is followed often by a scene of The Refusal of the Call. These two scenes are described by the Wikipedia article about The Hero's Journey as follows:

The Call to Adventure
The hero begins in a situation of normality, from which some information is received that acts as a call to head off into the unknown.

The Refusal of the Call
Often when the call is given, the future hero first refuses to heed it. This may be from a sense of duty or obligation, fear, insecurity, a sense of inadequacy, or any of a range of reasons that work to hold the person in his or her current circumstances.

In The Wizard of Oz, these two scenes happen as follows.

The Call to Adventure
Dorothy runs away from home with her dog Toto.

The Refusal of the Call
After consulting with Professor Marvel, Dorothy returns home.

The scene of The Refusal of the Call tells the story's audience that the hero perceives The Call to Adventure to be consequential, risky or dangerous.

In Dirty Dancing, Baby's Refusal of the Call is depicted in two ways:

1) Baby involves herself publicly with the resort's assistant manager, Neil Kellerman, the owner's grandson.

2) Several days later, Baby remains involved only with Neil and only platonically.

Although Baby has acquired secret knowledge that she might become romantically involved with a pre-med student working as a waiter, she fails to position herself for such an opportunity. Furthermore, Baby's public involvement with Neil will discourage any waiter from approaching her romantically.

In contrast, her sister Lisa, who lacks such secret knowledge, has become involved romantically with pre-med student Robby Gould, who is working as a waiter and who has been encouraged to romance the young female guests.

Baby has responded initially to a Call to Adventure, but soon afterwards she refused that Call. She fears the risks of a real romantic adventure with some pre-med student working as a waiter in a summer job. Baby wants to "find a guy as great as her Dad" -- her Dad is an educated and successful doctor -- but she squanders her secret knowledge by involving herself publicly and platonically with Neil. As a consequence of that safe involvement, no pre-med student working as a waiter will approach her romantically.

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