Nobody Puts History in a Corner

The History to the Public website has published an article, written by Cherish Watton and titled Nobody Puts History in a Corner: Insights from Dirty Dancing.

On her own website, Watton describes herself as follows:

Cherish Watton

Cherish Watton is currently an MPhil student in Modern British History at Churchill College, Cambridge. She graduated with a First Class Honours degree in History from Lucy Cavendish College in July 2017.

Before studying, Cherish set up in business, working as an eco-consultant and social entrepreneur for Cherish Watton Enterprises in Norfolk. Her work has focused on running environmental residentials, evaluating programmes and developing opportunities for young people to seize the potential of the Green Economy based upon their interests, passions and experiences with environmental issues at school and college.

Cherish also founded and runs The Women's Land Army, a website on the work of the British Women’s Land Army during World War One and Two. Cherish is developing the website so it becomes the national online hub for information on the Land Girls and Lumber Jills – sharing original documents, magazines, photos and videos.

Watton's article about Dirty Dancing includes the following passages.

Dirty Dancing introduces the civil rights movement as a way to show the generational differences between young people and their parents. ... In the first lines of dialogue, Baby mentions that she is set to join the Peace Corps after the summer vacation. Minutes later, after entering the resort, her father, Dr Jake Houseman (Jerry Orbach) references the ‘the police dogs used in Birmingham’ in the midst of the civil rights movement in 1963. ....

Yet, the presentation of engagement with the civil rights movement varies between older and younger generations. For Dr Houseman, there is a certain detachment from events, and despite being proud of Baby’s upcoming work, he does not see himself as being directly involved in affairs like his daughter.

This detachment is evident not only reserved for Dr Houseman in the film, but also in the musical where the owner of Kellerman’s camp challenges the actions of his nephew travelling around freedom riding – questioning the actual impact this will have. In fact, these concerns were grounded in some truth – despite the work of young people travelling the country persuading African Americans to vote, only a small proportion voted. It was not until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in August 1965 when the proportion of African Americans registered to vote increased from 6% to 60%. ...

The film and musical highlight the parent/child clash over activism and involvement in the civil rights movement and the complex identity struggles which young people faced. They wanted to make a difference but found themselves in a tricky position with their parents’ expectations and discomfort about being on the frontline of debates over race relations. The producers present this generational gap cleverly in the film, and perhaps resonates with some of the current debates over Brexit and a ‘generational’ divide in the UK today.

[Discussion of the abortion issue, omitted here]

Dirty Dancing also emphasises some of the changes which women underwent in the tumultuous decades of the 1960s. This is most notable with Baby, whom [screenwriter Eleanor] Bergstein presents as a strong female lead – an agent, not a victim waiting to be ‘saved’ by a man.

She is the one that volunteers to help Penny and Johnny secure the contract for the next season (despite Johnny’s insistence that ‘she can’t do it’); she is the one that lies to her father to acquire the funds for Penny’s abortion; she is the one that takes control of her own sexual agency and decides to lose her virginity to Johnny.

Baby grows up in the 1960s, a decade which saw young women participating in social activist roles in their communities and beyond, rejecting the political passivity which had characterised women’s position since the end of the Second World War. Young, white and educated young women gave the 1960s sit-in movement additional legitimacy, by their peaceful, but defiant campaign against segregation in public places.

Being released in the 1980s, amidst the growth of the Women’s Consciousness movement, Baby and Penny alike were themselves evident of some of the positive leadership traits which some women wished to emulate. Baby’s activism and confidence ultimately illustrate the impact of this new activist culture on young people, especially those in middle-class America.

This activism is not only reserved for Baby, but also for Penny. After an emotional breakdown at the beginning of the film upon finding out she is pregnant, Penny is strong-willed in taking the decision to have the abortion, despite the risks involved. Penny works with Johnny to teach Baby the moves for the dance and advises him on the practicalities of relationships between staff and guest. Female agency is not an uncomplicated theme within the film, however – the two characters Baby and Penny initially clash, owing to their differences in age, experience and class. ...

The History to the Public website states its mission as follows:

History to the Public is a multidisciplinary history blog that focuses on sharing, learning, and disseminating information using social media, digital humanities projects, and blogging. Early career historians want to share their research and their interests with the general public, but do not always know how or where to start.

This blog provides a solution to that problem. We provide a platform and usable skill set to help other students make their way through the digital landscape of today’s humanities subjects.

We also hope to foster a network of academics from multiple countries and disciplines, allowing them to find one another and support each other’s research. Nevertheless, our main focus is on building a bridge between the academic world and the general public. To do this, we aim to write in an accessible format and to engage with current topics.

This blog aims to

* Bring together resources about history to a wider audience, not just those based in academia

* Share skills and tips in navigating the digital age through collaboration

* Provide a place of knowledge transfer between people from all walks of life

* Create a community of researchers who are passionate about public history

Anybody can contribute to this project ... by getting in contact with us about writing for the blog. You do not have to be an academic or even a graduate history student — a strong interest and commitment to diligent research are enough!