Since I published the latter blog article, a couple more comments have been written, and so I will discuss them here.
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In my 2008 article, I wrote that Robbie had brought the novel The Fountainhead into the restaurant to give to Lisa (not to Baby) to read. Robbie hoped the novel might persuade Lisa to have sex with him. I described Robbie's reasoning as follows:
Apparently, Robbie had brought the novel into the dining room with the intention of giving it not to Baby, but rather to Lisa, whom he expected to serve as a waiter at the imminent meal. He and Lisa had quarreled the previous night when he had become sexually aggressive at the golf course. Lisa had refused to submit to him, and he had refused to apologize. Robbie had not given up in his efforts to seduce Lisa, however, and he intended to lend Lisa The Fountainhead as his next step.
If Lisa would only read The Fountainhead, then Lisa would understand and appreciate Robbie better. The novel was written by a famous female author with a female perspective that Lisa should share. Lisa should understand that Robbie Gould was similar to the novel’s hero Howard Roark. Robbie Gould was working now only as a waiter, but Howard Roark had worked for a long time only as a stone cutter in a quarry. Eventually, however, Robbie Gould would become the world’s greatest medical genius, just as Howard Roark became the world’s greatest architectural genius. And Lisa should identify with novel’s beautiful and intelligent heroine, Dominique Francon:
Lisa Houseman should adore the genius Robbie Gould just as Dominque Francon adored the genius Howard Roark.
Lisa Houseman should submit to and then forgive Robbie Gould’s sexual aggression just as Dominique Francon had done submitted to and forgiven Howard Roark’s rape.
Lisa Houseman should feel flattered that Robbie Gould would adore her nude body, just as Howard Roark had designed a huge monument to Dominique Francon’s nude body.
Lisa Houseman should be willing to wait patiently until Robbie Gould was ready to marry her, just as Dominque Francon had waited – even through two marriages to other, mediocre men – until Howard Roark was ready to marry.
We don’t know whether Lisa actually read The Fountainhead. It’s a long (750 pages) and high-minded novel. Perhaps she just started and then asked Robbie to tell her the story. Robbie certainly pointed out the sexy parts – the scene where Dominique was raped and the scene where the married Dominique had sex with the wealthy man who then was so pleased that he paid Dominique’s husband to agree to a divorce so that Dominique could marry the wealthy man and the scene where Dominique left the wealthy man and reunited with Howard Roark, who had raped her many years ago.
When I wrote that blog article in 2008, I had not actually read the novel myself. Rather, I just based the above passage on summaries of the novel that I had read.
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On March 20, 2020, commenter HBinswaner wrote:
My credentials: Ph.D. in philosophy, personal friend of Ayn Rand (see Wikipedia).
Your post gets The Fountainhead completely wrong, wrong about the characters' motivation and their ideas.
First, THERE WAS NO RAPE. Dominique wanted Roark -- she even invented pretexts to get him inside her bedroom, as Roark was aware.
Roark was in love with her. >> "We never need to say anything to each other when we're together. This is for the time when we won't be together. I love you, Dominique. As selfishly as the fact that I exist."
That nude statue of Dominique by Steven Mallory? Dominique posed for it! And in one scene she poses for it while Roark is watching her.
Your article simply invents things:
"The hero did not marry until he achieved extraordinary professional success, because marriage impeded his professional efforts in the meantime. Lisa did not understand that the heroine was supposed to satisfy herself with a couple of marriages to other, mediocre men in the meantime. The hero had time to satisfy his own sexual desires only with an occasional rape in the meantime."
1. It was she who wouldn't marry him, not the other way around. 2. Dominique married the worst people she could find because she wanted to kill her desire for greatness -- convinced that great men die of slow torture, 3. Roark was very hurt by her 2 marriages.
[ ... ]
And that part about Roark satisfying his sexual desires by an occasional rape? The novel suggests that he never even touched another woman.
Dominique's basic motivation? Fear for Roark's fate.
[ ... ]
The philosophy of The Fountainhead is stated very clearly in the novel. E.g., Roark's courtroom speech:
"The issue has been perverted.... As poles of good and evil, [man] was offered two conceptions: egotism and altruism. Egotism was held to mean the sacrifice of others to self. Altruism — the sacrifice of self to others. This ... left him nothing but a choice of pain: his own pain borne for the sake of others or pain inflicted upon others for the sake of self. When it was added that man must find joy in self-immolation, the trap was closed. Man was forced to accept masochism as his ideal — under the threat that sadism was his only alternative. This was the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind....The choice is not self-sacrifice or domination. The choice is independence or dependence."
For the sake of brevity, I removed two parts -- [ ... ] -- where HBinswaner provided more evidence for his argument. You can read his entire comment at the above link. I appreciate his strong argument that Roark did not rape Dominique.
However, plenty of readers get the impression that he forced himself on her. She accepted it -- and even enjoyed it.
That is the impression that Robbie wanted Lisa to get from her own reading of the novel. Sure, Lisa might agree with HBinswaner that the incident was not forcible at all, but that is not what Robbie hoped Lisa would think.
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On August 4, 2020, commenter grbfrog wrote:
I just finished The Fountainhead today after 20 years of being on my "to do" list so I could better understand the reference. I'm glad I read it. And my appreciation for the artistry of Dirty Dancing grows.
The criticism of Robbie's character is straightforward. I did find the suggestion that in that era all men fancied themselves to be Howard Roark interesting. I wasn't alive then so I don't know that cultural context.
But to me, Robbie doesn't fancy himself Howard Roark but rather Peter Keating. Peter Keating's struggles came from his incomplete self awareness; he strove for success as measured by others but was only vaguely aware of his actions and motivations, much of it being driven by his mother. However, I think Robbie has learned from this and embraces being Peter Keating unashamedly for the power, money, and women it will bring. And despite still being in college, he's already achieved much, such as his Alfa Romeo, being encouraged to date rich well connected daughters, and very nearly a fat check from a stranger, Baby's dad.
It is an interesting idea that Robbie was carrying the book to convince Lisa, but I feel strongly that this isn't the case.
One, Lisa would've never read it.
Two, it would not be the most effective way to get her in bed.
And three, Robbie doesn't care that much about it anyway; I think he would put Lisa squarely into the "some people don't [matter]" category.
He respects Baby for her intellect, but to Robbie, Lisa is just a cheap thrill and a possible networking connection with her dad, not worth the effort if it doesn't come easy. And this is shown that as Lisa struggles with her decision whether to sleep with him, he's already with someone else, not concerned about Lisa's decision one way or the other.
But I do not think The Fountainhead's criticism is only directed at Robbie. Much of The Fountainhead focuses on criticizing altruistic acts by the rich, and as uncomfortable as it may be, this criticism finds Baby in its aim. Well intentioned as she is, Baby has led a life of comfort and privilege, preparing to study economics of under developed countries to help those facing hardships she has never faced.
This is consistent with the movie's gentle criticism of Baby at the beginning; even her name is meant to suggest her naivete. Had her summer at Kellerman's never happened, she may have followed that path, feeling self righteous for her work "helping" those less fortunate but not actually contributing much to the world, then settling down and marrying someone of her social class. Baby herself spells this out as the intended plan during her "but you let me down too" soliloquy to her dad.
However, it is her relationship to Johnny that forces her to be a little more like Howard Roark, fighting for a cause no matter what it costs, and it is hard for her. In the end, she leaves those around her better people because of her willingness to fight for what she believed in, perhaps making more a difference than she would've in the Peace Corp., paralleling The Fountainhead theme.
I would even suggest Jake, Baby's dad, is subtly targeted by The Fountainhead reference. He either gets fooled or enjoys playing the game with the smooth guy Robbie (Peter Keating). And his willingness to give money to Robbie after dating Lisa has shades of Guy Francon encouraging Peter Keating to marry Dominique because he doesn't know what to do with her.
I am not equating Lisa with Dominique; two characters could not be more different. However, Lisa's dad is unable to relate to Lisa like he does with Baby. Bribing a rich successful guy like Robbie to take care of her so he doesn't have to learn to understand her is similar to Guy Francon and his hoped for solution with his daughter and Peter Keating.
I am glad I read the book; I didn't think it was possible to appreciate Dirty Dancing even more, but it has happened. Thank you for creating this blog to share opinions and insights to further understand the greatness of Dirty Dancing!
Thank you, grbfrog, for writing such an interesting comment!
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I still intend to finish my series called "The Development of Lisa's Political Rebellion", which begins with this Part 1. That series includes much discussion of Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead.
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