The Intrusion of Baby's Father Into Her Seduction of Johnny

I suppose there are two major opinions about when Baby Houseman decided to seduce Johnny Castle.

Perhaps the more common opinion is that she decided to do so rather spontaneously while she was in his cabin and talking with him about their various feelings and concerns.

In contrast, my own opinion is that she made her decision before she traveled with him to the Sheldrake Hotel. I explained my opinion in a previous article titled Baby intended to seduce Johnny when they returned from the Sheldrake. That article included the following passages.

.... Although Johnny intended to stop spending time with Baby, she wanted to continue and develop her relationship with Johnny. She had three goals:

1) To lose her virginity to him.

2) To continue learning to dance from him.

3) To prepare a dance performance with him for the talent show.

Baby did not have money to pay Johnny for private dance lessons or for help in performing at the talent show. She already owed $250 to her father, so she would not get much more money from him.

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The video clip showing Baby's conversation with Lisa on bingo night reveals that Baby has become uncharacteristically ruthless, deceitful and manipulative.

This scene -- although partially deleted from the movie -- provides an informative context for evaluating Baby's effort to continue and develop her relationship with Johnny. Tonight Baby will do whatever it takes to succeed, no matter how her desperate methods might contradict her lifetime of developing her superb ethical character and reputation. Baby intended to seduce Johnny sexually that night so that he would continue to spend time with him through her remaining days at the resort.

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If you still prefer the first opinion -- that Baby decided while talking with Johnny in his cabin -- then please consider my opinion anyway, just for the sake of argument. If my opinion is correct, then the appearance of Jake Houseman in the middle of Baby's scheme provides a much better drama.

Consider this sequence of events:

From a distance, Baby sees her parents go into the hotel to play bingo. Baby runs up and asks her sister Lisa to lie to their parents that Baby will be staying in her hotel room all evening because of a headache.

Baby travels with Johnny to and from the Sheldrake. Baby is scheming to seduce Johnny eventually that night.

Baby and Johnny learn that Penny Johnson is in mortal danger after an abortion

Baby is compelled to go to her family's hotel suite to get her father and bring him to Penny's cabin.

Her father treats Penny and realizes that Baby used his $250 to pay for the abortion.

On their walk back to the family's hotel suite, Baby's father forbids her to have anything more to do with Johnny and Penny.

Baby's father goes back to bed, while Baby makes a show of removing the makeup from her face.

Baby sneaks out of the family's suite and goes to Johnny's cabin to accomplish her intention to seduce him.

Yikes !!!!

Baby is in the middle of her scheme to seduce Johnny, and then unexpectedly she has to go bring her father into the scene. Then while he is in the scene, her father orders her never to have anything to do with Johnny.

And then she immediately disobeys her father and goes to Johnny's cabin and gets sexual with him.

This story is much more exciting than the story where she does not make her seduction decision until she is in the cabin and talking with Johnny.

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This difference of opinion about when Baby made her seduction decision is an interesting discussion topic for students of the movie. Both opinions can be argued well. The deletion of part of the scene where Baby and Lisa talk about Baby's lying is an important consideration.

A person watching the movie for the first time has no reason to think that Baby intends already during the Sheldrake trip to seduce Johnny. The first-time watcher does not know yet that the seduction will happen.

Only in retrospect -- or during a re-watching -- might the watcher suspect that Baby made her seduction decision far earlier than the actual seduction.

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When the story was filmed, Baby threatened to lie about Lisa -- to lie that Lisa left Baby alone when their parents went to the wedding Washington -- to their parents. Although that dialogue was filmed, it eventually was deleted from the movie.  That deletion significantly changed the movie audience's understanding of Baby and of her actions during the following hours that night.

I developed my different opinion about Baby's seduction decision after I learned that she had made that threat to Lisa in a bit of dialogue that was deleted before the movie was shown to the public. It's quite debatable how much anyone should base his interpretation of a movie on elements that have been deleted.

In this particular case, I argue that the new interpretation provides better, more exciting drama.

This is a good discussion topic for movie students.