Baby Houseman's Heroic Journey -- Part 15

This post follows up Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13 and Part 14.

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The Wikipedia article about the Hero's Journey explains that a typical story of that genre comprises three main parts -- Departure, Initiation and Return. Each such part typically comprises various subparts. For the Departure and Initiation parts, Wikipedia lists the subparts as follows.

Departure

The Call to Adventure

Refusal of the Call

Supernatural Aid

Crossing the First Threshold

Belly of the Whale

Initiation

The Road of Trials

The Meeting with the God

The Man As Tempter

Atonement with the Father

Apotheosis

The Ultimate Boon

In this series of articles, I have finished the Ultimate Boon subpart. There I argued that Baby Houseman achieves her Ultimate Boon in the final scene, where her dance performance demonstrates that she should no longer be perceived as being a "Baby" -- rather, she should be recognized henceforth as being an adult, capable, confident woman. Also, immediately after her dance performance, she reconciles with her father.

Baby has accomplished her initiation into adulthood and has become a hero with improved qualities:

Wisdom

Life Experience

Familial Support

Recognition

Adult Authority

Confidence

Performance Ability

Emotional Self-Control

Generosity

Baby will be able to apply those improved qualities to her future efforts in her life.

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The Wikipedia article about the Hero's Journey listed the three parts as Departure, Initiation and Return. The article list's the Return subparts as follows.

Return

Refusal of the Return

Having found bliss and enlightenment in the other world, the hero may not want to return to the ordinary world to bestow the boon onto his fellow man.

The Magic Flight

Sometimes the hero must escape with the boon, if it is something that the gods have been jealously guarding. It can be just as adventurous and dangerous returning from the journey as it was to go on it.

Rescue from Without

Just as the hero may need guides and assistants to set out on the quest, often he or she must have powerful guides and rescuers to bring them back to everyday life, especially if the person has been wounded or weakened by the experience.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

The trick in returning is to retain the wisdom gained on the quest, to integrate that wisdom into a human life, and then maybe figure out how to share the wisdom with the rest of the world.

Master of Two Worlds

This step is usually represented by a transcendental hero like Jesus or Gautama Buddha. For a human hero, it may mean achieving a balance between the material and spiritual. The person has become comfortable and competent in both the inner and outer worlds.

Freedom to Live

Mastery leads to freedom from the fear of death, which in turn is the freedom to live. This is sometimes referred to as living in the moment, neither anticipating the future nor regretting the past.

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The 1987 movie Dirty Dancing does not depict any of those "Return" subparts, but the movie's beginning does provide a few clues about what Baby's return to her Ordinary World. The movie begins with Baby narrating from the year 1987 (the year when the movie was released), when she says:

That was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me "Baby", and it didn't occur to me to mind. That was before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came -- when I couldn't wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought I'd never find a guy as great as my dad. That was the summer we went to Kellerman's.

This narrative indicates that the following events happened between the end of the vacation at Kellerman's in September 1963 and the movie's release in August 1987.

* She no longer was called "Baby" by most people.

* She began to mind still being called "Baby".

* The Kennedy assassination and the Beatles' arrival affected her life.

* She continued to at least think about joining the Peace Corps.

* She did find a guy as great as her Dad.

Other clues about the future are provided by the song Big Girls Don't Cry, which accompanies Baby's narrative. The lyrics reveal how the relationship between Baby and Johnny Castle eventually ended.

The lyrics tell Johnny's perspective in 1987, looking backwards in time toward 1963. Johnny had told Baby that he was terminating their relationship while hoping secretly that she would beg to continue it. Baby, however, had accepted the relationship's termination stoically, with her mother's emotional support.

I told my girl we had to break up;
Thought that she would call my bluff,
But she said, to my surprise:
"Big girls don't cry."

Baby, I was cruel.
Baby, I'm a fool.

"Shame on you," your Mama said.
"Shame on you, you cried in bed.
"Shame on you, you told a lie."

Big girls DO cry

"Big girls don't cry."
That's just an alibi.

The opening scene is like a duet performed in 1987 -- telling the movie audience what would happen after the movie's story. Baby's narrative indicates that afterwards she no longer would be called "Baby" and so forth. Meanwhile, Johnny's song tells how the romantic relationship between himself and Baby would end.

So, the 1987 movie does reveal some facts about Baby's return to her Ordinary World, which will happen after the movie's story ends on September 2, 1963.

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In the ABC original movie, released in 2017, Frances (previously called Baby) is shown having a husband and daughter ten years later, in 1973.

Baby with her husband and daughter in 1973

Many people reject this 2017 TV movie as a genuine sequel. However, I offer two arguments for accepting this depiction of Frances's personal situation in 1973.

* Eleanor Bergstein never presented her own sequel and has not objected to this sequel.

* The 1987 movie's opening narrative indicates that Frances eventually (before 1987) will find a guy as great as her Dad.

I myself accept (unless Bergstein ever presents her own sequel) that in 1973 Frances will be a happy wife and mother.

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The available clues about Baby's Return to the Ordinary World enable me to elaborate a few of the subparts as follows:

Return

Refusal of the Return

The "Big Girls Don't Cry" lyrics indicate that Baby would be very sorry -- would cry -- about the termination of her relationship with Johnny. Baby would spend a tearful time fantasizing that she might continue her relationship with him after all.

Rescue from Without

The song's lyrics indicate also that Baby's mother will provide the emotional support necessary to accept the termination of the relationship with Johnny. Baby's mother will shame Baby into accepting the relationship's termination. Baby's mother will tell Frances to stop acting like a Baby.

The Crossing of the Return Threshold

Baby's opening narrative indicates that Frances's life will go through a significant transition that coincides with the period from November 1963 (when President Kennedy was assassinated) to January 1964 (when the Beatles arrived in the USA). After that intermediary period, Frances will cross a threshold into a new stage in her life.

Master of Two Worlds

In 1987 Baby will tell this story because she still is proud of her idealism that governed her actions during that summer vacation at Kellerman's Mountain Home in 1963, when she was 17 years old. Now in 1987, she is 41 years old, and she maintains much of that youthful idealism but she has learned also to deal with the practical considerations of being a wife and mother for many years. 

Therefore, the movie Dirty Dancing comprises all three parts of the Hero's Journey genre:

1) Departure

2) Initiation

3) Return

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This series will continue in Part 16.