* Deconstructing "Dirty Dancing"
* A Book Review of "Deconstructing Dirty Dancing"
* Did Baby Imagine Johnny's Return to the Hotel?
Those three articles discussed the book Deconstructing Dirty Dancing, a book written by Stephen Lee Naish, published by Zero Books in 2017. When I wrote those articles, I did not have the book, so I based my articles on other people's book reviews of the book.
Now I myself have the book, and so I am writing my own review of it.
I recommend the book to anyone who likes to think about the movie in an analytical manner -- in particular to anyone who intends to write a thesis about the movie.
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| Stephen Lee Naish, author of Deconstructing Dirty Dancing |
* U.ESS.AY: Politics and Humanity in American FilmHe grew up in Britain and now lives in Canada. He was approaching his teenage years when the movie was released in 1987, so I figure he was born in the late 1970s.
* Create or Die: Essays on the Artistry of Dennis Hopper
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The book is a paperback, 76 pages long. The last six pages are end notes, which I found to be valuable.
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| Cover of the book Deconstructing Dirty Dancing |
For example, the following passage is Naish's comment on the early scene where Penny Johnson is teaching a dance class in a gazebo. (In the book, the following passage is one long paragraph.)
The family’s first holiday activity is to take part in a merengue class with a gathering of other guests. The class is led by seasoned dancer Penny Johnson, a former Rockette, who now pedals dance lessons to the wealthy elite of Kellerman’s. Penny attempts to encourage some sexual heat from the affluent horde by loudly proclaiming: “Oh, come on, ladies. God wouldn’t have given you maracas if He didn’t want you to shake ‘em.” She then shakes her hips and shoulders in a suggestive manner.This passage ends with a reference to the following end note:
Penny’s flirtatious dance tutoring and flamboyant red dress are certainly at odds with the straight-laced attire .of pastel cardigans, buttoned-up polo shirts and knee-high socks of the guests. Penny divides the genders into two circles, men on the outside, ladies in the middle, a gesture that reeks of male dominance. However, as they dance Penny switches the power structure and places the ladies in charge. She shouts “Ok ladies, when I say stop you’re gonna find the man of your dreams.” Frances and her father instantly make a move towards each other.
As mentioned in her narration, Frances is yet to find a guy greater than her dad. However, Penny intercepts Dr. Houseman on the dancefloor and Frances ends up slow dancing with an elderly lady called Mrs. Schumacher, a minor character who will later become relevant to Frances’ personal journey. Frances looks towards her father and Penny with an expression of disappointment and jealousy. By physically coming between them, Penny symbolizes the role she will play i forever changing the relationship between Dr. Houseman and Frances. As will be discussed in more detail, unknowingly to Dr. Houseman, his money will pay for Penny’s illegal abortion and Dr. Houseman will be called upon to rescue Penny when the termination goes wrong.
McDonald, T.J. "Bringing Up Baby: Generic Hybridity in Dirty Dancing". In Y. Tzioumakis and S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Time of our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture. p. 53.A second example is Naish's comment on the scene where Baby confronts Robbie Gould in the dining room about helping to pay for Penny's abortion. (In the book, the following passage is one long paragraph.)
The next morning Frances confronts Robbie, who labels Penny promiscuous: “I didn’t blow a summer hauling toasted bagels just to bail out some little chick who probably balled every guy in the place.”This passage includes a reference to the following end note.
He continues his misguided philosophy of “some people count, some people don’t,” a sentiment that might appear to conflict with the ethics of becoming a doctor. However, his thinking is borrowed from somewhere more sinister. He hands Frances a well-worn copy of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, a book Rand claimed in her journals to be a “defense of egoism in its real meaning. Egoism as a new faith.” Robbie instructs her to read it but to return it as “I have notes in the margin.”
Frances responds by emptying a pitcher of cold water onto Robbie’s crotch. This is an act of castration, and a fitting response to Robbie’s infatuation with Ayn Rand’s individualist ideology. Frances literally pours a fountain of cold water over Robbie’s head. Robbie’s earlier use/misuse of Kennedy’s inaugural address is clearly at odds with his appreciation of Rand’s work.
Rand, A. and Harriman, D., (1997). Journals of Ayn Rand. New York: Dutton. p. 77.Anyway, Naish goes through the entire movie with such scene-by-scene analysis, which include many references to scholarly works, essays and webpages.
As I read the analysis, I frequently read also the referenced end notes, which I often found to be valuable.
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The book's first six pages provide an overview of the movie's commercial and cultural history. The movie was surprisingly popular during its theater release and has remained surprisingly popular to the present. The movie can be compared to various other movies released in 1987. The movie was not produced by a major studio but rather by a small independent studio. The movie led to albums, a television series and a stage musical. The movie addresses various political issues.
The book's next five pages compares the 1987 movie Dirty Dancing with the 1986 movie Blue Velvet.
Naish got the idea for this comparison from a spoof video showing how Dirty Dancing would have been made by David Lynch, the director of Blue Velvet.
Naish's comparison of these two movies is far-fetched and only mildly interesting. If I had been his editor, I would have deleted this entire chapter and also all the references to Blue Velvet in his scene-by-scene analysis.
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The book text's last seven pages are a discussion of Naith's own relationship to the movie. I found some of this self-indulgent chapter to be rather interesting. The movie opened his teenage mind to music that was different from the grunge music that obsessed him during his teenage years. The movie's portrayal of the Jewish resort hotel in the USA was rather exotic to him as a British teenager.
The movie impressed him as a portrayal of class conflict -- of the differences between working-class and professional people. Therefore the movie significantly motivated him to begin a career of analyzing movies from political, philosophical and literary perspectives.
From my youth I recall a number of staple films that were on constant replay. So much so that the video cassettes they were recorded onto became warped and worn out. Films that today feel greatly outdated in almost every way: Short Circuit, The Naked Gun, Grease, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Predator, The Bachelor Party, Back to the Future, to name but a few. These films might not lay the groundwork for a serious film fan, but somehow they led me to consider film important and vital.I enjoyed reading this chapter, because I myself feel similarly about the movie.
Yet these films (with the exception of Back to the Future (which is still awesome) have drifted away from me. Their meanings have become diluted as time has worn on. The outdated representations of race and gender, and even my shift in humor and what I find funny, have made these films seem meaningless.
This is not the case with Dirty Dancing. Repeated viewings throughout the years have unraveled the class politics at play. With each viewing I have understood more as I have explored and embraced my own class status. Although I’m possibly of a slim minority of males who believe this, I am far from alone in observing the changing understanding of Dirty Dancing. ….
Over the course of writing and researching this project I have continually asked myself what Dirty Dancing means to me. Why, with the wealth of film history at my disposal, did I choose to focus on one film I have such an uneven relationship with?
It is exactly this unevenness that has made the film so important. Dirty Dancing’s unfolding layers have opened up the possibility that layers of political, historical, philosophical, societal, and cultural importance exist in all films. These issues are hidden within the narratives from bone-crunching blockbusters to twee romantic comedies. In some films, these layers are already well embedded, but it is a triumph of the art of cinema when a film can reveal itself based on your own life experiences, interests, and understanding.
This is what Dancing has done for myself and many others. So now I have the same relationship with the film that Frances Houseman has with Johnny Castle. I “sort of” love it and I’ll “never be sorry” about that.
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Instead of the book's early chapter comparing Dirty Dancing to Blue Velvet, Naish should have used that space to introduce early another book that he introduces in the middle (page 25) of his own book. This other book is Michele Schreiber's American Postfeminist Cinema: Women, Romance and Contemporary Culture, published in 2014. Schreiber's book explains that many romance movies that are popular among women tell their stories in the following pattern:
The First Meeting: In which the two leads encounter each other for the first time.If I had been Naish's editor, I would have made his summarize Schreiber's book in an early chapter and then shown in his subsequent, scene-by-scene analysis how the movie fit with that pattern.
The Courtship: The two protagonists spend time with one another, encountering a connection between each other.
The Consummation: The first kiss or sexual encounter that seals the relationship.
The Problem: The two protagonists encounter an issue or incident which momentarily disrupts their romance.
The Resolution: A solution is found to the problem or situation, and the relationship becomes stronger by surviving the conflict.
The End: The happy ending in which all conflicts are resolved and the protagonists are allowed to enjoy their future together.
Maybe I will get Schreiber's book and do this myself.
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Naish's book discusses many scenes that were deleted from the final movie. I myself do the same in my blog here, and I liked Naish's discussion of such deleted scenes.
I liked Naish's comparison of the Dirty Dancing montage in which Baby alone practices her dancing with the Rocky montage in which Rocky Balboa alone exercises for his boxing match.
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One interesting element of Naish's book is his argument (page 55) that Baby imagined Johnny's return to the hotel to perform the "Time of My Life" dance with her.
At this point it becomes apparent that Dirty Dancing breaks from the realist perspective and revels in pure cinematic fantasy. There are signposts throughout the following scene that indicate we have left the reality of the film and are somehow locked into Frances’ imagination.I presented that argument in my previous article Did Baby Imagine Johnny's Return to the Hotel?.
During the final show the Houseman family sits and watches as the ‘Kellerman Anthem’ is performed by the staff. We pull focus on Frances as she stares blankly towards the stage, no doubt in contemplation of the enormity of change the summer has bestowed upon her. However, her expression is also one of daydreaming, evidence that her imagination is running wild.
Johnny enters through a brightly lit door. There appears nothing but darkness outside, as if no other reality exists behind the door he walks through. He is greeted by his former colleagues and class comrades. Johnny observes the room and squares in on the Houseman’s table. As he approaches, Frances wakes from her daydream, shocked that it came true; or are we actually still within the fantasy? ….
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In general I liked the book and found some new insights and sources. I recommend the book especially to anyone who intends to write a thesis about the movie. Naish emphasizes the movie's portrayal of differences between working-class and professional people.
You can order the book directly from the publisher Zero Books or from Amazon.
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