The Fans' Love Story -- Part 2

Following Part 1

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In her informative book The Fans' Love Story, Sue Tabashnik provides the following statistics about the 186 respondents to her Internet questionnaire (during 2007-2008) about the movie Dirty Dancing.

Female = 169

Male = 17

Ages 4 to 17 = 6

Ages 18 to 30 = 40

Ages 31 to 50 = 79

Ages 51 to 65 = 46

Ages 66 to 80 = 13

Ages 81+ = 1

No Answer = 1

The largest group of respondents were 31 to 50 years old. When the movie was released in 1987, that group was in the age range of 11 to 30 years old.

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The respondents selected (up to three) the following scenes as their favorites.

Final dance = 31%

Johnny teaches Baby to dance, puts her hands on his heart = 23%

Johnny dances with Baby first time at staff party = 12%

Baby giggles when Johnny moves hand down = 12%

Water lift = 9%

Penny and Johnny teach Baby ("spaghetti arms") = 9%

Baby says, "I carried a watermelon" = 4%

In their remarks, the respondents offered the following additional scenes as favorites

"I'm scared of everything" = 36 respondents

Love is Strange = 5 respondents

Sheldrake dance = 3 respondents

Baby changing clothes in car's back seat = 3 respondents

Baby and Johnny on front porch of Penny's cabin = 3 respondents

Baby's conversations with her father = 3 respondents

The book lists 18 other scenes that were offered by two or one respondents.

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The respondents' explanations (select up to four) for the movie's continuing popularity:

The dancing and music = 182

The love story = 126

The characters seem real and deserve sympathy = 104

The feel-good story = 80

The innocent time = 62

The characters' self-discovery = 52

The acting = 47

The coming-of-age story = 45

The value of integrity = 39

The respondents offered 15 other reasons. The most frequent other reason was Patrick Swayze. Other repeated reasons included the choreography and the songs. Another good reason was this:

It's a movie that brings two people from different sides of the tracks together, and they begin to come to terms with each other's expectations, and they could make it work as thyy both say "fight harder", and that's what Johnny and Baby did. They fought and overcame their fears and found trust in one another.

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The major positive impact on the respondent's life:

Provided worthwhile entertainment = 28%

Gave hope that love exists = 23%

Gave hope that people will do the right thing = 17%

Provided relief in a difficult time = 17%

Provided emotional catharsis = 12%

Other = 3%

The respondents offered 35 other positive impacts. Many respondents mentioned that they became life-long fans of Patrick Swayze or that they took effective actions to become better dancers. Several said that the movie made them more idealistic. Several said that the movie had cheered them up many times.

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The book does not provide any statistics about the following questions that were asked on the questionnaire.

How many times have you seen the movie?

When was the last time you saw the movie?

I wish those statistics had been provided. There is no explanation for their absence.

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The many remarks that the respondents offered beyond the questionnaire's lists -- favorite scenes, reasons for continuing popularity, impacts, etc. -- are very interesting to read.

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The book can be ordered from various booksellers, including directly from its publisher, Outskirts Press.

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I will continue this article in Part 3.