Dirty Dancing Analysis: My 1,500th Post in This Blog -- Part 1

Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7

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I began writing this blog in December 2008 -- almost eleven years ago. I did not begin to post regularly, however, until February 2017 -- about a year and nine months ago.

I intend to do another 500 posts.

The following excerpt from my 1,000 post, explains why I continue to write this blog:

I write this blog about the movie Dirty Dancing because I want to share my enthusiasm for studying literary works. Most people who happen onto this blog perceive me to be a kook wasting my time. They browse through my blog for a short while and then go away to other, more interesting places in the Internet.

I think that I have perhaps only about a dozen regular readers at any given time. These regular readers keep reading my blog for at least a few months. As one such reader eventually abandons my blog, he is replaced by another new regular reader. Thus the number of regular readers remains at about a dozen.

If I feel that a dozen people are reading me regularly, then I feel that my effort is worthwhile. After all, even Jesus Christ had only twelve disciples.

I am 65 years old [now almost 67], I have no biological children, and in a few years I will die broke. I hope that my long blog about this one movie might challenge some young people to devote themselves to literary studies at a highly intellectual level. Within the concept of "literary studies", I include written literature, music, visual arts, theater, cinema and so forth.

Study the classics. Master the study of one genre or of one artist or of just one work. Then share your enthusiastic, expert understanding with other people. These are worthwhile activities that might make you happy with your own life -- a life of appreciating the liberal arts.

That's why I keep writing this blog.

I will elaborate that reason in the following section.

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I have come to recognize that most people cannot think in about existence and life in a philosophic manner that is strict, systematic and comprehensive. Only a few people will study epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, logic and aesthetics and will read scholarly philosophic works. Studying philosophy in such a manner is intellectually difficult -- abstract, comprehensive, profound and endless.

Most people think about existence and life more practically in stories. A story is relatively short and limited and provides a lesson.

Dirty Dancing is a movie that is familiar to many people. By studying this brilliant movie, I can make progress in organizing my own thinking about existence and life. By discussing this popular movie, I might be able to share my thinking with many other people.

As an old man, I have passed through earlier stages of appreciating literary works.

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As an elementary-school student I learned to summarize a story's main plot and to evaluate it emotionally:

I liked the movie because it was funny or exciting or scary or made me cry.

I did not like the movie because it was boring or dark or confusing.

I was able to point to moments that caused such emotions.

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As a high-school student, I learned to summarize the story more complexly, pointing out ambiguities conflicts, subplots, etc. I learned to to apply basic literary concepts such as theme, plot, characterization, setting, mood, etc.

The movie portrays family relationships in a prosperous Jewish family in the early 1960s.

The movie argues that the illegality of abortion caused many problems.

I was able to discuss such issues intelligently and objectively in by writing book reports and essays.

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As a college student, I learned to place the movie into a larger context.

The movie can be classified into the coming-of-age genre.

The movie reflects the Reagan Presidency.

The movie was the major accomplishment in Patrick Swayze's movie career.

I was able to write a scholarly thesis, with references, footnotes, etc.

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Now as an old man, I want to provide some wisdom to younger adults:

You can continue to develop your literary appreciation after your school years.

Artistic works help you to organize your philosophical thinking about life and society.

I write this blog because at least a few readers might grasp some of that wisdom and eventually might pass on that intellectual baton, in future years, to other people.

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I have not tried to earn any money from this blog. I have spent some money on books and DVDs.

My biggest expenditures have been my time and thought. There also has been an opportunity cost, because I have foregone other activities that also might be very worthwhile.

I now am beginning to include on my blog some advertisements and a DONATE button (in the upper-right margin). The donations go to me.

If I do not earn much money from the advertisements, then I will remove them from my blog.

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One NON-monetary donation that I have solicited and continue to solicit is a 12-minute video of deleted scenes. I used that video in many of my articles, but it has been removed from YouTube. I hope that someone posts it onto YouTube again or sends it to me so that I can embed it on my blog.

Update on December 3, 2109: This video has become available on YouTube again.

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If you want to submit your own questions, topics or essays, send me an e-mail at

MikeSylwester@gmail.com

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I am organizing links to many of my posts. This Part 1 provides the following groups of links.

Previous Milestones

The Movie's Genre

The Movie's Dance Theme

The Movie's Morality Theme

The Movie's Daughter-Father Theme

The Movie's Jewish Subtext

The Story's Chronology

The Producer Linda Gottlieb

The Screenwriter Eleanor Bergstein

The Development of the Story and Script

The Actor Patrick Swayze

The Actress Jennifer Grey

The Actress Cynthia Rhodes

The Choreographer Kenny Ortega