1) The Singing of "Kellerman's Anthem"The ending begins sadly. The "Kellerman"s Anthem" lyrics, in the third and fourth lines, mourn the imminent passing of the summer's fun experiences into mere memories.
2) The "Time of My Life" Dance Performance
3) The Denouement
Summer days will soon be over, soon the autumn starts,Baby Houseman sits sadly with her parents. Her dancer boyfriend Johnny Castle is gone, and so she will not perform in the talent show. Her sister Lisa will not share the spotlight.
And tonight our memories whisper softly in our hearts.
Then, Robbie Gould walks through the ballroom, and Jake Houseman chases after him and stops him in an alcove. Jake gives Robbie an envelope full of cash. In the ensuing conversation, however, Jake learns that Robbie (not Johnny) had impregnated Penny. Jake takes the envelope back, and Robbie leaves the building.
Now some justice has been done -- but seen only by the movie audience.
Then, while the "Anthem" continues to be sung, Johnny comes into the ballroom. At this point, the ending becomes happy for the movie audience and for all the characters -- except for Vivian Pressman. Before I discuss that one exception, though, I will continue to recount the movie's happy ending.
Johnny approaches Baby, who is surprised by his unexpected appearance. He takes her onto the stage, and declares his appreciation for her being a terrific dancer and for standing up for other people, no matter what the cost. Suddenly, sad Baby has become triumphant.
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The central part of the movie's happy ending is Baby's and Johnny's "Time of My Life" dance performance.
In a previous article titled The Psychology of the Movie's Happy Ending, I summarized that psychology:
.... A person is able to "flourish" into a state of happiness and well-being by assembling five building blocks:======
1) Positive EmotionThese same building blocks ... are assembled at the end of ... Dirty Dancing. The audience vicariously enjoys watching Baby "flourish" ....
2) Engagement
3) Relationships
4) Meaning
5) Accomplishment
1) Baby is emotionally happy in the moment.The audience vicariously enjoys Baby's "flourishing" and experiences the story's happy ending.
2) Baby is engaged in social interactions. On a low level, she is participating in the talent show. At the highest level, she aspires to improve the entire world.
3) Baby has repaired her damaged relationships -- especially with her father and with Johnny Castle.
4) Baby feels that her life has meaning. Johnny has publicly praised her wisdom and helpfulness.
5) Baby has accomplished an amazing dance performance.
The denouement of the movie Dirty Dancing happens in the last 3:18 minutes -- immediately after Baby Houseman and Johnny Castle conclude their dance performance. In a previous article, titled The Psychology of the Movie's Denouement, I summarized the denouement as follows:
The denouement of a story occurs just after the climax and is the final moment in which there is resolution for any remaining conflicts in the plot. All the loose ends of the plot are tied up in this last scene, secrets are revealed, and there may be a sense of catharsis for the reader or audience member at this point. It is also a return to normalcy for the characters, though there may be a “new normal” after the intricacies of the plot have occurred and been revealed.
.... the effective happy ending of Dirty Dancing happens mostly AFTER the performance dance of Baby Houseman and Johnny Caste. In other words, it is mostly the movie's denouement that makes the audience happy.
In the below video, the performance dance lasts from 3:10 through 3:30, and then the denouement lasts through the video's remainder.
The denouement comprises the following segments:Now I will skip ahead to the segment at 4:14 - 4:17 in the above video.
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3:30 - 3:34
Baby and Johnny laugh and embrace in their relief that they have completed their dance successfully.
In this moment, Baby and Johnny portray Positive Emotion and Accomplishment, which are two of the five elements of a happy ending, according to [Lindsay] Doran's lecture on happy endings. The rest of the denouement will portray the other three happy-ending elements -- Engagement, Relationships and Meaning.
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----I wrote that summary more than two years ago. Now I regret writing that Robbie and Vivian "had engaged in meaningless sex". Now I think that Robbie and Vivian considered their sexual relationships with, respectively, Penny and Johnny to be "meaningful". (I will not discuss Robbie further in this article.)
4:14 - 4:17
Vivian Pressman stands up. She is upset and turns away to leave the ballroom.
The movie has two main villains -- Robbie Gould and Vivian Pressman -- who had engaged in meaningless sex. Robbie is not even in the ballroom. Vivian's departure symbolizes the defeat of both villains.
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The following three images show Vivian standing up and walking out. In the background, Neil Kellerman dances with Marge Houseman.
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In a denouement, "all the loose ends of the plot are tied up". In Dirty Dancing, the entire denouement is happy except for the three-second moment when Vivian departs angrily.
Vivian's angry departure is noticed and understood only by the movie audience. Johnny and Baby might have understood Vivian' anger, but they do not notice her departure. Perhaps Robbie too would have understood Vivian's anger, but he already has departed before the denouement. Therefore Vivian's angry departure is meaningful only for the movie audience.
Vivian's angry departure arrests the movie audience's thoughts. The movie audience thinks about Vivian's anger and will continue to think about her anger after the movie ends. Those three seconds are in the movie so that the movie audience will continue to think about Vivian's anger.
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Why was Vivian so angry? Was her anger reasonable and justified?
Earlier in the story, during the rehearsals for the talent show, Vivian tried to arrange a sexual encounter with Johnny. No matter what, their sexual relationship would end soon, but Vivian intended to extend it at least a few more days.
However, Johnny terminated his sexual relationship with Vivian so that he could continue his sexual relationship with Baby. Therefore Vivian spent the night not with Johnny, but instead with Robbie . When she came out of Robbie's cabin in the morning, she saw Johnny and Baby coming out of Johnny's cabin.
So, it seems that Vivian became angry at Johnny and Baby. Perhaps Vivian then accused Johnny of stealing her husband Moe Pressman's wallet, but the movie audience does not know that for sure. Maybe Vivian had nothing to do with the theft accusation against Johnny.
Whether or not Vivian initiated the accusation, she surely was informed that Johnny was fired for stealing her husband Moe's wallet. Surely, Max Kellerman informed both Vivian and More Pressmans that the thief -- Johnny -- had been discovered and was being fired and evicted immediately.
Perhaps Vivian's angry departure during the denouement is supposed to confirm the movie audience's suspicions that she indeed initiated the false accusation against Johnny. In other words, she was angry because her malicious accusation had failed to separate Johnny from Baby forever.
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By the time Vivian was watching the talent show, she could not be expecting still to enjoy a sexual encounter with Johnny. She knew that Johnny had been fired and was gone from her life forever.
Vivian was as surprised as everyone else when Johnny showed up at the talent show and performed a dance with Baby. Vivian was shocked.
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Contrast Vivian's angry reaction with Neil Kellerman's accepting reaction. Neil had even better reasons to react angrily. He had courted Baby, but she dumped him in preference for Johnny. Neil had told Johnny to train the employees to perform a pachanga dance instead of a Cuban-soul dance. Neil had fired Johnny.
Nevertheless, Neil stayed in the ballroom and joined the dancing enthusiastically.
This contrast between Vivian and Neil highlights the excess of her anger. Vivian could have, like Neil, maturely shrugged off her anger and accepted the reality that Johnny preferred Baby as his romantic partner at that time.
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I think there is another reason -- perhaps the main reason -- why the three-second moment of Vivian's anger is included in the denouement.
The movie includes several extra-marital sexual relationships. The characters who engaged in extra-marital sex or intended to do so were Baby, Johnny, Penny, Robbie and Lisa -- and Vivian. In that list, the only married character was Vivian.
The extra-marital sexual relationship of the two main characters -- Baby and Johnny -- is glorified in the movie. The movie audience is supposed to perceive at least that one extra-marital relationship as good.
The extra-marital relationship of Penny and Robbie ended with bad consequences for both characters.
The extra-marital relationship of Lisa and Robbie was not consummated, and Lisa's very intention was criticized by Baby.
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The extra-marital relationship of Vivian and Johnny, however, might cause moral uncertainty for the movie audience. That particular relationship was mutually consensual and did not involve a pregnancy or other apparent consequences.
Recognizing the consequences for Johnny requires some thinking in the movie audience. He indicated to Baby that he resented the situations where he felt compelled to sexually service older, rich women in order to earn money. Oh, poor Johnny!
Of course, Vivian's husband Moe should be considered to be the major victim of Vivian's sexual promiscuity, but none of the consequences to him are depicted or even suggested. He might even perversely enjoy her cuckolding of himself.
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The movie's moral lessons are directed mostly to the females in the movie audience. Females do not like movies where the movie's female protagonist loses her husband or boyfriend to some slut without severe consequences for the slut.
Perhaps Vivian satisfied Johnny sexually as well as or even better than Baby did, but that idea would dismay the females in the movie audience. Johnny's sexual satisfaction from Vivian must be acknowledged and accepted realistically, but Vivian must suffer somehow.
Vivian is married, and so she should stop competing sexually with single women. It's bad enough that single women have to compete sexually with each other for attractive males. Single women should not have to compete sexually also with married sluts.
Therefore, the movie had to show Vivian angry, bitter and isolated at the end. Her exact reasoning did not matter much. For the females in the movie audience, Vivian was the villain.
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