Dirty Dancing
I missed it entirely in the 80s. I saw it for the first time within the last ten years, and didn't like it: it's hard to see, as an adult, exactly what there is to obsess over in it. Saw it again last week, and have some different thoughts about it.
It's possible to notice in a lot of movies that there can be many characters, but only a few that really matter for driving the story forward and emotional resonance--an audience can simply only keep track of so many characters at a time; one test of the metier of a film is how easily you can tell that you are being misdirected into thinking a film's world is richer than it actually is. On this viewing, I realized there were really only three characters (when Kelly Bishop finally got a line at the end, and I remembered she was in the movie): Baby, Johnny, and Baby's father. The thread of continuity between the three of them is a commitment to doing the right thing regardless of the personal cost: that's why the plot driver has to be abortion, because it should theoretically stress all of their beliefs but they respond with love and care: Johnny takes care of his friend and takes the blame and does not go and beat up or identify the guy responsible; Baby lies and suffers the consequences but does not hesitate when help is needed; Baby's father sees a person who needs help and helps and keeps his personal judgments largely to himself. The basis of virtue here is love and care freely given, and masculine virtue is the honor that comes from being open and vulnerable and accepting that pain will occasionally be a part of that. Perhaps it's not so weird that girls flocked to this movie, after all.
(Side note: all of the 50s songs f***, none of the 80s songs do. It is remarkable how sexless they are.)
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