The Time of My Life
Dirty Dancing
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
An engaging exploration into the enduring popularity of Dirty Dancing and its lasting themes of feminism, activism, and reproductive rights
When Dirty Dancing was released in 1987, it had already been rejected by producers and distributors several times over, and expectations for the summer romance were low. But then the film, written by former dancer Eleanor Bergstein and starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze as a couple from two different worlds, exploded. Since then, Dirty Dancing’s popularity has never waned. The truth has always been that Dirty Dancing was never just a teen romance or a dance movie — it also explored abortion rights, class, and political activism, with a smattering of light crime-solving.
In The Time of My Life, celebrated music journalist Andrea Warner excavates the layers of Dirty Dancing, from its anachronistic, chart-topping soundtrack, to Baby and Johnny’s chemistry, to Bergstein’s political intentions, to the abortion subplot that is more relevant today than ever. The film’s remarkable longevity would never have been possible if it was just a throwaway summer fling story. It is precisely because of its themes — deeply feminist, sensitively written — that we, over 30 years later, are still holding our breath during that last, exhilarating lift.
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Pop This! podcaster Warner (Rise Up and Sing!) presents an animated ode to the 1987 film Dirty Dancing. Using her personal connection with the movie as a springboard to explore its themes and appeal, Warner recounts how watching Dirty Dancing on VHS the year of its release, when she was nine, spurred her sexual awakening and "helped shape my burgeoning feminism." It's the film's feminist sensibility that Warner celebrates the most, lauding the movie's refusal "to moralize sex as bad" in its depiction of protagonist Baby Houseman's lust for her dance partner Johnny Castle. According to Warner, the subplot revolving around Baby's friend Penny's need for an abortion is similarly forward-thinking, portraying the procedure as "necessary, life-saving healthcare." Elsewhere, Warner details how Eleanor Bergstein drew on her memories of learning to mambo on vacation in the Catskills as a teenager while writing the screenplay, and offers a song-by-song breakdown of the soundtrack (she calls "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes "flawless" and finds Tom Johnston's "Where Are You Tonight?" "unexceptional and inoffensive"). Though Warner faults Dirty Dancing for lacking Black and Hispanic characters while heavily featuring Black and Latin music and dance, her tone is mostly laudatory, electrified by the enthusiasm and admiration of a true fan. It's a fun commentary on an enduring pop culture touchstone.
