Comments on: [Guest Post] Found Feminism: Rewatching Dirty Dancing

By: Miranda

Miranda — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:25:23 +0000

In reply to Lori Smith. I think Johnny finally uses her real name at the end when he gives his speech, and that's sort of a turning point. Very rusty memory though!

By: Lori Smith

Lori Smith — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:52:40 +0000

In reply to Pet Jeffery. IIRC, her name is actually Frances. Baby is a nickname given to her by her family, because she is the youngest. I *think* she ditches this name by the end of the film too.

By: Lori Smith

Lori Smith — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:37:28 +0000

I’ve always loved the movie Dirty Dancing, and was reminded of just how much more than a dance movie it is when I was summarising the plot for a friend. I’d never really considered it from a feminist perspective before (which is odd, seeing as I wrote about Grease in a similar way for The F-Word a few years ago!), but I love your critique. The class aspect is fascinating and the interaction between the female characters is great… despite the fact a lot of the conversatins are about men!

Thanks for a really enjoyable post.

By: Pet Jeffery

Pet Jeffery — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 12:35:53 +0000

I thought I’d seen ‘Dirty Dancing’, and am surprised to discover that I haven’t. The film I thought was ‘DD’ is set in Australia, and has a completely different storyline.

So, everything I now know about ‘DD’ is gleaned from this post. As I read it, the elephant in the room that kept leaping out at me (except that elephants don’t leap a great deal) is that the lead character seems to be called Baby. The implied infantilisation repeatedly distracted me from the main thrust of the post — as though someone were scratching a blackboard as I read.