So many prominent films from the 1980s are coming-of-age stories that for someone with a blind spot for this decade, it’s not easy to differentiate: Which of the John Hughes films are must-watch (answer: probably none, if the overrated film The Breakfast Club is any indication) and where do they stack up against Stand by Me, Heathers, Lean on Me, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Outsiders or Risky Business? This even spread to the decade’s landmark films in other genres: The Oscar-winning melodrama Ordinary People was told through a teenager’s perspective; one of the greatest romcoms involved a boy in a man’s body (Big); the 80s-50s nostalgia connection involves teenage protagonists in Back to the Future and Peggy Sue Got Married; the great rock biopic La Bamba involved a 17-year-old, and the sports/coming-of-age hybrid Karate Kid also fits in here.
Somewhere in here are some true gems that might get
overlooked in the classic film cannon were they not engulfed in this trend. If there’s
any justice, Dirty Dancing is one of them (and don’t forget, it also has to
compete with Footloose, and Flashdance among musical teen entries from the 80s).
In the 1950s and 1960s, Jewish families from the Northeast would
create their own little summer Eden in the Catskills where Borscht belt humor
(think Rodney Daingerfield and Billy Crystal) was created among other cultural
inventions. It’s in this exclusive subculture, that Dirty Dancing is set and
the film gets the little details of Jewish family life down to a T (as someone
who has lived among many Jewish subcultures, I would know).
Our heroine, Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey), is the
typical Jewish-American princess: Sheltered, ambitious, and a little too motivated
daddy’s approval (Jerry Orbauch). Naturally, it’s a fantasy of a Jewish girl to
be attracted by the shiksah, and the camera isn’t particularly subtle that when
the burly Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayzee) first emerges in Baby’s eyesight, she’s
entranced.
The story has a Romeo-and-Juliet set-up with a strong classist
angle. Beyond the servants and campers dichotomy, there’s an extra division between
the Ivy League waiters and the dance instructors without that educational
pedigree. Considering these quasi-Jews would only be one generation removed at
most from being barred from the Ivy Leagues which were selective to WASPs. It’s
a strange plot contrivance. Besides, aren’t the dancers the lives of the party?
Couldn’t the campers have chalked up their lack of Ivy League education to a
choice: Why attend school when you have showbiz in your veins? The most famous
thing about these camps in the Catskills was that they berthed Borscht Belt
comedians and Jews counted among their ranks the Gershwins and Flo Ziegfeld, so
they surely had a respect for the entertainment industry
Even Baby’s saint of a father has some black-and-white views
about what seems like a pretty arbitrary division through our modern lens. But,
hey, it’s the 80s and we need clear-cut heroes and villains. Further down the
villain end is womanizing waiter Robbie who not only impregnates the head
dancer (Penny, Cynthia Rhodes), but is pretty amoral about his responsibility
for it. He catalyzes much of the plot.
In order to get her money for an abortion, Baby has to take
over Penny’s shift which slowly transforms a begrudging co-existence between Johnny
and to a full-on romance for the ages. Whatever stage of their relationship
this is, the passion is evident and Jennifer Grey has a knack for physical
comedy: The montage of her reveling in her new dance moves on the bridge connecting
the counselors and campers (how symbolic) is precious. More so, Grey’s Baby is
a dynamic character in all the little ways that matter. Near the begging of the
movie, she’s bold and outspoken towards someone who threatens her sister, but as
she’s dragged further into class conflict, she’s less sure of when to use her
words and it shows up in subtle inflections in Grey’s voice.
A lot of the coming-of-age movies are surface-deep. This is one that is
grounded in a specific place and time, with characters who are iconic of those
places. Plus, the emotion is simply overwhelming. “All the feels” as the young
kids say.
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