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Dirty Dancing

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whynotshesaid
09/17/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
THANK YOU! I have had to defend the feminist and political undertones of Dirty Dancing way too many times in my life, to the point of inspiring a blog post the other day. I am so glad to know I am not alone here.
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Roar of the Greasepaint
09/17/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
Oh, man, for 22 years I've been hearing that line as "She's like the wind / through my DREAM" which didn't rhyme precisely and didn't actually make any sense but which spoke to me on a level that "She's like the wind / through my TREE" never will.

I'm crushed.
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CraftyBroad
09/17/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I really love the scene toward the end between Baby and her dad when she is crying and says, "but Daddy you let me down too." It is honest, she does something he doesn't agree with and some of her illusions are dashed but she knows deep down that her dad still loves her and she loves him. Luckily I had that same kind of dad. It really is a great film on so many levels.
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angelheadedhipster
09/17/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
May I just say: thanks also for To Wong Foo - it meant a lot for a wee gay like me.
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IBleedGlitter: The High Priestess of Tinsel
09/17/09

@angelheadedhipster: Little latin boy in drag, why are you crying?
That was a beautiful film.
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veronykah
09/17/09

@angelheadedhipster: 5 words...
Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
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WaltzingMatilda
09/17/09

@angelheadedhipster: But seriously - Patrick was DIVINE in that movie. I mean, amazing.

(And yes, it was still a watered-down Priscilla)
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rednrowdy
09/17/09

@angelheadedhipster: oh, let us go there. thanks to the amazing douglas carter beane for writing that amazing script. was it a US version of 'priscilla'? sure, and watered down, but it was hysterical, and mr. swayze pulled out some serious acting chops to embody miss vida boheme.
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redparchment
09/17/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I watched it last night for the first time in a loooong time, and realized (in between missing Patrick Swayze) what a solid, nuanced movie it is. It's not preachy, really, it just lets the events unfold in the context of this period before all political hell breaks loose. Baby experiences all of this during the summer before college, the summer before Kennedy is shot - a time of change and a loss of innocence. I'm still a little stunned at how much the pretty of Swayze distracted from the quality of the film.
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Sunshineyness
09/17/09

@Red Parchment: And you know.. it does really look and feel like '63. It doesn't look like an 80's movie TRYING to be the 60's but all the hair, clothes, production design and music was pretty naturalistic 60's without being over-the-top.
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rednrowdy
09/17/09

@Sunshineyness: i dunno about it not looking like an 80's movie trying to be a 60's movie. most of the 'boring adults' in the movie looked period-appropriate, but so much of the other stuff was full on 1987 trying and failing to meet 1963. even her hair was a little much. mad men gets it right. dirty dancing...meh.
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dangerslut
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
"I carried a watermelon"

Jesus, how many of us have said something like that next to our own personal Adonis?
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Le Kangourou de Kataroo promoted this comment dangerslut was starred dangerslut was unstarred

JosephFinn
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
Thankfully, it's a fine Jerry Orbach movie. As for a good Swayze movie, I look to Donnie Darko or Next of Kin.
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Sunshineyness promoted this comment JosephFinn was starred JosephFinn was unstarred

Sunshineyness
09/17/09

@JosephFinn: Swayze's OPUS was Roadhouse though.
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thesciencegirl wields the truth like a mighty axe.
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I'm planning to watch Dirty Dancing this week. I didn't really understand it when I was a kid either, but have always loved it.
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queen_caribbean
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I don't know if I was a naive or stupid child, but the whole abortion thing went totally over my head when I first saw Dirty Dancing at age 8. And I didn't even question what was wrong with Penny. All I knew was I loved the dancing and wore out my soundtrack (part 1) cassette tape.
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jigglyball promoted this comment queen_caribbean was starred queen_caribbean was unstarred

jigglyball
09/16/09

@queen_caribbean: I was really young, definitely younger than 10, the first time I saw Dirty Dancing (not sure how I managed to see it, since my mom regulated the hell out of what I watched). Anyway, at the time, I knew that something had gone wrong with her lady parts because everyone was whispering and doing things in secret, but that was about all I got. When I watched it again, probably two years later, I understood exactly what was happening.
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queen_caribbean
09/16/09

@jigglyball: Now that you say that, I think I at least caught on that it was a lady problem because she was clutching her abdomen and Dr. Houseman kicked everyone out of the room when he was examining her. I was at least smart enough, however, to know that Robbie was a dick.
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Sunshineyness
09/17/09

@queen_caribbean: I have no idea what I thought was wrong with Penny but it totally made no sense to me until I was, 12/13 maybe?. I think I just thought that Robbie hurt her? Like hit her? I dunno. Alls I knew was that if you paused the part where Johnny gets out of the bed just right you get a butt shot of Swayze. :P

And I never got the significance of the book Robbie tries to give to Baby (The Fountainhead) until I was REALLY older.
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jigglyball
09/17/09

@Sunshineyness: I just rewatched it tonight, and I had never caught that it was The Fountainhead until just now. By the time I saw DD as a teen, I was all, "Fine, fine, move the plot along if you must, but get back to shirtless Swayze, please." In my hormonal haze, it appears I missed a good deal.

Tonight may be my favorite viewing of DD. Patrick Swayze was so full of verve, constantly and naturally in motion, as if you'd touched him you would have gotten a shock of energy. It was beautiful.
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sleepeatread
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I carried a watermelon.

Story of my life.
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
09/16/09

@sleepeatread: For reals. I love that movie for so many reasons. I relate a lot to Baby, especially the father-daughter relationship, and of course who didn't love Johnny.

I think it's often overlooked in favor of "nobody puts Baby in a corner," but I've always loved when Johnny says in front of all those people that Baby has taught him about the kind of person he wants to be. That line always gets to me, and really speaks to the feminism of the film, if you think about it.

Whoa, run-on comment. It's late and I'm super emotional about this for some reason. I have so many memories tied up in that movie, and I would watch it right now, but I somehow managed to lose my copy when I was moving over the summer. :(
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jigglyball
09/16/09

@katie.scarlett.o'hara: You can rent and/or purchase it on iTunes!
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
09/17/09

@jigglyball: I'm pretty sure I saw it at Target on the $5 rack the last time I was there, so I'm going to try to grab it next time I get the chance! Thanks, though.
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LadySoprano is a Fat-Fighting Superwoman
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I had a worn-out VHS of this for many years, and now have a well-used DVD. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, I am unashamed to admit.
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thecameralovesyou
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I was already planning on having my friend over on Friday for a chill movie night, and we were just going to watch whatever we felt like at the time. Now it's been decided: Dirty Dancing, Ghost and To Wong Foo. Good night all around. We'll miss you Johnny.
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kookla
09/16/09

@thecameralovesyou: You should also plan a kick-ass Swayze night with Red Dawn, Road House, and Point Break.
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Cam/ron
09/16/09

@kookla: Don't forget The Outsiders. "I did it for Johnny!"
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meritxell: an erotic life
09/17/09

@thecameralovesyou: Donnie Darko!!!
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Casquivana
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I remember that one of the things that hit me first about the movie when I first saw it (and I don't even remember when I did.. at 11 or 12? it was later than when it came out) was Penny and Johnny's relationship. That it could mislead people and make them think that they were together, when they were really friends who cared for each other. I don't know, maybe even then I realized that people don't accept very well friendships between men and women without trying to see something else there first, but I remember that so vividly.. thinking "oooh, they're really friends, they really like each other as friends."
I know it sounds stupid, but it was one of those things that opened my mind at that age.
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Penny
09/16/09

@Casquivana: No it totally impacted me in the same way!
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Penny
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
I haven't watched it yet, and I can't watch these clips at the moment, but I do know that his wife was a dancer (right?). I do remember feeling....something....about that abortion scene when I was little. Mostly that he and the father were so kind to her when she was so scared. I actually think I only have DD on VHS!
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LaFemme
09/16/09

@Penny: I remember seeing this at about 12 and thinking I new alot about abortion, as I was raised by rabidly pro-choice parents, and being really struck by one of the actors (perhaps Patrick's) description that they, "took her to the back and butchered her on a card table with a knife" (my memory, not the exact quote).

It was like, after that I went from naively thinking of abortion as something that was done routinely and without debate at all in a doctor's office, to realizing the true repercussions of making abortion illegal. And also, never being able to understand why anyone would think that a world where women would ever go through something comparable was a world I could ever, ever support or even live in.
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Penny
09/16/09

@LaFemme: I remember that line, it was one of the other kids when he was looking for Patrick's character.
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LaFemme
09/16/09

@Penny: I remember it was in my head for days, and probably the most gruesome image of (illegal) abortion I had heard to that point. A real "wow" moment that made me very much identify with another line I don;t recall who said, that "you are either pro-choice and pro-legal abortion, or you are pro-women dying in pools of blood on their bathroom floors."
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RetroVertigo
09/16/09

@LaFemme: I use the stumble search tool on my browser, and one day a page came up dedicated to a woman who was left to die on a hotel bathroom floor after a botched abortion. There was a black and white picture of her body just crumpled up there. I cried for hours, i couldnt even hold it back, it was so horrifying.

I can remember being completely naive in my younger years watching Dirty Dancing and not *really* knowing what was going on with Penny. I knew it was something womanly, but i dont recall asking and i dont recall getting an answer.
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kung fu lola
09/16/09

@RetroVertigo: I believe that photo was included in at least one edition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves". I forced myself to look at it when I was a teenager because I knew it would cement my pro-choice views.

I have the same memories of DD as many people who saw it very young. But remembering the film also makes me feel viscerally uncomfortable - because it was something the "cool" girls were into, and I wasn't one of them. Weird, I know.
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aimeeg
09/17/09

@RetroVertigo: I remember that bit vividly aswell. I remember asking my mum about it and her telling me, quite candidly what they were talking about.

Speaking of horrific pictures, I was once shown one of an aborted foetus' arms placed on an american coin, all symbolic like. It didn't make me think 'awww, abortion = naughty', it made me wonder what kind of sick individual would take the time to place that foetus's arms so deliberately, just to make some sick, ill informed point.
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GirlyQ is a manta ray
09/16/09

In reply to Patrick Swayze: Remembered Fondly By Feminists, Dirty Dancing Fans
Not to mention a Jewish main character who actually looks Jewish!

Patrick Swayze, you were a great actor, and by all accounts, a capital guy. I feel like this is a big loss for Hollywood.
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RubyPenelope
09/16/09

@GirlyQ wants Ziva: I totally loved that she was Jewish and I was definitely hurt when I realized the actress got a nose job. I felt like she was putting her jewtasticness in a corner
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Sunshineyness
09/17/09

@RubyPenelope: I never thought her nose was weird to begin with! Maybe not the typical Hollywood girl nose but it gave her character, made her stand out (in a good way) from all the other young actresses of the time period who were kinda same-y same-y. I hate when actresses feel the need to look exactly like all the other ones. It's the differences in their looks that I think makes them stand out in movies more, ya know?
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meritxell: an erotic life
09/17/09

@RubyPenelope: Did you ever see the short-lived show "It's like you know" (actual title - sort of Seinfeld in LA) and the running joke was that Jennifer Grey was in it playing herself and nobody recognized her after the nose job? Anywhey...
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GirlyQ is a manta ray
09/17/09

@RubyPenelope: Me too! I think she is so beautiful in that movie. I love a good nose on a woman, and it's bull that so many Jewish girls get nose jobs to me. More gloriously Semetic looking girls in Hollywood!
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FashionShowAtLunch
09/17/09

@RubyPenelope: I think Jennifer Grey feels the same way... I read somewhere that she deeply regrets the rhinoplasty.
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