Anonymous wrote:Fun fact: Lori Singer was a cello prodigy and went to Juliiard at 14. She’s the youngest graduate ever of Juilliard.

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Anonymous wrote:Looking back on all three with a more feminist perspective, footloose is pretty horrible. Dirty Dancing and Flashdance are more female positive. Do LOVE the opening scene from Footloose though, in the Bug with I think Quiet Riot blaring

The abortion-positive (or at least not overall negative) subplot of Dirty Dancing was pretty revolutionary at the time. Went over the heads of much of the younger audience, I think.

I was a devout Catholic high school girl when Dirty Dancing was popular. None of my friends thought the abortion storyline was that unusual. The whole point was that she lied to her father. She disappointed her father by not telling him what the money was for. And she knew she just ran and got her father whenever something was wrong. Plus, the important storyline was how her father was so class conscious, favoring Robby over Johnny.

This was a progressive move for the late 1980s, and foreshadowed a future where we would be able to talk much more openly about abortion.
Before We Knew Better: How the illegal abortion in “Dirty Dancing” started honest dialogue about reproductive rights
https://qz.com/quartzy/1576857/dirty-dancing-started-a-dialogue-about-reproductive-rights

Even a decade and a half after Roe v. Wade, the subject was so controversial in 1987 that it was almost cut from the movie.
Don’t Forget That Dirty Dancing Has a Powerful Pro-Choice Message
https://www.glamour.com/story/dirty-dancing-powerful-pro-choice-message

And this film almost didn’t happen. An independent film with a female-driven story written by a female was not getting traction. There’s a great Movies That Made Us on Netflix on getting the film made. ... But the story behind it and the story plot device within it was groundbreaking. And the fight for representation like this on-screen was not new but one that is important.
Metrograph Presents: It Happens To Us: Abortion In American Film (DIRTY DANCING)
https://www.hammertonail.com/editorial/metrograph-dirty-dancing/

When I first watched it at 15 years old (sorry, Mum), I, like most pubescent teenagers out there, was mostly enraptured by the dreamy storyline of sweet wallflower Baby (played by Jennifer Grey) meeting and literally being swept off her feet by bad boy dance instructor Johnny Castle ... at 21 years old, I gave Dirty Dancing another go and boy, did it surprise me in more ways than one! Yes, the eponymous hip grinding still made me blush for a good minute but for a movie all about bold moves and swift footwork, it became obvious to my (fortunately) more mature mind that the film had other powerful moves and gestures hidden within its narrative that would’ve otherwise gone over my 15-year-old head.
WHY ‘DIRTY DANCING’ WAS AHEAD OF ITS TIME: THE SPICY POLITICS OF A STEAMY DANCE FILM
https://www.buro247.my/culture/film-tv-and-theatre/why-dirty-dancing-movie-was-ahead-of-its-time.html

It was a bold move to include such a divisive issue at the heart of the film, and one that alienated a lot of potential investors.
Clearasil – sensing a potential teenage viewership primed to buy their range of acne products – pulled out of a lucrative sponsorship deal after Bergstein refused to remove the abortion content.
Dirty Dancing: the surprising politics of the ’80s classic
https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/dirty-dancing-the-surprising-politics-of-the-80s-classic-85112

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Looking back on all three with a more feminist perspective, footloose is pretty horrible. Dirty Dancing and Flashdance are more female positive. Do LOVE the opening scene from Footloose though, in the Bug with I think Quiet Riot blaring

The abortion-positive (or at least not overall negative) subplot of Dirty Dancing was pretty revolutionary at the time. Went over the heads of much of the younger audience, I think.

Anonymous wrote:Looking back on all three with a more feminist perspective, footloose is pretty horrible. Dirty Dancing and Flashdance are more female positive. Do LOVE the opening scene from Footloose though, in the Bug with I think Quiet Riot blaring