This iconic and beautiful romance movie was released in 1987 but is based in the 1960s. If you have been living under a rock your whole life and have never watched this extraordinary movie, I will explain it.
Frances "Baby" Houseman, played by the beautiful Jennifer Gray, spends the last summer of her youth with her family at Catskills Resort. That is where she meets the resorts head dance instructor, Johnny Castle, played by the handsome and sadly now deceased Patrick Swayze. When Patrick's original dance partner ends up getting herself pregnant Baby fills in for her as Johnny's dance partner. Of course over time the two fall in love.
Although this is a classic romantic movie, it also expresses a lot about the independence of women.
The title Dirty Dancing comes from the provocative dancing that is seen all throughout the movie. Back in the 60's women were told to keep their skirts down, knees crossed, and lips shut. That is what the young women at the resort appear to be during the day and around the rich influential men, but at night they would meet at a cabin where the dance instructors would show them a different way to dance that would make their parents' mouths drop.
Baby is the perfect daddy's girl in the beginning. She does what she's asked and believes everything that she is told. When she meets Johnny and starts to like her parents about where she is going she starts to learn things on her own and truly grow into who she is on her own. The underlying meaning of Baby finding herself is that she is her own person and can be whoever she wants to.
If that isn't empowering, I don't know what is.
Another reason his movie is so iconic is because of the extremely talented Patrick Swayze. You may have seen him in other great movies such as Roadhouse and The Outsiders, but his most popular movie was Dirty Dancing. He was an actor, dancer, singer, and songwriter. His song "She's Like The Wind" was played during Dirty Dancing.
Swayze was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer in 2007. He said on the ABC, NBC, and CBS simulcast of Stand Up to Cancer in September 2008, "I dream that the word 'cure' will no longer be followed by the words 'it's impossible'. Together, we can make a world where cancer no longer means living with fear, without hope, or worse."
Swayze passed away on September 14, 2009, at the age of 57.
He was an incredibly gifted person and will be forever missed. His legacy will forever live on through Dirty Dancing.
