The Conversation

The Real Dirty Dancing reduces a political film to little more than coy dance numbers

Author: Jessica Ford, Lecturer in Film, Media and Cultural Studies, University of Newcastle

When Dirty Dancing is reduced to its dance sequences, the powerful politics of the film are erased. Vestron Pictures

It’s 1963. Frances “Baby” Houseman (Jennifer Grey) is a college-bound teenager staying at Kellerman’s Mountain Lodge with her family. Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze) is a dance instructor at the resort –...

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