Analysis
Symbols and Tropes
Hero's Journey
Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...
Setting
Kellerman's Resort, 1963Bergstein probably based Kellerman's on Grossinger's, the now extinct Catskills resort where she spent summers with her family in the 1950s and '60s. (Although handful of re...
Point of View
Baby's Day OutLisa may have forgotten her coral shoes, but Baby didn't forget to pack her rose-colored glasses for the trip to Kellerman's. The movie begins with a voice-over narration from Baby lo...
Genre
Romance; Dance FilmFrom the title, you can assume that Dirty Dancing is either a dance movie or a sex tape starring Nigel Lythgoe from So You Think You Can Dance. Thankfully it's the former.But the...
What's Up With the Title?
Squeaky CleanTo define dirty dance, we need to know what "clean" dancing is. On a scale of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire to Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl, Dirty Dancing is...
What's Up With the Ending?
The Time of Their LivesThe Kellerman's talent show is like the worst episode of America's Got Talent. Actually, no. A bad episode of that show is entertaining. The Kellerman's talent show is like t...
Shock Rating
PG-13Dirty Dancing isn't all that dirty. The dancers keep their clothes on… at least while they're dancing. Baby and Johnny do engage in a sexual relationship, during which we get an eyeful of Je...