Whenever I am feeling sad, sick, or just out of sorts, I turn to two movies for comfort. The first one is 1991’s flawless film Point Break, and the other is 1987’s Dirty Dancing. So, with the world and current news feeling very bleak, I decided to get lost in one of my feel-good movies. However, with the recent Roe v. Wade Supreme Court leak ever-present in my mind, it changed the whole vibe of this beloved movie. Instead of being something to find comfort in, Dirty Dancing now serves as a terrifying glimpse into the future if protections for safe abortions are overturned.
For a quick refresher of the plot, young-idealistic Baby (Jennifer Grey) and her wealthy family visit a resort in the Catskill Mountains for a summer of fun in 1963. While there, Baby falls for Johnny (Patrick Swayze), the bad boy dance instructor. A major plot in the film is that Johnny’s dance partner, Penny (Cynthia Rhodes), needs an abortion. Which, also, means Johnny will need a dance partner for an important performance. So, Baby gives Penny the money she needs (by asking her conservative, uptight, doctor father), and trains to fill in dancing for Penny on the date of the procedure. However, without access to an abortion from a qualified doctor, Penny ends up nearly dying, and Baby has to ask her father, a medical doctor, to help. Penny survives the ordeal, Baby stands up to her father, Johnny danced into our hearts, and we all had the time of our lives.
What Dirty Dancing Taught Me
Honestly, I can’t remember the first time I saw Dirty Dancing. It is something that has been a part of my memories as far back as I can recall, so the lessons it taught me have been with me forever. Here are the things that I learned:
- Baby is the hero of her own story, saving everyone and overcoming some of her own (and her father’s) faults.
- Bad boys with hearts of gold are the right guys to fall in love with.
- All women should have access to safe abortions, regardless of socioeconomic status.
As one of the few movies to even depict abortion, Dirty Dancing is still one of the best examples in mainstream media. Baby’s dad was a highly principled man with some classist views about people. Although he judged Johnny and the supposed doctor who performed the procedure, he never judged Penny. He did not question or blame her for what happened to her. He never made negative statements against abortions, only about the damage unsafe ones can cause and the unscrupulous people who perform them. Because that is the real story of abortions. You can never really outlaw abortions, you can only outlaw safe ones. So, for a whole generation who grew up with this movie—and in a post-Roe v. Wade world—Dirty Dancing showed the horror and danger posed to women if it were to ever be overturned.
The Looming Threat
Dirty Dancing is special because it is one of the few pop culture-defining films that a woman wrote. Eleanor Bergstein based much of the plot and setting on her own life. Between her and producer Linda Gottlieb, they had to search high and low for someone to make the film. Even when a production company picked it up, they asked for the abortion sub-plot to be removed. Bergstein pushed to keep it in. She explained in a 2017 interview with Vice why.
“Why? There was Roe vs. Wade—what are you doing this for?” I said, “Well, I don’t know that we will always have Roe vs. Wade,” and I got a lot of pushback on that. Worse than that, there were also very young women then who didn’t remember a time before Roe vs. Wade, so for them I was like Susan B. Anthony, saying, “Oh, just remember, remember, remember.”
Sadly, she wasn’t wrong.
I have always existed in a post-Roe v. Wade world so, growing up, I viewed the movie as a “look how far we have come” lesson. Women no longer had to worry about unsafe, back-alley abortions. Obviously, that was a little naïve of me as some states already have laws limiting a woman’s say over her own body—and economic status still plays a major part in abortion access. Yet, compared to the 1963 reality depicted in the movies, I believed things had improved.
Now here we are, with Roe v. Wade‘s repeal looming over us.
But if Dirty Dancing taught me anything, I know we can’t be put in the corner. Even if we are scared, it’s a reminder to stand up for our rights and the rights of other people with uteruses. Dirty Dancing may have hit me in a darker way this viewing, but it’s also a reminder to be like Baby and do what is right.
And also, to always bring a watermelon.
(featured image: Lionsgate)
