This article addresses how race impacted Dirty
Dancing. When thinking of race during the movie Dyer brings up a lot of
interesting points that make up the general feelings from the movie. Race also
counteracts with class-rank in the movie. A lot of the lower working class
people were not white while most of the upper class was strictly white. The two
higher class boys were paired with the two higher class women. Dancing in the
movie was displayed very sexually, which came from the background of the dance
and the song that was played during the dance. Dyer stressed that a lot of the
songs chosen for the film were by black artists. We might look at African
Americans as dirty dancers because they were shown a few times among the
dancers. Johnny wants to create a dance that involves an African-American
dance, which shows his knowledge of that culture. This article also brings up
the person in charge of the music in the film. His name was Honi Coles and he
was often associated with black music. It looks at which songs were played in
which settings and why. When white music was played sexuality was usually not
shown. White-artits were played when there was more of a professional tone in
the movie instead of a sexual one. The lyrics also tie into the whole feeling
of sexuality in the dances and are major symbols in the overall message.
Another interesting point made is that the movie is taken place in a Jewish
setting, which I didn't even realize. It ties the Jewish culture and the
African American culture together at some points, but not really noticeable
today.
When I think of race and the movie I can see the
class-ranks and race intertwine with one another. I didn't realize there were
African American dancers while watching the movie, as well as I didn't realize
race played an important role when choosing the song or singer for each dance.
I think that we live in a more accepting society today where African American
women are common when listening to songs on the radio- which may have not been
the case during the time frame of the movie.
I don't think race has a lot to
do with the message of the movie. After reading the article that provided many
facts I can see how race impacted several parts of the movie, but I don’t'
think that race is a topic that is that obvious. I think that even though it
was important to the basics of making the movie it doesn't affect the
characters personalities or actions. Unless race as an issue was pointed out
before or during the movie I don't think many viewers would be thinking about
the topic as an issue while watching the film, even though a lot of the article
makes sense. In movies today there is a lot more diversity of race in films. At
the Oscars an African American actress was highly recognized for her acting as
a lead role in a film. During the time when Dirty Dancing was created main
actors of a different race were not common at all, so we can really see how
society has changed it's view on race.
Dyer,
Richard. "White Enough." The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing
and Popular Culture. Eds. Yannis Tzioumakis and Sian Lincoln. Detroit:
Wayne State UP, 2013. 73-85
