Dirty Dancing: The Feminist Potential of a Coming-of-Age ‘Musical’ Sophia Simon-Bashall College

The 1987 film Dirty Dancing has often been dismissed as a trivial coming-of-age story, one which simply centres around a teenage girl’s fantasy – arguably the most denigrated yet necessary narrative in popular culture. The political implications and social influence of the film has been, by many, overlooked as a result of the genre’s connotations with frivolity – a side-effect of being widely appreciated by teenage girls and young women. However, the mere fact that it is – as often described – “one for the girls” is significant in itself. A film written and produced by two women, made specifically for young women, and focusing on the inner life of a young woman, Dirty Dancing centres the female gaze. By extension, it centres women’s sexuality, and highlights their autonomy. This essay argues that the film’s representation of [heterosexual] female desire and self-efficacy makes it a highly feminist work. It also looks at the film’s depiction of controversial topics and intersectional issues. This argument chiefly relies on two separate but congruent definitions of feminism: the theorist bell hooks’ concept of the movement as “a struggle to end sexist oppression”; and the scholars Kim and McCann’s idea that feminism is the “...