Imagine if I told you that the popular movie, Dirty Dancing, could have been an epic failure due to a highly controversial social issue! Eleanor Bergstein purposely wrote the script so that the film’s plot relied entirely on an illegal abortion. Dirty Dancing’s stunning choreography and compelling romantic story mesmerized audiences on both sides of America’s abortion debate.
Details about “Dirty Dancing”
The movie Dirty Dancing is often thought of as a dance movie or a love story, but there’s actually much more substance to the film than simply the performances of Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. The premise of the film is that a 17 year-old female vacations with her family and falls in love with a male dance instructor. The socio-economic …show more content…
In the film’s timeframe, President Kennedy has just averted the Cuban missile crisis and abortion is not a topic of conversation for the average American. Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican, was an outspoken opponent of abortion and was serving in his second term as President. In 1987, Reagan told anti-abortion demonstrators, "Abortion is not a harmless medical procedure but the taking of the life of a living human being. This tragic and terrible toll continues at a rate of more than 4,000 young lives lost each day." ("Reagan Offers Support To Anti-Abortion Protest") Operation Rescue (OR), a nonviolent action organization consisting of thousands of Christians was formed in 1987 to organize numerous nonviolent blockades of medical clinics. This was in response to violence against abortion providers and clinics that started in 1977 and escalated every year until a peak of 148 incidents in 1985. ("U.S. Groups Campaign To Oppose Abortion, 1987-1991 | Global Nonviolent Action Database") OR organized 188 nonviolent clinic blockades in 188, which is the same year that Dirty Dancing was released to VHS, becoming a home entertainment blockbuster. “Although not initially a big screen hit, Dirty Dancing was the first massive VHS success. It was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video and Swayze was suddenly a megastar.” ("Patrick Swayze Profile: Dirty
Details about “Dirty Dancing”
The movie Dirty Dancing is often thought of as a dance movie or a love story, but there’s actually much more substance to the film than simply the performances of Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. The premise of the film is that a 17 year-old female vacations with her family and falls in love with a male dance instructor. The socio-economic …show more content…
In the film’s timeframe, President Kennedy has just averted the Cuban missile crisis and abortion is not a topic of conversation for the average American. Ronald Reagan, a conservative Republican, was an outspoken opponent of abortion and was serving in his second term as President. In 1987, Reagan told anti-abortion demonstrators, "Abortion is not a harmless medical procedure but the taking of the life of a living human being. This tragic and terrible toll continues at a rate of more than 4,000 young lives lost each day." ("Reagan Offers Support To Anti-Abortion Protest") Operation Rescue (OR), a nonviolent action organization consisting of thousands of Christians was formed in 1987 to organize numerous nonviolent blockades of medical clinics. This was in response to violence against abortion providers and clinics that started in 1977 and escalated every year until a peak of 148 incidents in 1985. ("U.S. Groups Campaign To Oppose Abortion, 1987-1991 | Global Nonviolent Action Database") OR organized 188 nonviolent clinic blockades in 188, which is the same year that Dirty Dancing was released to VHS, becoming a home entertainment blockbuster. “Although not initially a big screen hit, Dirty Dancing was the first massive VHS success. It was the first film to sell more than a million copies on home video and Swayze was suddenly a megastar.” ("Patrick Swayze Profile: Dirty