When Dirty Dancing was released in 1987, it had already been rejected by producers and distributors several times over, and expectations for the summer romance were low. But then, the film, written by former dancer Eleanor Bergstein and starring Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze as a couple from two different worlds, exploded. Since then, Dirty Dancing's popularity, thanks to continual rotation on late night television where it was watched by multiple generations of burgeoning feminists, has never waned. The truth has always been that Dirty Dancing was never just a teen romance or a dance movie; it also explored abortion rights, class divisions, and political activism, with a smattering of light crime solving. In The Time of My Life, celebrated music journalist Andrea Warner excavates the layers of Dirty Dancing, from its anachronistic, chart-topping soundtrack to Baby and Johnny's chemistry, to Eleanor Bergstein's political intentions, to the abortion subplot that is more relevant today than ever. The film's remarkable longevity would never have been possible if it was just a throwaway summer fling story. It is precisely because of its themes - deeply feminist, sensitively written - that we, over 30 years later, are still holding our breath during that last, exhilarating lift.
