The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Studies)

A low-budget independent film made by a now defunct video company in the late 1980s, Dirty Dancing became a sleeper hit with a huge, primarily young audience. Even twenty-five years on, the film has found millions of devoted fans around the world through TV, video, and DVD releases. In The Time of Our Lives: Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture editors Yannis Tzioumakis and Siân Lincoln bring together leading scholars of film, media, music, culture, theater, dance, and sociology to examine for the first time the global cultural phenomenon of Dirty Dancing. Tzioumakis and Lincoln begin by assessing Dirty Dancing's cultural impact in the decades since its release and introduce contributors in four sections. Essays in "Dirty Dancing in Context" look at the film from several perspectives, including its production and distribution history, its blending of genres, its treatment of race, and its place in the political and visual culture of the 1980s. In "Questions of Reception," contributors examine the many ways that the film has been received since its release, while those in "The Production of Nostalgia" focus on the film's often critiqued production of an idealized past. Finally, contributors in "Beyond the Film" examine the celebrated synergies that the film achieved in the "high concept" film environment of the 1980s, and the final two essays deal with the successful adaptation of the film for the stage. With the enormous cultural impact it has made over the years, Dirty Dancing offers many opportunities for thought-provoking analysis. Fans of the movie and students and scholars of cultural, performance, and film history will appreciate the insight in The Time of Our Lives. An In-depth, Multidisciplinary Examination Of The Cultural Phenomenon Of Dirty Dancing. An In-depth, Multidisciplinary Examination Of The Cultural Phenomenon Of Dirty Dancing. --publisher Description. Introduction / Yannis Tzioumakis -- Dirty Dancing In Context. Introduction / Yannis Tzioumakis -- Vestron Video And Dirty Dancing / Frederick Wasser -- Bringing Up Baby: Generic Hybridity In Dirty Dancing / Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald -- Is Dirty Dancing A Musical, And Why Should It Matter? / Jane Feuer -- White Enough / Richard Dyer -- Dirty Dancing As Reagan-era Cinema And Reaganite Entertainment / Cynthia Baron And Mark Bernard -- Dressing And Undressing In Dirty Dancing: Consumption, Gender And Visual Culture In The 1980s / Pamela Church Gibson -- Questions Of Reception. Introduction / Siân Lincoln -- Dirty Dancing: Feminism, Postfeminism, And Neo-feminism / Hilary Radner -- There Are A Lot Of Things About Me That Aren't What You Thought: The Politics Of Dirty Dancing / Oliver Gruner -- You Don't Own Me: Dirty Dancing As Teenage Rite Of Passage Film / Siân Lincoln -- Heteros And Hustlers: Straightness And Dirtiness In Dirty Dancing / Gary Needham -- The Production Of Nostalgia. Introduction / Siân Lincoln -- (i've Had) The Time Of My Life: Romantic Nostalgia And The Early 1960s / Bill Osgerby -- It's A Feeling; A Heartbeat: Nostalgia, Music And Affect In Dirty Dancing / Claire Molloy -- Dancing In The Nostalgia Factory: Anachronistic Music In Dirty Dancing / Tim Mcnelis -- Beyond The Film. Introduction / Yannis Tzioumakis -- A Dance Film With Legs: The Dirty Dancing Franchise / Amanda Howell -- From Screen To Stage: Dirty Dancing Live / Millie Taylor -- Dirty Dancing And Its Stage Jukebox Dansical Adaptation: The Dancing Male In A Teenage Female Fantasy Of Desire And Sensuality / George Rodosthenous. Edited By Yannis Tzioumakis And Siân Lincoln. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. A low-budget independent film made by a now defunct video company in the late 1980s, Dirty Dancing became a sleeper hit with a huge, primarily young audience. Even twenty-five years on, the film has found millions of devoted fans around the world through TV, video, and DVD releases. In The Time of Our Dirty Dancing and Popular Culture editors Yannis Tzioumakis and Sin Lincoln bring together leading scholars of film, media, music, culture, theater, dance, and sociology to examine for the first time the global cultural phenomenon of Dirty Dancing. Tzioumakis and Lincoln begin by assessing Dirty Dancing 's cultural impact in the decades since its release and introduce contributors in four sections. Essays in " Dirty Dancing in Context" look at the film from several perspectives, including its production and distribution history, its blending of genres, its treatment of race, and its place in the political and visual culture of the 1980s. In "Questions of Reception," contributors examine the many ways that the film has been received since its release, while those in "The Production of Nostalgia" focus on the film's often critiqued production of an idealized past. Finally, contributors in "Beyond the Film" examine the celebrated synergies that the film achieved in the "high concept" film environment of the 1980s, and the final two essays deal with the successful adaptation of the film for the stage. With the enormous cultural impact it has made over the years, Dirty Dancing offers many opportunities for thought-provoking analysis. Fans of the movie and students and scholars of cultural, performance, and film history will appreciate the insight in The Time of Our Lives. A low-budget independent film made by a now-defunct video company in the late 1980s, Dirty Dancing became a sleeper hit with a huge, primarily young audience. Years on, the film has found millions of devoted fans around the world through TV, video, and DVD releases. This book brings together leading scholars of film, media, music, culture, theater, dance, and sociology to examine for the first time the global cultural phenomenon of Dirty Dancing. The editors begin by assessing Dirty Dancing's cultural impact in the decades since its release and introduce contributors in four sections. Essays in this book examine the film from several perspectives, including its production and distribution history, its blending of genres, its treatment of race, and its place in the political and visual culture of the 1980s