Revisiting Childhood Through a Movie

This afternoon I came home from a few hours of shopping (I know, I know, pity me and my new flat iron) to plop down on the couch and rest my feet. I idly started painting my nails and turned on the tv for some noise. I stumbled onto a movie channel and Dirty Dancing was just beginning.

This was one of my favorite movies from childhood. It was easy for me to put myself in Baby's position. While my dad wasn't a doctor, I got pretty much everything I wanted and was quite sheltered. (I mean, I recently discovered that some kids got those awful fruit 'Huggie' things while I had delicious Ecto-Coolers) I longed for some bad boy with tight jeans and a flowy mullet to take a liking to me and teach me The Lambada: Forbidden Dance of Love. I've always loved dancing, for as long as I can remember, and I always wished I knew how to do these dances and had a partner, other than my dog, to do them with. I was pretty sure that this would happen during one of the 2 summers I went to camp for a week.

I didn't expect many surprises...even though the last time I saw the movie I was probably 10 years old. (Right at that age where I started to realize that these sweaty kids were getting DOWN and that maybe I shouldn't be watching this with my mom sitting next to me on the couch) I couldn't really remember the plot...just that for some reason Johnny has to teach Baby how to dance and they totally fall in love.

But in case you were thinking about revisiting it yourself and haven't seen it a while, I'll sum up my recent observations.

-This movie is soooo contrived.
-Apparently this is set in the 60's...but...80's style.
-Was there always this much dry-humping?
-What exactly happened with that girls abortion that made her sweaty, again?
-Why is everyone in this movie in their 30's? Aren't they supposed to be teenagers?
-Do Baby and Johnny ever actually talk...or do they just fall in love dancing?
-People are ALWAYS gazing at each other uncomfortably long in this movie.
-Did I seriously think Patrick Swayze was hot?
-How is it possible that I practically want to cry at the end when they do the lift, still?

I highly recommend revisiting it.

In a somewhat related note, did I ever tell you that Bumper Bowl was in a movie with Patrick Swayze? I swear. He played his step-son.