Kellerman's Resort: Come Have the Time of Your Life

 

"It was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me Baby and it didn't occur to me to mind. It was before Kennedy got shot, before The Beatles, when I wanted to join the Peace Corps, and I didn't think I'd ever find a guy as great as my dad." 

Overwhelmed by hues of pink and The Contour's "Do You Love Me," the Kellerman staff party is just as awing to audiences of Dirty Dancing as it is to its lead, Baby Houseman.  What's even more startling (in the best way possible) is the official introduction of oh-so-lovely Johnny Castle.  He glides across the room--a momentum so fluid, so beautifully natural, that you can't help but stare. Voyeurism at its finest. Tousled hair, a flowy white button-up that's unbuttoned in just the right places. It is this moment that my roommate and I (who is very much happily in a long-term relationship) passionately declare that we would do anything--anything--to be in Baby's place, her fumbled "I carried a watermelon" introduction and all (to this day we affectionately refer to Patrick Swayze as "Adonis") 

It's the classic nice girl meets tall, dark, and handsome guy (I mean, I could write an entire essay on his black-only outfit alone).  He's got a gruff exterior, but a soft heart, and she's the only one he really lets see it.  Cliche, maybe, but that doesn't stop the swirling in my stomach when Johnny grabs Baby's hand, brings it to his chest, and has her feel the rhythm of his heartbeat (ga-gong, ga-gong).  Proof positive that sometimes cliches just work, and that most of us are secretly suckers for them. 

So, of course, in the theme of cliches--Johnny is the first person to really see Baby, or rather, Frances. Her nickname alone is childish, reflective of how she's seen in the eyes of her parents (father dearest, especially), her sister, and everyone around her.  Her personality, though relatively innocent at the beginning of the movie, is in direct contrast of her nickname.  Baby is (mostly) independent, she speaks up for what she believes in, she's eager to help others, and she spends the entirety of the movie breaking out of her shell and having a coming-of-age experience all because of her summer love.  Johnny is the only person she tells her actual name to.  He tells her that's a real grown-up name, and everyone who's watching can feel their breath hitch.  Could Johnny Castle get any more perfect?