# Footloose. Is this a joke? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425 "2011-08-28T22:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/21 "2011-08-29T01:00:33Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Well, it wasn’t a documentary. 😃 > > Seriously though, any more odd than its contempories? > > [ul] > [li]The Big Chill (1983)[/li][li]Flashdance (1983)[/li][li]**Footloose (1984)**[/li][li]Breakfast Club (1984)[/li][li]St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)[/li][li]Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)[/li][li]Dirty Dancing (1987)[/li][/ul] > > Yeah… it was the 80s! 🙂 I’ve only seen the Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. They are dated, but otherwise they could be made today. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/22 "2011-08-29T04:09:40Z")
It’s kind of a joke. Dancing is bad because Footloose leads to Wild Things leads to Sleepers leads to She’s Having a Baby. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/23 "2011-08-29T04:10:51Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > What about it seems absurd to you? It’s certainly not a documentary, but as someone who was a teenager in the Bible belt in the 80’s it didn’t seem terribly far-fetched to me at the time. The first girl I asked to my junior high prom had to turn me down because her religious parents forbid her to dance. Yeah, if you notice, the reverend is not a fanatic; he’s not anti-dancing just for the sake of having a villain. Look at it his way. He’s clergy, so he’s supposed to have all the answers. And he undoubtedly thinks of himself as a good person, and bad things aren’t supposed to happen to good people, right? Until his son gets killed in a random accident. 😕 He must have sinned! I’ve sinned! Everybody has sinned! Ban rock music, ban dancing, and wash away everyone’s sins! So he’s a decent person, just with a lot of bitterness, and it doesn’t require a huge leap to redeem him. (Ren’s uncle can get bent, however.) And you gotta love Chris Penn, dancing in his big clunky farm-boy shoes. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/24 "2011-08-29T04:31:34Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > **ANGRY DANCE!!!** With saxophones! 🙂 Footloose is a favourite movie of my wife… I think it has something to do with her being a PK too (Preacher’s Kid that is)… oh, and a young Kevin Bacon. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Come on, the four non-dancing movies on that list have nothing in common with _Footloose_. \ I saw them all when they came out and they’re similar enough (in my mind at least) that those where all movies that sprang to mind when I started thinking about contemporaries of Footloose (I only looked them up to check the dates)… I will grant you however that the dance movies all have more in common. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/25 "2011-08-29T04:44:56Z")
I loved Not Another Teen Movie’s joke about this. At the prom when everyone’s dancing one of the character says, off hand, “It’s amazing how everyone at this school is a professional dancer.” ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/26 "2011-08-29T04:50:32Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I don’t think the illegal to dance kid from the city story is absurd. Just things like: > > (5) It was over dramatic to the point of absurdity as well. It’s a romantic musical drama (or perhaps a comedy of manners in its satire of the religious right), but more importantly it’s a teen-angst movie… of course it’s overly dramatic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/27 "2011-08-29T11:44:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Did _42nd Street_ or _Guys and Dolls_ or _Singin’ in the Rain_ or _Top Hat_ have a good story? I haven’t seen _42nd Street_. The other three? Yes. They all had great stories. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/28 "2011-08-29T12:10:50Z")
The highlight of that movie, for me, has been and always will be John Lithgow as the preacher. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/29 "2011-08-29T14:05:27Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Well, it wasn’t a documentary. 😃 > > Seriously though, any more odd than its contempories? > > [ul] > [li]The Big Chill (1983)[/li][li]Flashdance (1983)[/li][li]**Footloose (1984)**[/li][li]Breakfast Club (1984)[/li][li]St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)[/li][li]Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)[/li][li]Dirty Dancing (1987)[/li][/ul] > > Yeah… it was the 80s! 🙂 Come on, if this illustrates anything, it points out that in the '80s clean cut rebellion sold well. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/30 "2011-08-29T14:57:51Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Well, it wasn’t a documentary. 😃 > > Seriously though, any more odd than its contempories? > > [ul] > [li]The Big Chill (1983)[/li][li]Flashdance (1983)[/li][li]**Footloose (1984)**[/li][li]Breakfast Club (1984)[/li][li]St. Elmo’s Fire (1985)[/li][li]Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)[/li][li]Dirty Dancing (1987)[/li][/ul] > > Yeah… it was the 80s! 🙂 > [@Acsenray](#): > > **ANGRY DANCE!!!** With saxophones! > > Come on, the four non-dancing movies on that list have nothing in common with _Footloose_. Oh really? **The Big Chill** had Mary Kay Place, who was in Starting Over with Kevin Bacon, who was in Footloose. **Breakfast Club** had Paul Gleason, who was in She’s Having a Baby with Kevin Bacon, who was in Footloose. **St. Elmo’s Fire** had Demi Moore, who was in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon, who was in Footloose. **Ferris Bueller’s Day Off** had Lyman Ward, who was in She’s Having a Baby with Kevin Bacon, who was in Footloose. C’mon, somebody had to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/31 "2011-08-29T16:36:32Z")
Aren’t the characters in _The Big Chill_ about 20 years older than the protagonists in _Footloose_? If anything, the Footloose kids gradually turn into the Big Chillers as they come to realize that dancing doesn’t pay the bills. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/32 "2011-08-29T20:32:09Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Come on, if this illustrates anything, it points out that in the '80s clean cut rebellion sold well. Oh, completely. Those were all just movies that sprang to mind when I thought of Footloose… _Risky Business_ is another (also '83) and _Purple Rain_ ('84) is yet another that I saw in the period just after leaving a boys-only high-school, going to university, getting my first real girlfriend, and heading out flatting… their clear appeal (probably because of the clean cut rebellion as you say) to a somewhat socially awkward and geeky kid, and the feeling of being on the cusp of being an actual adult are probably what cements them together in my head. But I was also thinking when I suggested the list to **treis** that I’m sure we could find aspects in all of those films that are at least as silly as any in Footloose… except perhaps the abandoned factory dance… and even then it’s only a bucket of water away from a scene in _Flashdance_. 🙂 As for the complaints about the kids being able to dance… I have a silly vision of **treis** at a show of… _My Fair Lady_ or somesuch feeling put out that suddenly a crowd of costermongers and barrow-merchants are displaying professional level song and dance abilities. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/33 "2011-08-31T17:12:01Z")
They’re remaking this? Really? So when is the remake of _It’s Pat_ coming out? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/34 "2011-09-01T16:47:32Z")
We can dance if we want to We can leave your friends behind Cause your friends don’t dance And if they don’t dance Well they’re no friends of mine ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/35 "2011-09-01T17:03:42Z")
Well, Kevin Bacon had angst. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/36 "2011-09-01T17:05:47Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > We can dance if we want to > We can leave your friends behind > Cause your friends don’t dance > And if they don’t dance > Well they’re no friends of mine \*You can wear 'em if you want to You can leave your friends behind Cause your friends won’t wear 'em And if they don’t wear 'em Then all your friend are blind! Safety … GOGGLES! Doot-doot-dee-dah-dee-dee doot-doot-dee-dah-dee-dee … !\* ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/37 "2011-09-01T17:37:02Z")
I didn’t care for the movie when I was younger. It was another one of many movies made to appeal to the kinds of girls who start making a high-pitched squeal whenever one of their favorite celebrities appears on television (my sister and her friends, e.g.). Nowadays, I can appreciate the film, in an ironic but not detached kind of way. It’s a fantasy, and that’s fine. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make fun of its many absurdities, but until you find yourself taking its premises seriously, it’s okay to play along. I myself at the time enjoyed many fantasy films about taking the law into your own hands and symbolically re-fighting the Vietnam war. These films have not aged as well, because the irreality they present appeals to much more negative emotions, and I know people who have continued to harbor such fantasies into adulthood. But a bunch of kids rebelling against a paper tiger of authority while celebrating their youth in song and dance? The loser that taking this too seriously will turn you into at least doesn’t own a gun. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/38 "2011-09-01T18:08:18Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > But I was also thinking when I suggested the list to **treis** that I’m sure we could find aspects in all of those films that are at least as silly as any in Footloose… except perhaps the abandoned factory dance… and even then it’s only a bucket of water away from a scene in _Flashdance_. 🙂 I don’t recall a scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that matches the sheer WTFness of Kevin Bacon and other guy having a conversation while Kevin Bacon casually practices his high bar routine. I mean seriously, just think about that. A town small enough and conservative enough to ban dancing has a men’s gymnastics team. > [@Apollyon](#): > > As for the complaints about the kids being able to dance… I have a silly vision of **treis** at a show of… _My Fair Lady_ or somesuch feeling put out that suddenly a crowd of costermongers and barrow-merchants are displaying professional level song and dance abilities. 😛 Just to point out, it wasn’t me who had an issue with the kids being able to dance. I’m not ashamed to admit that I liked the dancing. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/39 "2011-09-01T18:51:17Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I don’t recall a scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off that matches the sheer WTFness of Kevin Bacon and other guy having a conversation while Kevin Bacon casually practices his high bar routine. I mean seriously, just think about that. A town small enough and conservative enough to ban dancing has a men’s gymnastics team. Again, you can’t expect realism from a movie. But I don’t see this as being all that unrealistic. People can develop some amazing blind spots about their personal neuroses. “We can’t have dancing in this town. It’s effeminate and leads to homosexuality.” “What about the wrestling team? Shouldn’t we also be banning that?” “Huh? Why would we ban the wrestling team?” “Uhhh…they smear themselves in oil and wrestle in the nude…” “So? That’s the way the Greeks and Romans did it. It’s just tradition. I don’t see what you’re getting at.” ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/40 "2011-09-01T19:03:50Z")
I’m not saying that they should logically have banned gymnastics as well. I’m talking about the absurdity of a small town having a men’s gymnastics team. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425.md?page=3)