# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/41 "2011-09-01T19:43:59Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > But a bunch of kids rebelling against a paper tiger of authority while celebrating their youth in song and dance? There are plenty of communities, especially in middle America and the south, where the minister has more pull than the mayor. It’s a realistic premise, IME – no music and no dancing because Preacher Man says so – whether or not you like the way the story plays out. I also don’t like Ferris Bueller, movie or character. What was he rebelling against? What or who was keeping him down? He did whatever he wanted; why should I cheer for a sociopath? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/42 "2011-09-01T19:54:56Z")
Wasn’t Kevin Bacon’s first movie role as a camp counselor (at some kid’s camp where everybody gets killed by some homicidal maniac)? “Footloose” was a step up. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/43 "2011-09-01T20:15:57Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I mean seriously, just think about that. A town small enough and conservative enough to ban dancing has a men’s gymnastics team. It’s internesting how different things affect people’s suspension of disbelief. I have zero experience of US high schools (beyond TV and movies) and so wouldn’t / didn’t blink at this, but it’s obviously something that seems so out-there to you that it disrupts the (vey lightweight) story flow. (No criticism, just an obseration that I find interesting – I have much the same reaction to virtually any movie depiction of computers and the Hollywood Operating System). 🙂 Just thinking, one of the plot points of the more recent _Bring It On_ (2000) was that Eliza Dushku’s gymnast character has just transfered into a (smaller?) school that didn’t support a gymnastics team and ended up as a cheerleader, and not very impressed with the situation. > [@](#): > > 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. True, true… it was just that your OP objections and the other comment about dancing got fused together in my silly musings. 🙂 Which reminds me… old joke (relevant to _Footloose)_… Q: Why don’t Baptists have sex standing up? A: Because it might lead to dancing. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/44 "2011-09-02T15:17:45Z")
I seem to remember a video with music from the movie, where the dancer was proceeding down a corridor as he danced. I cannot find it on youTube. Anyone got a link? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/45 "2011-09-02T15:34:26Z")
Are you thinking of the aforementioned [Angry Dance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsCO-YkDgnY)? He dances angrily while running through a warehouse. Parts of it look like a corridor or sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/46 "2011-09-02T17:40:32Z")
No, I don’t think that’s it. IIRC it was not in the movie, and the dancer was dressed in white. And the music itself was “Footloose”. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/47 "2011-09-02T18:01:22Z")
> [@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 [Fry] You know, that dance wasn’t as safe as they said. [/Fry] ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/48 "2011-09-02T20:07:52Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > Apparently there is also a remake coming out in October. A remake with _EXPLOSIONS!!!_ (No, really! [2:23](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtjI6OHVk00).) ---
**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:** [September 2, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/49 "2011-09-02T20:28:16Z")
Michael Bay directed the remake? ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/50 "2011-09-02T20:55:55Z")
> [@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. > . Yet you can accept Ferris standing on a float singing twist and shout in the middle of a chicago parade? ---
**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 2, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/51 "2011-09-02T21:04:13Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > There are plenty of communities, especially in middle America and the south, where the minister has more pull than the mayor. It’s a realistic premise, IME – no music and no dancing because Preacher Man says so – whether or not you like the way the story plays out. I can buy that it might have been like this all over in the 50’s, or here and there in the 80’s. But when has the magic of youth rebellion actually changed the calcified minds of old people on a timescale of less than decades? In reality, the grownups relax their standards because something worse has come along for them to fail to oppress, eventually. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/52 "2011-09-02T21:06:49Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Yet you can accept Ferris standing on a float singing twist and shout in the middle of a chicago parade? Or teens driving a car that only a very few examples exist in the whole world. Or the entire city getting on the “Save Ferris” bandwagon. Or a senior dating a junior. . ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/53 "2011-09-02T21:29:16Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Yet you can accept Ferris standing on a float singing twist and shout in the middle of a chicago parade? Yes, just like I can accept that James Bond can foil international plots and shag women single handedly. Part of Ferris’ character is being able to pull off shit like that. It makes sense in the context of the movie. On the other hand stuff like angry dance, not getting in trouble for the joint, and the gymnastics team doesn’t make sense in the context of the movie. It’s just weird, and makes me go WTF. Besides, Ferris Bueller’s day off is a comedy and its not really concerned with making a whole lot of sense. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/54 "2011-09-02T21:32:31Z")
> [@treis](#): > > (1) One of the locals is pissed at him, so he challenges the new kid to a front loader chicken match. Best part of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/55 "2011-09-02T21:55:41Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Best part of the movie. Oh you wanna go up? Huh uh _whip crack_ You wanna go down? Lets go down man! ---
**Author:** ![Feyrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/fbc32d/32.png) [@Feyrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feyrat)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/56 "2011-09-02T22:34:27Z")
> [@treis](#): > > shag women single handedly. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425/57 "2011-09-03T02:34:40Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > 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: IIRC, it wasn’t just that dancing leads to sin; the kids killed in an accident, including his son, were coming back from a night of…you guessed it…dancing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/footloose-is-this-a-joke/594425.md?page=2)