MovieChat Forums > Save the Last Dance (2001) Discussion > What, she never watched MTV? Dumb.

What, she never watched MTV? Dumb.

posted 16 years ago by jgroub
10 replies | jump to latest

This movie was a frivolous little romp, but the basic premise is so incredibly flawed. We are supposed to believe that Julia Stiles' character, because she is a white girl from the suburbs, doesn't know how to dance hip hop. Oh, please. What planet were the producers of this movie - which happens to be MTV - from? What, they don't have cable in the suburbs? Her mom, an apparently successful business owner, could certainly afford cable.

She is soooo into ballet that she does absolutely no other form of dance? And she had trouble picking up the steps from Derek? That's plain moronic. If that were the case, she didn't deserve to go to Juilliard. Ballet dancers generally love all kinds of dance. And, what, she never got together with her girlfriends and danced in their bedrooms while listening to hip-hop? Come on.

That being said, it was an entirely formulaic movie that still let me have fun.

I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] grumpy_otter 16 years ago

As a former professional ballet dancer, I can tell you that her approach to hip hop felt very realistic to me.

When i was a dancer, it filled my world. I was unaware of almost any world event. If Baryshnikov pulled a tendon, I knew about it, but I could not have told you who the vice president of the U.S. was. (I danced from 1969-1985)

The first scene when Derek is teaching her to dance was perfect, imo. He is trying to get her to show attitude, and she just can't stop standing up straight and extending her arms in ballet-style. It takes a serious exertion of will to adopt hip hop posture.

Things have changed since my day, sure, but ballet is still a very enclosed world. One thing I really like in the film was how Julliard demanded a contemporary audition piece in addition to the classical--that shows how many traditional forms are trying to include contemporary.

And btw, i have a friend who is 14 (the daughter of a friend) who is aiming at being a profesional ballerina. She spend 4 hours a day dancing, and 8 hours a day on weekends. She does her homework in the car on the way to ballet class. I don't think she knows what MTV is.

[–] jgroub 16 years ago

Thanks for the response. OK, I hear ya, but still, it seems silly to me. I just don't think she would be so closed off like that, unlike your friend's daughter.

I asked the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] grumpy_otter 16 years ago

I just don't think she would be so closed off like that, unlike your friend's daughter.

Please don't think I was implying that it was/is the parents who "close the kids off." In my experience, it is the kids who focus their lives so completely.

But tell me--do you have any passion to which you devote four hours a day?

A day I didn't dance was a day I felt dead. I would pester my mom to drive me to the studio even if I wasn't scheduled.

If there is nothing you love that much, I don't think you could get it.

But I will say that the movie might have spent a bit more time explaining her obsesion.

[–] Cinderling 16 years ago

Well if you're a trained dancer ballet or whatever it is really easy to pick up moves from other kinds of dances.

I never did those type of things. There's more to life than MTV.

[–] mellyjc 15 years ago

I didn't have cable until I was living on my own after college. No MTV for me, and I didn't live out in the midwest or spend my life training as a ballerina. Not that I would have watched MTV for hip hop anyway (although I did know what it was). I can guarantee you I never danced in the bedroom to hip hop with my girlfriends. LOL. So I can believe that. I do believe there are places that are much more sheltered.

I didn't see her mom as "apparently successful" but it seemed they were still trying to make ends meet after paying for all the ballet stuff.

I felt she picked up the moves from Derek pretty quickly, she was just dealing with a lot of self-consciousness at first which causes a person to screw up, and it was quite a different style than what she'd trained for.

[–] mellyjc 15 years ago

What I felt was more unrealistic was the quickness with which she made friends at the school. It's like boom, first day, woo, friends! I wish I could make friends that easily, and I wasn't even walking in to a new school. People aren't always so willing to just open up their cliques like that.

[–] crystal_power2003 15 years ago

I am white and I don't know how to dance to hip-hop. I am more of a rocker.

[–] punxgurrl 10 years ago

I never watched MTV when I was her age. At first I wasn't allowed, then I had no interest. And no, I wasn't exposed at all to hip hop either. Grew up in Orange County.

[–] Ellie8888 8 years ago

It's more realistic than you think. Ballet is extremely posh compared to other dance genres. A person who grew up doing ballet would have a hard time getting their body to move like that.

Here's a youtube video of buzzfeed, where Ballet dancers learn how to twerk. Yes it's just as awkward as Stiles was in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TgvJViVyJQ

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

There's always the chance that she didn't have cable, therefore her tv options were limited! But I'm pretty sure she at least listened to it on the radio.