In the film Dirty Dancing, the main characters are seventeen-year-old Frances Houseman, also known as "Baby", and Johnny Castle, who is supposed to be twenty years old. five-year-old dance teacher (Sylwester, 2008) This film takes place in the summer of 1963 at Kellerman's, a vacation spot (Ardolino & Gottileb, 1987). Throughout the beginning of the film, the budding romance between Baby and Johnny becomes evident; at the end of the film, they have confirmed their relationship, but Johnny has been fired and has to leave the complex. Due to the setting of this film, the genre construction and messages are a bit more outward than they might be in a newer film. To begin with, gender is socially constructed and, therefore, constantly changes over time (Lorber, 2003). . Gender is something that manifests itself in each person's daily life or in the routines of daily activities. Genre is mostly achieved by simply thinking about the actions of specific genres. Gender roles are often expected shortly after the birth of a child: a girl, according to gender roles, should wear pink, and a baby boy should wear blue. Comments are often made before a child can even cognitively understand the idea of ​​gender, such as "he's going to be such a strong little boy" or "she's going to be such a princess." These ideas lead to socially constructed gender and why men and women behave the way they do. In the film, the concept of gender is implemented in many different ways. For example, early in the film, Lisa, Baby's older sister, worries that she did not bring enough shoes (Ardolino & Gottileb, 1987). This indicates to the audience early on that Lisa is very self-centered and doesn't pay much attention...... middle of paper ...... explicit meaning it has many implicit meanings, because of this Most of the meaning can be taken and changed between viewers of the film. The gender constructs and meaning throughout this film are consistent with the time period of the film. This film presents a rather typical genre construction and meaning of the 1960s. Works CitedArdolino, E. and Gottileb, L. (directors). (1987). Dirty Dancing [Cinema]. Lorber, J. (2003). The social construction of difference and inequality. Boston: McGraw Hill. Phillips, W. (2002). Thinking about cinema. In Film an introduction (pp. 403-438). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. Sawhney, V. (nd). The Women's Liberation Movement of the 1960s. From the CWLU History website: http://www.uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/_notes/GrrlSmarts/sawhney.html#TopSylwester, M. (December 8, 2008 ). Dirty Dancing Analysis.