In the movie Dance Girl Dance, Judy plays a kind-hearted ballerina who is consistently overshadowed by the overly burlesque character Bubbles. I felt it cruel that Bubble decided to add Judy to her act simply as a pawn for the male audience to mock and disrespect. Judy is portrayed as a respectful and ambitious young woman. I believe this is why she decided not to leave this part in the play. She had been mocked and in the shadow of Bubbles for far too long, and she was not going to settle for making little or no money any longer. She decided that even if she was made shame of, at least she was able to make a living from what she desired to do, to dance.
I felt compelled to be sympathetic towards Judy’s predicament, however Judy proved to be a stronger character than I had originally imagined. She inherently turned the male audiences own misogynistic ignorance on them. She had spent many shows being laughed at and mocked because she was unwilling to show her skin like bubbles was so popular for doing during the show. She subverted the male gaze by shouting out to the audience how ignorant and pathetic they were for viewing women in this manner.
This resulted in a shockingly positive response from the predominantly male audience. They ended up cheering her for it because they realized the follies of their ways, and that she as correct. Their behavior was inappropriate, petty, and disheveling to say the least. This once frail and shy girl had now blossomed into a strong, independent woman who was not afraid to stand against the wind and face adversity with bravery.
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It was amazing that Judy inspite of it all just decided to dance for the love of it. I found it ironic that she just assumed that the side show was the best it would ever be. Judy was afraid to try at the ballet school but settled being mocked at the side show just so she could dance. I think this movie shows us the meaning to just not give up and strive for what you really wantand that your dreams can come true.
I agree with you that Judy's telling off the crowd at the burlesque show was truely brave, however, I thought the scence lacked a certain reality because despite the postive reaction her comments got chances are that the same people that appuladed her would show up the next night to act in the same manor as they had previouly.
I don't think Bubbles gave Judy the job just to be laughed at. Lucille Ball played it really sincere when she offered Judy the dancing stooge spot. It seemed like she was doing it because she genuinely cared (or felt guilty.) However, it did seem out of character for Bubbles to seem caring, especially after stealing Judy's guy (and later marrying him for his money).
I too found myself feeling bad for Judy. It seemed she was down on her luck and needed a break in life and she was always one step too late. When she was in the rain, I found myself hoping that she would talk to the man who was willing to help her. The scene that Judy stands up to the audiance shows the side of her that we all wanted to see.
I loved that part of the movie! Judy calling the men out for their rude behavior was a long time coming! I wanted to cheer her on with the rest of them. The court room scene was also really funny. I wish the ending would have shown her dancing in a ballet!
I was happy for jusy in the end too! I'm happy that she got what she wanted but it seemed a little silly to me that it took her so long to get there. After all the man in charge of the professional ballet was going to see her before she walked out of the office for no reason. Maybe all of her embarassment could have been saved if she had been as strong as she was when yelling at the male berlesque audiance the whole time...
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