Saturday Night Fever

I had spent most of the semester preparing myself to be open minded about this screening. Generally speaking, I am no fan of disco. I am - however - a music fan and - as a music fan - I have done a lot of thinking about what it means to really like a certain piece of music. Among the many, many reasons that I might list for why I like the music that I like, whether or not it moves me to dance would rank rather low in the order of important criteria. However, I have learned to recognize the importance of "danceability" in an objective evaluation of a given song, and so an objective theory about why people like music in general must allow for some explanation for why people dance. Aside from the various social issues that may either inhibit or promote the impetus for dance there must be something about the nature of music that facilitates a corresponding behavior. By way of this hopelessly muddled discourse I have managed to determine for myself that any song which moves a person to dance - whether or not I myself share that motivation - is worthy of my honest appreciation. I may not like a song enough to dance to it, but if someone else does then there must be something to it. At least that's what I kept telling myself as I sat down to watch Saturday Night Fever with an open mind.

I'm not sure what I expected from Saturday Night Fever. The film has more or less been a distant blip on my radar for most of my life. It is impossible to hear the song "Stayin' Alive" without obvious associations. I suppose I expected not much more than the brothers Gibb. Of course, other images which have been widely stamped on the public consciousness include John Travolta's strut and a multicolored, light-up dance floor. All of this seemed rather thin fare for someone with a professional interest in filmmaking as a serious storytelling medium.

But what's this?? There are characters here... no... not just characters... maybe the most unique characters we have seen this semester - true blue collar folk - brimming with passion - full of life - certainly among the most charmingly stupid bunch of people ever committed to film. The plot may be needlessly over dramatic, but at least the characters are interesting. We ought to recognize the filmmakers' challenge in tacking characters that are so easy to dislike - people so reminiscent of my least favorite classmates from high school.

I can't help empathizing with Tony Manero (John Travolta). We get just enough insight into Tony's environment and upbringing that his unforgivably infuriating behavior feels poignantly frustrating and his hopelessly vapid behavior feels surprisingly endearing. As much as I dread the idea of a disco club I can actually share in Tony's glory on the dance floor. That glory is one of Tony's few hopes for the future - and thank goodness he is beginning to recognize the need for changing the present course of his life. Each time Tony sidesteps Annette's sexual advances - how easy it would have been for him to take advantage - I am heartened by his continued divergence from the downward spiral that grips his peers. Essentially, Saturday Night Fever is a coming of age story set in a world where everyone gets older but too few people ever manage to grow up. I am glad that I approached it with an open mind because - and I can't believe I'm saying this - here is a movie with the potential to enrich the mind - if you can manage to slog through the heaping mounds of pop culture induced misconceptions. Few films are so subtly clever.