One step forward, two steps back: Why the feminism and liberalism of Dirty Dancing would be 'daring' in today's marketplace. Will the remake be as relevant?

Lionsgate announced plans yesterday to indeed remake Dirty Dancing.  With pretty much every beloved 80s film going under the remake knife, it was only a matter of time before the adventures of Johnny and Baby got the revamp treatment.  So while I could use this space to rant and rave about remakes in general, and about how the  original Dirty Dancing, by virtue of being a period piece with few special effects, has not aged one bit since 1987.  But the film is among the crown jewels in Lionsgate's library, as they've put out Blu Ray/DVD reissues twice in just the last four years (to be fair, those special editions are among the most feature-packed of any catalog title this side of Blade Runner).  And there are only so many ways you can milk the same cow, so the House That Jigsaw Built has now seen fit to merely remake the damn thing and hope they don't suffer a similar fate as those behind Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.  But there are a few things worth considering, things that both shine a light on the fallacy of the current remake-mania and shine a much grimmer light on how our popular cinema has regressed when it comes to dealing with social issues.