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TRAILER COURT 11/14/17 - BREAKIN’ (1984)

Music and dance are the two most powerful motivators of cultural change in America. Nothing moves whole generations to accept and embrace people different from them quite like the rise of a new genre of popular music & the accompanying dance styles which are born of its ascension. Rock & roll was just up-tempo rhythm & blues that that tapped into the primal urges which consume teenagers, and ultimately led white kids to question their parents’ dogged resistance to “black music.” When rock took a sharp detour in the early 70s, in large part due to the influence of drugs which began late in the decade prior, disco took over, and suddenly white people from all walks of life were embracing the fashions, rhythms, and flashy dance moves of African-Americans. Indeed, much of the vitriolic rejection of disco came from folks with the same sort of narrow-minded prejudices which fueled their parents to rage against rock & roll.

Then came rap, and the cultural wall came down once and for all. But it wasn’t the catchy rhymes of Grandmaster Flash, the hard beats of Run D.M.C., the gangsta angst of N.W.A., or the political fury of Public Enemy that really transformed the American music scene from two segregated worlds into a single, integrated one. Silly as it may sound, that achievement came as a direct result of the breakdancing fad.

I grew up in that era, and every kid - black, white, or otherwise - wanted to learn how to breakdance. In one fell swoop, with a single pop & lock, followed by a crazy head spin, white kids all across the nation suddenly, desperately wanted to emulate black dudes. Overnight, the inner city phenomenon called breakdancing was in the schoolyard, the gym, suburban streets, playgrounds, primetime TV shows, and, most important of all, the multiplex.

Click the link above to see the trailer for the definitive breakdancing film...

I won’t pretend that BREAKIN’ is a great movie, any more than any other dance movie (save, perhaps, the lavish MGM musicals of Hollywood’s golden age) is truly top-tier cinema. However, it’s an important film because it showcased this budding dance craze in a way which was inclusive, exuberant, and overwhelmingly positive. Here was a film that showed black kids and white kids dancing together without fear, a movie that debunked concerns that such unabashed cultural integration might lead to the end of the world. Indeed, here was a movie about a white girl trying to fit into a black world, but it wasn’t about sex, drugs, politics, or “wayward youth” (the way such material would have been presented in the past); it was about artistry, free expression, and the joyful result of putting aside our cultural differences and coming together through dance.

I’m overselling it a bit, I suppose. It’s a silly little dance movie with some great moves & an uplifting tone, and it’s ultimately no masterpiece. But looking back on it now, I can’t help but acknowledge how exuberant & celebratory it is, and how that tone sent a message to young and old people alike that the world was changing for the better, via the power of dance & song.

The trailer brims with this energetic positivity. Its rapped narration and frenetic editing create the sense that the movie is a non-stop spectacle of dance moves the likes of which you’ve never seen before, while simultaneously giving you just enough of the FLASHDANCE-inspired plot to suggest it’s more than just an 85-minute music video. It’s hard to watch the trailer now and not feel compelled to revisit the film, despite the fact that I’ve seen it multiple times before and never considered it a favorite.

We’re still waiting for the next big revolution in music, in my opinion. Rap & the dance craze it spawned (then subsequently outgrew) have yet to be equaled in terms of transforming our culture. There aren’t many Cannon films you can look back on and say, “You know, that movie really played a role in shaping our world!” Great film or not, BREAKIN’ is one of those select few Golan & Globus productions, and this trailer is an effective, infectious reminder of that watershed moment in American history.

-Don Jeffrey Krouskop