The author, Leslie Grinner, argues that the SCWAMP model can be used to examine the main ideologies in the culture of this country. The SCWAMP model (straight, Christian, white, able bodied, male, and property owning) serves as a guide to the attributes that we value most in our culture. Many media representations, including the film analyzed in the article, include examples of these six attributes. The film, Save the Last Dance, is deeply analyzed for it’s reinforcement of these ideals.
While Save the Last Dance markets itself as a multicultural film whose main themes are acceptance and being oneself, all of the SCWAMP traits are present in it. At its core, this film is a heterosexual love story between the main characters Sara and Derrick, thus highlighting Grinner’s first element of “straight”. Christian ideals of morality hold Sara and Derrick at a higher level than their peers. Sara is depicted as sweet and innocent, especially when compared to the other dominant females in this film. Derrick’s sister, Chenille, is a single teen mother and his ex-girlfriend, Nikki, is shown as overly sexual and aggressive. Derrick is held higher because the other males that he associates with in the film are “thugs” who are either drug dealers or extremely violent.
All of the successful characters in this film follow the “white” norms. Sara is obviously white and Derrick is told in the film that he has forgotten where he had come from. He strives for higher education, a career, and an overall better life for himself. Grinner points out that “Derrick is a Black man, but he values whiteness as the ideal”. Many of the black characters in the film are depicted a certain way and being black in general seems to have its own set of characteristics as pointed out in the author’s statement, “the film defines Blackness in a certain way, with poverty, drug abuse, and violence at its core”. Save the Last Dance is obviously a movie about dancing so being able-bodied is valued.
Derrick teaches Sara “hip hop culture” throughout the film including ways to walk, dance, and sit. The things that he teaches her are all modeled after a very male way of doing things. For example, he teaches her to walk with almost a limp which is a very manly way to walk. Also, a woman’s association with a man is what makes her successful in this film. The last attribute of the SCWAMP model, property owning, is exhibited in the focus on social class in this film. The main characters are all living in the “ghetto” and are trying to find a way out.
Grinner’s analysis of this film strongly reflects the dominant ideas that our culture has about what is “good” and what is “bad”. Many of the themes and points in this film are rooted in the values of mainstream society. The author does a good job at pointing out these connections and really breaking the movie down into the basics of it. For a movie that claims to be all inclusive and sending a powerful message, it almost makes itself hypocritical when you take a deep look into it.
About 3 minutes into this clip is the scene where Sara learns to walk, sit, and dance
