Launcher of a thousand off-the-shoulder sweatshirts, popularizer of leg warmers: it's "Flashdance" and the film turns 40 this year, just like some of us are or have too. It's hard to believe a beloved film can be aging so, though a rewatch reveals some of the racist and homophobic jokes that defined its time. The film is also chock-full of very high-cut leotards that scream 1983 and more dance interludes than a high school musical.
"Flashdance" was star Jennifer Beals' breakthrough role, responsible for her winning an NAACP Image Award and receiving a Golden Globe nomination, and the movie stayed with us: the character of Alex, a loner and dreamer who works as a welder during the day and a bar dancer at night, while dreaming of more. Her dream feels different now. We're all older and we've been through the world. We know how it chews us up and spits us out, and we know to make it, like Alex does, we need more than just one shot. But Alex's rise from welder/bar dancer to different, "respected" dancer isn't so surprising, and the film presenting this as a shocker may say more about how we view working-class artists than any personal, well-choreographed triumph.
