Beach and Surfing

In Rutsky’s article, “Surfing the Other: Ideology on the Beach,” Rutsky argues that the film Beach Party is centered around how teenagers do revolve around sex and love versus drugs and acting out against the law. He also talks about how teenagers want to live their lives and not focus on work. He says, “he beach is represented as a place of freedom, where the responsibilities of work, school, and marriage are temporarily suspended in favor of the playful hedonism of parties, surfing, teenage sexuality, and romantic flings” (14). He’s relating to the first part of Beach Party when the teenagers are at the beach while they are on their break just relaxing and having a good time. They are not thinking about what is going on at home or what they have to do when they get back because they are focusing on the youth ideologies. However, the two characters that focus on the adult ideologies branch out of the crowd. Dolores and Frankie think about love and marriage and how they, specifically Dolores wants to wait to have sex until after marriage. Ironically, the other teenagers are getting frisky on the beach around where she is. I believe that Rutsky has a clear argument because the teenagers are focused on youth ideologies. They are dancing to rock and roll, surfing, and being frisky while they should be dancing to square music, walking on the beach, and having proper conversations with the opposite sex (Beach Party).

Later on in the article, Rutsky says that the main reason for the intriguing sense of the movies comes from the “combination of music and dance-and the image of sexuality and freedom associated with them” (17). The music and dance captures attention because it’s the new fad and an oppositional ideology. The music and dancing goes against the social norm and what the older adults believe is proper dancing. The dancing, which involves a lot of twisting the hips and shaking the rear end, is sexual. It attract the opposite gender which is the second reason of captured attention. I agree with Rutsky because the characters are revolving around what’s going on at the beach versus thinking in an adult way by thinking of work and bills. The teenagers on the beach are more concerned with surfing, sitting by the fire and singing, and getting frisky with one another.