Footloose 1984 & 2011
COM/170
August 20, 2012

Footloose 1984 & 2011
Footloose! Seen it? Want to? Which one? There are two; one came out in 1984 (directed by Herbert Ross starring Kevin Bacon), and the other one in 2011 (directed by Craig Brewer starring Kenny Wormald). Music and characters are very similar, but the dance moves and time frame are different in both Footloose movies. The first thing noticeable is the difference in the time eras from one movie to the other. In the 1984 movie, the game of chicken is introduced when Ren is challenged to play chicken on farm tractors on a narrow road. Ren is driving one tractor and Chuck is driving the other going toward one another until one tractor goes into the ditch. Now in the 2011 movie, Ren and Chuck play chicken using derby busses to play the game, by racing in a figure eight (with four busses total making sure to not go too fast or too slow). The end is when one of the busses catches on fire, as Ren jumps from the bus, and crashes into the other bus. The other thing one will also notice is the similarities and difference between the reckless behaviors in the two movies, in the 1984 movie, when Ariel (the preacher’s daughter) is leaving church in a car with her friends; Chuck drives up beside the girls. Ariel climbs out of the car onto Chuck’s truck, and at one point Ariel is standing between the two vehicles while an oncoming eight-teen wheeler approaches head-on; both vehicles wind up in the ditch. Another time when Ariel’s reckless behavior comes into play in both movies, is when visiting the yearbook (old freight train cargo car that sits in the train rail yard). Students have been writing all over it with things that everyone could read that they thought was important to them at that time in their lives. Ariel ask Ren if he has ever, as she stands on the railroad tracks while an oncoming train heads straight for her, until Ren pushes her to safety and yells “No!”
In the 1984 movie, Ren and his mom move from Chicago to Bomont to live with his mom’s sister while they adjust to small town life. In the 2011 movie, Ren is from Boston and is moving to Bomont because his mother passed away from cancer; however, the characters are very similar in both movies. One of the main differences between both movies is in the 1984 movie, about mid-movie a total of five teens die in a two car accident (one of the teens is Ariel’s brother). However, in the 2011 movie at the very beginning of the movie, five teens (again one of the teens is Ariel’s brother) are at a party drinking and dancing as they leave the party, all five die in a head-on car accident with an eight-teen wheeler. In comparison between both movies, Ren tries to take on the city council to try and change the laws about singing and dancing by quoting scripters from the Bible, but the city council will not have it. Ren finds himself having prom in an old warehouse, which they all pitch in (clean up and turn it into a dancehall to host a prom that all could be proud of).
A few other things in both movies, Ren gets pulled over by the police for playing his music to loud, which is against the law in Bomont, Willard gets into a fight while out at a bar, Ariel gets beat up by Chuck, and in the end Chuck, Ren, Willard, Ariel, and Rusty all do some fighting of their own just before the prom starts. The original music in the first movie (what is considered 80’s music now) is played a few times in the second movie, but also most of the music in the second one is more of what a lot of people listen to today. One of the songs that were played in both the 1984 and 2011 was the original Quiet Riot “Bang Your Head (Metal Health)”; “Let’s Hear it for the Boys” was also played in both movies, but the 1984 movie played the original song, while in the 2011 movie, played a new upbeat version of the song. The dancing in the 1984 movie, was more of a free dancing, very evidence in the song choice of “Footloose” at the bar, dancing has evolved so much since then, and compared to the dancing to “Fake ID” at the bar in the 2011 movie, was more country line dancing and break dancing to new age Hip Hop. To compare the two dancing styles in both movies Ren has to teach Willard how to dance (the dance style is very different). In both movies the song “Holding Out for a Hero” is played but in the 2011 movie it has been redone to sound more of something that may be more listen to today. Another major difference between both movies is in the 1984 movie the music was played on cassette tapes all throughout the movie; in the 2011 they use an MP3 player (a very compact music device, almost as small as a zippo lighter) which was not heard of in the 1984 movie.
In comparing both Footloose movies’, the similarities and the differences in these movies have some great takeaways for each of them. One take way would be that just because something bad happens at some point. One cannot stop people from living their lives and worry about everyone else. Another take away would be while one may try to save the whole town from devastation one truly cannot because it was not their actions that cause it the devastation. The music in the 1984 movie is all the old original songs, and in the 2011 movie, it has new age songs (although some are remixes of the old originals) that are in it. The characters are (very similar in both movies; Reverend Shaw, Mrs. Shaw, their daughter Ariel, Ren McCormick, Chuck, Willard, and Rusty), while one can see the varied time eras(whether it be clothing style or the overall music genre). Some movie goers could find themselves signing along, maybe moving around, or dancing to both movies.