Swing Time

As the novel's title and a recurring point throughout the story, the 1936 film Swing Time is a crucial symbol. It represents the girls' ultimate fantasy of success in the dance world -- it is an exuberant, old-fashioned film that celebrates the passion and power of dance. Yet what begins as an innocent obsession soon morphs into a cynical revelation of the major structural and individual flaws that hold the girls back. Swing Time stars white people and advances white dancing, shunting aside black dancers like the girls. It represents a time period when racism was widely accepted; even the lead actor, Fred Astaire, was racist. As children, the girls overlook or even fail to see this, but as adults it becomes a bitter sign of the futility of their dance dreams.

Swing Time adapts as a symbol to the changing time periods of the narrator's...