Dancing means different things to different peoples

The American remake of the Japanese film Shall We Dance should provide all sorts of material for those who enjoy semiotic film theory. The major problem with the film is that, even though it is faithful to the original in that it hits just about every single one of the same story beats, the actions don't have the same meanings in American culture. In Japan, part of the internal struggle of the middle-age businessman learning to ballroom dance was the cultural resistance to individuality. That does not translate to American screens at all. What ballroom dance signifies to most Americans is a lack of masculinity, and the film's one really interesting twist (in comparison with the original) recognizes this difference. While there are more than a few gay jokes thrown in to play to the homophobia in the audience, there is one great scene near the end where Stanley Tucci's character silences a group of mocking co-workers with a few masculine dance moves.

So without the cultural resistance to dance, the film is forced to find a personal reason why Richard Gere's businessman would feel shame about taking up dance. Here the film tries, but falls short. The explanation he gives near the end, a variation on yuppie regret, does not quite ring true considering the overreaction of his wife, played by Susan Sarandon. The filmmakers know this scene doesn't quite jibe because they stage it in a parking structure where Gere and Sarandon have blocked traffic. They have their first big confrontation while people surround them yelling at them to move and honking their car horns. This is a false tension that has nothing to do with the film and simply allows the filmmakers to buy more time and draw out the end of the film.

Finally, what shows the filmmakers have little faith in the audience, are the constant reaction shots letting the audience know how good a dancer Gere has become. He is a fine dancer, that is plainly obvious. Everytime the director cuts to one of the other characters grinning and nodding with approval they have to cut away from the dancing. Doing it once or twice might be fine, but the filmmakers can't let this convention go and it ends up undoing the big payoff scene for the entire movie. As Gere and Sarandon dance in a mall, two shopgirls look on in tears of romantic jealousy/bliss/happiness. These characters haven't been in the film before. They exist only to cue the audience as to how they should react. If you aren't already crying and need someone to tell you to, the film has failed.

Hopefully the release of the film will get someone to issue the beautiful Japanese original on DVD.