History Film / Footloose

%% * EightiesHair: Oh yeah!
%% * AbandonedWarehouse: Great place for doing an AngryDance.

%% * AngryDance: To the max in the warehouse.

%% * BetaCouple: Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Willard (Chris Penn).

%% * DeathByAdaptation: Ren's mom, in the remake.

%% * DisobeyThisMessage: In a way.

%% * FishOutOfWater: Ren.

%% * ThePowerOfRock: Played straight.

%% * RippedFromTheHeadlines: See above.

%% * StrictParentsMakeSneakyKids: Shaw with Ariel.

%% * WellIntentionedExtremist: Reverend Moore.

%% * CrisisOfFaith:
%% ** Reverend Moore's song "Heaven Help Me!".
%% ** As well as his Act Two song, "I Confess," sadly cut from the most recent revision. The chorus does sometimes appear halfway through his sermon

%% * EverytownAmerica

%% * HehHehYouSaidX: [[ItMakesSenseInContext "Party in their pants."]]

%% * IronicEcho: "Let the Lord hear your voices!"

%% * WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: "Beaumont? ''Where the hell is Beaumont?"''

%% * DystopianEdict: No Dancing!

* ChristianityIsCatholic: Zig-zagged. Reverend Moore is clearly a Protestant (he's married, wears no Roman collar, and is referred to as a Reverend, not a Father), but at one point Ariel makes an impassioned speech about "confessing her sins to her preacher in the church," a very Catholic ideology.

After his parents' divorce, Ren [=McCormack=] (played by Creator/KevinBacon) moves with his mother [[FishOutOfWater from Chicago to a small town in middle America]]. While he finds many of the town's backwards ways frustrating, there is one inexplicable rule that really catches his attention: Rock music and dancing are illegal. He soon makes it his mission to try and reform the law before senior prom, but Ren faces some stiff adversaries. His [[BigBad main opposition]] comes in the form of the extremely conservative Reverend Shaw Moore (Creator/JohnLithgow), who is certain that if rock music is allowed in the town, then all the young people will end up pregnant cocaine-addicts.

* AdaptationalExpansion: The 2011 remake adds an additional scene at the beginning of film which showed on what caused Rock music and dancing to be banned in Beaumont.
* AdaptationalHeroism: Wes is much more supportive of Ren in the remake. When Reverend Shaw tries to get him to make see that Ariel is too good for Ren, Wes replies that it's most likely the other way around. He also explains how Ren spent his mother's last years taking care of her, after his father left.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The 2011 remake is guilty of this as the rules they set in the town violates the Constitution such as the freedom of expression and the right to gather, regardless of how the incident that started these draconian rules started, no city council (especially one in small town America) in their right mind would even think of implementing such rules.

* MoodWhiplash: The 2011 remake starts off with kids at party having a blast dancing to Music/KennyLoggins' "Footloose" with Ariel's brother, Bobby and his friends leaving for the night. [[spoiler: They're still listening to the song on the stereo enjoying themselves before Bobby is momentarily distracted veering onto the wrong side of the road and getting plowed by an oncoming semi-truck killing everyone inside. The song cuts off at the moment of impact just to let the audience register what they just saw.]]

* PetTheDog: The Reverend has several moments to show that he isn't ''completely'' close-minded. The most memorable might be when he stopped a group of citizens from burning books, or when he sits down to actually talk to Ren about their respective losses after the town meeting. The most touching is his reunion with Vi at the close.

* RepeatWhatYouJustSaid: Willard jokingly suggests to start a nightclub in the church which gives Ren his EurekaMoment about the dance.

* RuleAbidingRebel: Ren actually ''does'' try to follow the rules most of the time (as restrictive as they may be) but is still labeled a rebel simply because he's from out of town. The labeling eventually backfires on the town, because the constant ostracism by the townsfolk, Ariel's suicidal obsession with his supposed wild behavior, and the actual ne'er-do-wells of the town (that have somehow been conveniently ignored by the townsfolk, especially in favor of Ren) framing him as the bad influence the town sees him as are what actually spur Ren to finally do something about it. Had he been left alone, he would have stayed out of everybody's way like he was planning to.

%% ** As well as his Act Two song, "I Confess," sadly cut from the most recent revision. The chorus does sometimes appear mid way through his sermon

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During some productions, during ''Mama Says'' after Willard sings "Mama says don't use a toaster while standing in the shower. Now who an argue with that?", one of Willard' buddies [[TooDumbToLive starts to raise his hand and stand up]] before being yanked down by another buddy.
* GreekChorus: Rusty and her cohorts Urleen and Wendy Jo provide some observation about the town and its people in song lyrics.

* TheBigGuy: Woody. Between keeping Chuck's thugs off his smaller friends' backs, he explains to Ren how the town government works in Beaumont.

* HighSchoolDance: The film ends with the prom that the school is allowed to have after the no dancing law is overturned.

Regardless, Ren and his new friends--including the beautiful Ariel, who happens to be Reverend Moore's daughter--set out on their quest to give the town's teenagers sex, drugs and rock n' roll.

* TheEighties: When the movie is set.
* EightiesHair: Oh yeah!
* AbandonedWarehouse: Great place for doing an AngryDance.

* AngryDance: To the max in the warehouse.

* BetaCouple: Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Willard (Chris Penn).

* TheBigGuy: Woody. Class 2 with some signs of Class 5: between keeping Chuck's thugs off his smaller friends' backs, he explains to Ren how the town government works in Beaumont.

* DeathByAdaptation: Ren's mom, in the remake.

* DisobeyThisMessage: In a way.
* DystopianEdict: No Dancing!

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Ariel's car stunt showcases her DeathSeeker attitude.

* FishOutOfWater: Ren.

* ThePowerOfRock: Played straight.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: See above.

* StrictParentsMakeSneakyKids: Shaw with Ariel.

* TheUnfairSex: Averted in the remake. Chuck might be angry at Ariel for her cheating on him with Ren, but that's no excuse to physically assault someone.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Reverend Moore.

* CrisisOfFaith: Reverend Moore's song "Heaven Help Me!".
** As well as his Act Two song, "I Confess," sadly cut from the most recent revision. The chorus does sometimes appear mid way through his sermon

* EverytownAmerica

* HehHehYouSaidX: [[ItMakesSenseInContext "Party in their pants."]]

* IronicEcho: "Let the Lord hear your voices!"

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: "Beaumont? ''Where the hell is Beaumont?"''

** WhyWeCantHaveNiceThings: Dancing is banned in town because the local preacher's son was killed in an accident coming back from a dance.

* PlayingGertrude: Creator/DianneWiest (Ariel's mother Vi) is only 9 years older than Lori Singer (Ariel).
** Creator/JohnLithgow (Shaw) is only 12 years older than Singer.

* CaughtComingHomeLate: Ariel's father awaits her when she returns late at night while the curfew was on.

* ArtisticLiscenseLaw: The 2011 remake is guilty of this as the rules they set in the town violates the Constitution such as the freedom of expression and the right to gather, regardless of how the incident that started these draconian rules started, no city council (especially one in small town America) in their right mind would even think of implementing such rules.

* CorruptHick: Downplayed with Reverend Moore, who genuinely thinks he's doing the right thing. He is also willing to listen to Ren's argument, and stops a group of people burning "unseemly" books from the library. Principal Dunbar is a straighter example; his [[TheFundamentalist fundamentalism]], up to and including BookBurning, creeps out the Reverend.

* TheCityVsTheCountry: The fact that he's from Chicago nets Ren HateAtFirstSight from most of the townsfolk, instantly labeling him a rebellious never-do-well. And it only gets worse when he starts to actually rebel.

* VillainyFreeVillain: Shaw can be considered this. Sure he's a strict father and preacher, but he does genuinely love his family and his congregation, and he is willing to hear Ren out when he is trying to make himself heard. [[spoiler:He also draws the line at the townspeople's more extreme attitudes.]] By contrast, Chuck, who is a minor antagonist, is the one who gets the more despicable traits, especially toward the third act.

-->'''Ren''': "Hey, I thought this was a party! LET'S DAAAAANCE!!"

After his parents' divorce, Ren (played by Creator/KevinBacon) moves with his mother [[FishOutOfWater from Chicago to a small town in middle America]]. While he finds many of the town's backwards ways frustrating, there is one inexplicable rule that really catches his attention: Rock music and dancing are illegal. He soon makes it his mission to try and reform the law before senior prom, but Ren faces some stiff adversaries. His [[BigBad main opposition]] comes in the form of the extremely conservative Reverend Shaw Moore (Creator/JohnLithgow), who is certain that if rock music is allowed in the town, then all the young people will end up pregnant cocaine-addicts.

* BannedInChina: InUniverse - Rock and dancing are banned in Bomont.

* TheBigGuy: Woody. Class 2 with some signs of Class 5: between keeping Chuck's thugs off his smaller friends' backs, he explains to Ren how the town government works in Bomont.

* MissingMom: In the 2011 remake, Ren's mother died of cancer, resulting in Ren moving to Bomont.

* RealityIsUnrealistic: It's based on an actual 80's news story. The movie nods to this when Willard tells Ren about states with similar laws to Bomont.

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: "Bomont? ''Where the hell is Bomont?"''