Progressive in Polyester: A Tribute to the Women of Saturday Night Fever

A fresh take on the classic 1977 film, Progressive in Polyester is a collection of essays exploring the women characters of Saturday Night Fever: Annette—the bright girl with dim dreams who loves Tony despite the fact that he treats her like garbage; the ambitious working girl Stephanie; Tony’s long-suffering mother Flo; the sexually bold Connie, and even that famous Farrah Fawcett poster. Each of these characters embody the anxieties, fears, dreams and aspirations of feminism’s second wave. Michael Jackson’s Thriller would eventually replace Fever’s soundtrack as the best-selling album in music history and the 2001 Odyssey disco (the real-life club featured in the movie) has since been demolished but, as the essays in this collection prove, the women of Saturday Night Fever continue to resonate.

“In Progressive in Polyester, Heather Babcock takes the seemingly under the radar performances of the women in Saturday Night Fever and puts them onto the dance floor, under the pop culture lens that reflects back to us how we observe feminism at large. She wonderfully captures how the subtle but poetic representations of the characters in the movie, much like the music, reverberate into our own social culture to this day." - Valentino Assenza, Host & Producer HOWL on CIUT 89.5FM