The Magic Mike franchise has always placed a big emphasis on giving women what they want, namely with highly suggestive dancing by Mike Lane and his cohort of male strippers, but Magic Mike's Last Dance changes how it handles these dances for the better. From the moment unsatisfied socialite Maxandra (Salma Hayek) pays Mike for a sensuous private dance, there's a delicate balance established between interpreting what Max actually wants and assuming that he knows without her input. After the dance, Max "purchases" Mike for one month, paying him a handsome sum for directing a racy West End stage show in London and making her husband jealous.
As Mike and Max search for a crew of dancers for the cast, they continue to push the boundaries of their tempestuous relationship. Often, Mike's reputation for knowing what women want interferes with Max's own agency, and misunderstandings occur that threaten to derail the entire production. It's not until the end of Magic Mike's Last Dance that Mike reveals he finally understands Max and what she wants, and it redefines the franchise's dancing in a way that also challenges convention.
Magic Mike 3 Emphasizes Dancers Asking Permission To Please
Throughout Magic Mike 3, Mike emphasizes dancers asking permission to please the person they're giving a dance to. Using various women as examples, he reveals that the sensual aspect is heightened when he incorporates gestures into his dancing that appear to ask for consent. This could be holding a steady gaze, going slowly with innocent kisses to the back of her hand, or a few whispered requests in her ear. Nowhere is this represented more than in the big "Permission" dance number, one of 6 big dance sequences.
Hannah (Juliette Motamed), acting as the star of "Isabella's Ascension" and the de facto MC for the night, loudly exclaims that there's "nothing sexier than permission," and several dancers request the participation of a few female audience . The dance demonstrates that even if the women want to experience the dancers intimately, it's better (even sexier) if the dancers do little things to let the women know they understand that they are the ones in charge and the ones giving them consent to get physical with them. That way, the women feel desired, and the men feel desired, but both are engaging in a respectful activity.
Mike's New Dance Show Is More Popular Because Of Consent
Max wants to transform the stuffy side of London's theater scene with a show that will make audiences feel the same ecstasy she felt during their private dance, but the new show becomes popular because of its focus on consent, not just its dancers. The previous Magic Mike movies put an emphasis on men thinking they knew what female audiences wanted without tailoring their performances. Max knows what she wants from the beginning but isn't always about to articulate it, and they're both often too stubborn to listen to each other's suggestions.
Since the ego is often at the heart of gaining or yielding consent, only when Mike and Max put their egos aside and ask each other what they truly need, do the answers work for both their relationship and The Rattigan's show. Mike lets his dancers know that gaining permission/consent from the women they're pleasing is not only the right thing to do, but it's also the sexier thing. Magic Mike's Last Dance proves that Mike still knows what women want - the opportunity to voice their needs and for men to respect them.
