Hairspray Essay – Livy King Hairspray, a film directed by Adam Shankman and inspired by real-life events, was released in 2007. This film won Critic’s Choice Movie Award for Best Acting Ensemble along with Teen Choice Award for Best Summer Movie: Comedy. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, Hairspray follows the story of teenage protagonist Tracy Turnblad. Tracy, alongside her African American friends, struggles to combat racial segregation on the Corny Collins show, mirroring the historical context of the Buddy Dean show. This report will examine my response to the important and difficult decision Tracy Turnblad made in deciding to protest the WYZT station for cancelling Negro Day. It explores my opinions of how Shankman portrays the significance …show more content…
I believe that the director used these aspects to reveal how the determination of young people plays an important part in driving positive social change and honours the courage of those who risked their lives to make integration possible in the entertainment industry. Adam Shankman combines the aspects of character and conflict, portrayed using film techniques, to show Tracy’s decision to join the protest. In this major event, Tracy Turnblad and Motormouth Maybelle, a talented African American R&B record producer and host of Negro Day, start developing the idea of protesting, after it is announced that the WYZT station is cancelling Negro Day. Shankman uses a slow zoom-in to reveal the growing excitement and enthusiasm of Tracy and Maybelle, as they discuss the idea of protesting. Cutting and a zoom-in is used to show Link Larkin, a talented dancer on the Corny Collins show, and Tracy’s friend and love interest, along with Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad’s shocked expressions towards Tracy and Maybelle deciding to march in protest of Negro Day being cancelled. These imply that while Tracy is on board with the idea without thinking about consequences, her mother and Link were thinking about
Hairspray, a John Waters’ musical, demonstrates progressive messages about the expansion of race-based civil rights in the 1960s . Although this is typically the lens through which Hairspray is viewed, this is not the only significant societal shift portrayed in the film. The stories of Edna Turnblad and Velma Von Tussle illustrate the progressive shift of women from “old” gender roles such as being excluded from the workplace to “new” gender roles where women begin taking managerial positions.
Feminism is an ideology that focuses on women being treated as equals to men in life. “Hairball”, by Margaret Atwood is a feminist story because it illustrates one woman in control of multiple aspects of her life that many women seem to struggle with or lose to a man. It demonstrates the reality of pride hindering success and consequentially suffer loses. In “Hairball” Kat, a middle aged woman, demonstrates control with her health, as she acquired treatment promptly for a health concern involving the female reproductive system. Intimacy, as she controlled her own sexual endeavors, her relationship as she had an upper hand and Identity, and lastly as she controlled her image. Let’s proceed to the first observation I’ve made while reading this short story of demonstrating the importance of health.
Portrayal of African Americans on television is frequently a controversial topic. Throughout its rather brief history, television, in its programming, has skewed predominantly white, (Pringozy, 2007). This was clearer in the 1950s and early 1960s, and it even remained true throughout the 1970s, when television shows with mainly all African American casts became hits, (Strausbaugh, 2006). The success of The Cosby Show in the 1980s helped to improve race relations somewhat, or at least on television, (McNeil, 1996). Still, controversy continued, and still does to this day, as to which shows present negative stereotypes of African Americans and which ones do not, (Strausbaugh, 2006). Therefore, when talking about the history of African Americans on television, it is best to begin with the show that is widely considered to be the epitome of negative stereotypes of African Americans on television: The Amos and Andy Show, (McNeil, 1996). This paper will examine the portrayal of African Americans through two shows from two generations and the impacts both shows had on Black America; The Amos and Andy Show (1928) and The Cosby Show (1984).
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
What could make a comedy film better? Combine it with a musical that will have you singing along with it. I have decided to look at the 2007 movie “Hairspray”. This is a light hearted film that is loved by all ages. While most see this movie as a comedy/musical the film can also add campy to its genre list. This movie address several different social issues while making the audience laugh and sing along with it. The main social issue at hand in this movie is that one of racism. This movie also touches on gender roles with John Travolta playing a woman, as well as being judged by personal appearances. The main character, Tracy Turnblad is at the center of all these issues.
Marlon T. Riggs’ video, Color Adjustment, offers the viewer an exciting trip though the history of television, focusing on the representation, or lack thereof, of African-Americans. A perfectly chosen combination of television producers, actors, sociologists, and cultural critics join forces to offer insight and professional opinion about the status of African-Americans in television since the inception of television itself. As Color Adjustment traces the history of television shows from Amos n’ Andy and Julia to "ghetto sitcoms" and The Cosby Show, the cast of television professionals and cultural critics discuss the impacts those representations have on both the African-American community and our society as a whole. Color Adjustment continually asks the question: "Are these images positive?" This video raises the viewer’s awareness about issues of positive images for African-Americans on television.
The 2007 Hairspray movie includes a historical element to the issue of racism, in specific the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. The main character in Hairspray, a heavy set Caucasian high school girl, Tracy, advocates
The roles African Americans play on television are not satisfactory. Though the roles have changed during the development of television, the current relationship is not representative of true African American people or their lifestyles. The question is how do the past roles African Americans play in television sitcoms compare to the current roles? How does this affect society’s perception of the African American in American culture? Throughout the history of television the roles and the representation of African Americans has developed with the changing cultural conditions. However, the representation of African American’s has not fully simulated into today’s society. What the average citizen views on his or her television does not accurately portray the African American’s influence on America.
In cotemporary America, cultural text such as films form many conceptions of race, gender and social for the people who watch them. This paper argues four Key and Peele skits “Substitute Teacher”, “I Said B*tch”, “Phone Call” and “Proud Thug” to challenge and complicate gender norms by highlighting the ways in which gender, race and class are performed in public and private settings. When you critically examine these texts there are stereotypes that underlay the film that are obvious, but are portrayed as comical. The intersectionality between gender, race and class are often addressed in many of these short skits. Often the films or skits engage in patriarchy and the main characters are men. In order to further examine the topic first we must address intersecionality, patriarchy, poverty, and class to grasp a better understanding.
Throughout the decades, women’s fashion has evolved many times, each time creating a fashion stamp unique to that particular decade. One thing has remained the same and managed to remain a part of every era: hairspray. It is a cosmetic product that is meant to hold hair in its place. A lot of products we use today are may have unseen consequences to daily usage. A product I use almost daily is hairspray. I always knew hairspray was bad for the environment because of the aerosol that was in them would break down the ozone layer, so I began to look at a specific hairspray that I use just about every morning and night, Sebastian Shaper Hairspray, Regular, Styling Mist for Hold & Control. This specific Sebastian Hairspray product is not only bad for the environment; it is also bad for humans and animals.
There are different ideas and themes covered in musical performances in this modern society, for example war and love in Miss Saigon, feminism in Mamma Mia! and racial issues in Porgy and Bess. In the musical film Hairspray, there are more interesting ideas in the plot so I would like to discuss the musical further in this piece of work. Hairspray was an American musical film in 2007, it was a adaptation from a musical and comedy in 2002 and 1988 respectively. There were several changes in the 2007 film, for example some characters in the older versions did not appear in the 2007 version, and some songs changed order for the plot. The new version of this musical received a lot of positive reviews from public, in a review from BBC Movies the rating of the film was quite high. For instance, the reviewer gave full marks for the musical and the user of the website gave 4.5 marks in average out of 5 (Papamichael, 2007). The general idea of this musical film was about a fat girl chase for her dream in the American society in the 1960s, there were racial issues in the plot as well. In this piece of work, comparison between stage and film version, features of the musical performance from different scenes in the film will be illustrated and I will talk about the theme and symbols in this movie as well.
Throughout the years we see different trends, styles, and taste's that apply to what society accepts as attractive at their moment. Some people choose more conservative looks whereas other generations were far more liberal in their way of dressing and styling their hair. In order to understand why people would choose certain hairstyles in the 1980's it is important to know more about that year for example,who were the top celebrities or other famous people that had a major influence on society during that time. We know that most fashion and hair trends come from artists in the music industry because they play a major role in everyone's life. People will listen to their music and watch their music videos which will serve as
The musical Hairspray started off as movie in 1988 written by John Waters and in 2003 was turned into Broadway show and then was re created into a movie again in 2007. Hairspray Is set in the 1960’s in Baltimore and is about a girl called Tracey Turnblad who doesn’t fit into the society social norm. Tracey is an overweight teenager trying to get her dream role to dance on the corny Collins show and the hope to meet her crush who is the popular and lead dancer Link. Tracey has to overcome being rejected to being on the show as she doesn’t have to right look for television. Tracy ends up detention at school and learns a whole new style of dancing from the black students who dance ‘once a month of negro day’ on the corny Collins show, and builds friendships and uses her new moves to win a spot on the show. She now has a constant battle of feeling like she doesn’t belong as lead dancer Amber and Amber’s mother make it hard for her and try to ruin her role on the show as there is a chance Tracey could take the crown off Amber for miss teen Baltimore. Tracey then causes trouble because she can’t understand why black and white people can’t dance altogether on television. She then leads a protest and stands up with the black people and fights for integration on television and daily life. As it looks like Amber is going to win the title Tracey comes in to claim victory and dances for all races and for every kind of person and the black and white all dance together starting a new chapter of beginning as equals.
... time retain one outstanding quality---they are empowering, first in how much power they give to the youth of that time. These are films for them and about them. They reflect their everyday experiences or those they long to have, with the best films knowing exactly what their young audiences want to see on screen and never judging them for it because the mistakes, struggles, and imperfections of young adulthood are timeless too. Second, coming-of-age films also give so much back to young audiences and empower them. These films’ characters have taught audiences what to do, how to feel, and essentially given them the tools by which to navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood and how to make it as painless as possible. As ‘coming-of-age’ changes or stays the same in meaning over time, youth culture, as a genre and subject, will remain a necessity in film.
There have been many twists and turns in the ways in which the black experience was represented in mainstream America cinema. But the repetition of stereotypical figures, drawn from ‘slavery days’ has never entirely disappeared (Hall, 1997). A Stereotype can be described as a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing (Oxford University Press, 2014) and can affect the target by getting hold of a few simple, vivid, memorable, easily grouped and widely recognised characteristic, about a person and reduce everything to the specific traits and exaggerate them (Hall, 1997). One of the most well-known stereotype has to be the ‘Black-stereotype’ which can be seen in all media productions ranging from news, film, music videos, reality television and other programming and forms of entertainment. Beginning around 1830, the history of African-Americans is a centuries old struggle against oppression and discrimination and because of these major issues, popular representations of racial ‘difference’ during slavery, has caused two main themes that are seen as blackface stereotypes today.