Hairspray (2007)

Hairspray (2007)

Hairspray is a film adaptation of a musical of the same name which follows the life of a high school girl, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky), in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1960’s. Tracy is desperate to dance on television and thus earns herself a place on The Corny Collins Show, soon becoming one of the show’s best dancers, much to the dismay of the show’s producer Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer). Velma makes it her mission to derail Tracy’s popularity as the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant approaches by highlighting Tracy’s size and attempting to sleep with Tracy’s father, Wilbur (Cristopher Walken).

Social commentary in the narrative is based on racial inequality; as everyone knows, the 1960’s was a turning period for Martin Luther King, Malcom X and their followers in the quest for equal rights. Riots, marches and other forms of protests all took place countless times within the decade, arguably the most famous of which was Selma in 1964. Tracy befriends some black students in detention and they appreciate each other’s passion for dancing. However, her new friends are only permitted to dance on The Corny Collins Show once a month on “Negro Day”. Velma characterises the racist attitudes of many people in America at the time by threatening to cancel “Negro Day” altogether, claiming black people should not be broadcast on television at all. Towards the film’s conclusion is it Tracy’s black friends Seaweed Stubbs (Elijah Kelley), Maybelle Stubbs (Queen Latifah) and Little Inez Stubbs (Taylor Parks) who steal the limelight from Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow) during the live broadcast of Miss Teenage Hairspray.

In the finale song, “You Can’t Stop The Beat”, Little Inez Stubbs is crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray and Corny Collins announces that the once segregated dance show will host a company of both black and white dancers daily. Throughout the movie characters voice the popularisation of “mixing the kids together”, implying that racist views towards the continuation of segregation at this time were beginning to end.

The change in popular attitudes are personified in Hairspray through Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad, who is comically portrayed by John Travolta in drag. Towards the beginning of the movie Edna voices her qualms with Tracy watching The Corny Collins Show and is thus concerned when she earns a place on the show. Furthermore, it is revealed that Edna has not been outside since she was “a size 10” in the song “Welcome to The Sixties”. However, upon meeting Maybelle she relaxes her attitudes towards the modern world by joining the Stubbs family for a buffet; she is no longer afraid of change. Edna shines towards the end of the movie as she dances at the Miss Teenage Hairspray pageant and fully displays that all her previous prejudices have dissolved.