Hey Mumma Welcome To the
60s!
The 2007 film adaptation of
the hit Broadway musical and original 1988 film, Hairspray, is a film that’s firmly
rooted within 1960s America. The film offers both a mature yet simplistic way
of understanding racism today. The story’s feel-good conclusion implies that colour-blindness
is the silver bullet that ends racial discrimination that good intentions and
individual acts of bravery are enough to bring about harmony. 1
The film follows the life of overweight teen, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky).
She dreams of being on local TV music show ‘The Corny Collins Show’ and falling
in love with heartthrob Link Larkin (Zac Efron). When the show announces its
hosting auditions for a new cast member, Tracy is thrilled.
She is casted, much to
this dismay of the choreographer Velma Van Tussle (Michelle Pfieffer) who feels
Tracy doesn’t fit in due to her weight. She also is strongly against “Negro
Day”, which allowed the show to have the black dancers broadcasted once a
month, but they are completely segregated from the other white dancers.
The idea of ‘Negro Day’ was an attitude that was accepted back in the
60’s, and ‘The Corny Collins Show’ which is actually a fictionalized
version of real life 1960’s Baltimore TV show ‘ The Buddy Deane Show’, shows a
much more comical and upbeat version of events. The key differences between the
two shows was that ‘The Corny Collins Show’ eventually integrates successfully,
while "The Buddy Deane Show" was cancelled suddenly in January 1964.
The dance show was ‘the victim of an 'insoluble' integration problem’ said host
Deane, who died in July at 78.2
Race in America that’s portrayed within Hairspray suggests that racism within
the film is more of an issue in how people’s attitudes are, rather than
policies and laws influencing people. Through the musical, the teens sing and
dance together to break the mould of segregation and overlook the issues of
racism. Velma Von Tussle, whose character was quite vocally prejudice, was in
fact the only character who seemed to have these views, thus allowing the other
white characters to remain innocent spectators to what was happening around
them with the discrimination the black teens faced. The film proposes the
understanding for the viewers, that the idea of racism is wrong and allows them
to dismiss the bigotry themes within the film, and conclude that the right way
of life is that black and white people should not be segregated and live
separate lives. The film does this without going into too much depth and detail
about the consequences of disobeying segregation, which would have happened in
the real world.
However the sparkle and happy ending that
happens in Hairspray, is a more
upbeat way of ending a film, that makes you as a viewer feel more comfortable
when you switch off your TV, because lets face it, who would want to see Zac
Efron flung in jail for protesting and standing up for the civil rights
movement? The reality of the film Hairspray
gives an undertone that it is okay to be who you are and love yourself,
despite what size, race or gender you actually are.
“'The Corny Collins Show' is . . . now and
forevermore . . . officially integrated!”
1 Delmont, M. (2017). 'Hairspray'
Is a Revealing Portrayal of Racism in America. (online) The Atlantic.
2 Wexler, L. and Wexler, L.
(2003). The Messy Truth of The Real 'Hairspray'. (online) Washington Post.
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