How race is represented in Hairspray (2007)

How race is represented in Hairspray (2007)

The 2007 film Hairspray is set in 1962 Baltimore and features Tracy Turnblad and her high school classmates. Tracy dreams of being famous and sets out to become a dancer on The Corny Collins Show. Her dreams are in reach when she skips school to audition for the show, but she is laughed at for her size and expressing an interest in “integration” and she is sent away. She is then put in detention for skipping class.

It is in detention that Tracy meets Seaweed Stubbs and the other black kids who are dancers on The Corny Collins show once a month on ‘Negro Day’. Tracy befriends the black students and learns of the unfair way that they are treated by the school and the show’s station manager because of their skin colour. Seaweed sings to Tracy about segregation stating that “the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice” and therefore suggesting black people have more to offer than white. Tracy never sees a difference between herself and them and when others try and discourage her from hanging out with Seaweed she defies them.

Tracy earns herself a spot as a dancer of The Corny Collins Show when the show’s host visits her school dance and sees the dance moves that Seaweed has taught her. The station manager is outraged at this decision and says “we must steer kids in the white direction” and believes Tracy’s dancing is inappropriate for the show.

Figure 1. Tracy and the protesters.

When the station manager threatens to cancel ‘Negro Day’ due to Tracy’s rising popularity, Tracy decides to protest along with her new friends. They stage a protest with signs and candles but no violence. They chant “2, 4, 6, 8 TV’s gotta integrate” and head towards the station. They are met by police and after an officer ignores Tracy she hits him on the head with her sign. She did not intend to be violent she simply wanted the officer to pay attention to her but the police use this as an excuse to arrest all of those involved in the protest.

Another way attitudes towards race are explored within Hairspray is through the romantic relationship between Seaweed and Tracy’s best friend Penny. Penny’s Mother is extremely religious and when she discovers Penny had attempted to hide a now fugitive Tracy she ties Penny to her bed. Seaweed comes to rescue Penny and they admit their feelings for each other. Penny says she was worried “the colours of our skin might keep us apart” but Seaweed reassures her.

Despite demonstrating no violence, the black characters are arrested and treated as criminals. After their protest is unsuccessful, Tracy and her friends plan a surprise for the Miss Teenage Hairspray competition in which Tracy is nominated.

Figure 2. Seaweed and Penny.

The competition is well under way and it looks like the main white dancer from The Corny Collins Show, Amber, has won until Tracy makes a surprise entrance. She appears in a black and white checked dress and gives an incredible performance. Penny announces that she “is now a checkerboard chick” and kisses Seaweed on air, showing she is not ashamed of their interracial relationship. Tracy’s dress symbolises her attitudes towards integration and during her performance she is joined by Seaweed’s sister Little Inez who loves to dance.

The phone lines go crazy and Little Inez is voted the winner of Miss Teenage Hairspray, which results in the host announcing that the show is “now and forevermore officially integrated” which everyone is delighted by. The dancers from ‘Negro Day’ merge with the regular dancers and the station manager is fired, meaning equality and happiness have been achieved. Tracy has used “her position of relative privilege to force other white people to listen to what the black leads are saying”[1]. All of the kids join together to sing “tomorrow is a brand new day and it don’t know white from black” in the films finale which shows how attitudes have positively changed throughout the film and that they plan to remain integrated in the future.

Figure 3. The moment Little Inez is crowned Miss Teenage Hairspray.

Bibliography

Delmont, M. (2017). 'Hairspray' Is a Revealing Portrayal of Racism in America. [online] The Atlantic. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/12/hairsprays-revealing-portrayal-of-racism-in-america/509741/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].

Kathleen, J. (2017). Hairspray and Race, Gender, Size, and Class. [online] First Sight Second Thoughts. Available at: http://www.firstsightsecondthoughts.net/?p=362 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].

Filmography

Hairspray. (2007). [DVD] Directed by A. Shankman. New Line Cinema.

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[1] Kathleen, J. (2017). Hairspray and Race, Gender, Size, and Class. [online] First Sight Second Thoughts. Available at: http://www.firstsightsecondthoughts.net/?p=362 [Accessed 23 Nov. 2017].