hairspray racism essay

Hairspray ’s Revealing Portrayal of Racism in America

The 1988 John Waters film, newly adapted into an NBC live musical, presents a view of racial discrimination that’s by turns naïve and enlightening.

In December 1963, producers at Baltimore’s WJZ-TV cancelled the Buddy Deane Show rather than integrate the popular teen dance program. This move would have been a footnote in the annals of television if not for the director and Baltimore native John Waters, whose 1988 film Hairspray offered up an alternate history, with its fictional Corny Collins Show and rose-tinted, let’s-all-dance-together ending . Hairspray , which started as a camp film with a modest $2.7 million budget, grew into a popular and commercially successful Broadway musical and movie. On Wednesday, NBC is broadcasting Hairspray Live! as its newest live-television musical adaptation.

Hairspray is firmly rooted in 1960s America, but it offers both sophisticated and (tellingly) simplistic ways of understanding racism today. On the one hand, the story’s feel-good conclusion implies that colorblindness is the silver bullet that ends racial discrimination, that good intentions and individual acts of bravery are enough to bring about harmony. On the other, Hairspray Live! has the chance to resurface a forgotten history of how discrimination in pop culture intimately shaped the lives of young people 50 years ago.

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From 1957 to 1963, only white teens were allowed to attend the weekday broadcasts of the Buddy Deane Show, with the exception of one Monday each month when black teenagers filled the studio (the so-called “Black Monday”). In 1963, the Civic Interest Group, an student integrationist group founded at Morgan State University, challenged this policy by obtaining tickets for black and white teens to attend the show on a day reserved for black teenagers. After a surprise interracial broadcast, WJZ-TV received bomb and arson threats, hate mail, and complaints from white parents. Facing controversy over the possibility of more integrated broadcasts, the station canceled the program.

A devoted fan of the Buddy Deane Show , Waters drew on this history to write and direct the original film version of Hairspray . Unlike the tensions that followed the real integration of the Buddy Deane Show , Waters’s Hairspray ends with the protesters triumphing. The television news reporter covering the Corny Collins Show in the film sums up the climactic scene: “You’re seeing history being made today. Black and white together on local TV. The Corny Collins Show is now integrated!” Waters himself commented on the film’s revisionist history, “I gave it a happy ending that it didn’t have.”

Hairspray ’s happy ending gave the story an arc that appealed to Broadway and Hollywood producers. NBC’s Hairspray Live! maintains the basic of Waters’s story, but like the Broadway version and musical film, it features more than a dozen songs that help to convey the hopeful narrative. “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” for example, is an upbeat dance number that resolves the issue of segregation on the Corny Collins Show . “What’s great about the choreography in [“You Can’t Stop the Beat”] is that, subtly, the black dancers and the white dancers have the same choreography,” the executive producer Neil Meron said in the DVD commentary for the 2007 film. “All the choreography in the movie prior to this was segregated by race, and now it’s all together, which is a very, very subtle reference to the theme of this movie.”

This sentiment carries through to the song’s lyrics. Motormouth Maybelle, a fictional black deejay and civil-rights activist played in the NBC version by Jennifer Hudson, sings: “You can’t stop today as it comes speeding down the track / Child, yesterday is history and it’s never coming back / ’Cause tomorrow is a brand new day and it don’t know white from black.” In the film’s narrative, this utopian vision of a colorblind future solves the problem of segregation and racial injustice.

The Hairspray Live! producers hope this story of interracial unity will be appealing to television audiences in 2016. “People already were excited about it, but after the election they were saying, ‘Boy, do we need this now,’” Meron said while promoting the new television musical.  With the nation in a “divisive place,” he argued, viewers are looking for entertainment “that can be really healing.” The New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani saw a similar dynamic at play when Hairspray , the musical, debuting shortly after 9/11, won over fans: “Hollywood and Broadway producers have decided [what] Americans want is nostalgia—the logic being that people in times of trouble will gravitate toward comfort entertainment that reminds them of simpler, happier times [such as] … the candy-colored Broadway musical Hairspray .’”

Hairspray ’s history of race in America suggests that racism is an issue of attitudes rather than of policies. In its version of 1960s Baltimore, teenagers sing and dance their way past race. The story also locates racial prejudice in a single character, Velma Von Tussle (played in the live musical by Kristin Chenoweth), which enables the other white characters to remain largely innocent bystanders to the discrimination faced by the program’s black teenagers. It suggests a way of understanding race that allows viewers to disavow bigotry—framed in the story as the belief that white and black Americans should live in separate spheres—without acknowledging, confronting, or seeking to overturn the actual structures of discrimination. This sort of nearsighted, if not disingenuous, framing persists today, whether in affluent parents in New York City insisting their opposition to school rezoning proposals is not about race, or in arguments suggesting that the best way to address racism is to stop accusing people of being “racists.”

Still, as an historian of the television era that Hairspray so lovingly recreates, I believe the story also presents a more nuanced vision of how popular culture helped to educate white and black teenagers about racial hierarchies. Seeing Hairspray as more than simply a post-racial American fantasy requires taking the story’s teen dance show setting seriously. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to what it meant for young black people to be excluded from entertainment spaces like the Buddy Deane Show . In a long list of reasons why “we find it difficult to wait” for freedom, King writes:

When you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six year old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky … then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait.

King’s mention of “Funtown” is preceded by references to lynch mobs, police brutality, and the “airtight cage of poverty,” and followed by references to hotel segregation and racial slurs. The “Funtown” reference is powerful because it captures one of the ways that Jim Crow segregation and white supremacy played out for children and teenagers. For many young people, being blocked from swimming pools, skating rinks, or dance shows like the Buddy Deane Show would be one of their first exposures to what King calls the feeling of “forever fighting a degenerating sense of ‘nobodiness.’”

The Buddy Deane Show was a highly visible regional program that asserted a racially segregated public culture. And it was not unique: Dick Reid’s Record Hop in Charleston, West Virginia; Ginny Pace’s Saturday Hop in Houston, Texas; John Dixon’s Dixon on Disc in Mobile, Alabama; Bill Sanders’s show in Chattanooga, Tennessee; Dewey Phillips’s Pop Shop in Memphis, Tennessee; and Chuck Allen’s Teen Tempo in Jackson, Mississippi, were all segregated dance shows. In Little Rock, white teens went from protesting integration at Central High School to dancing in the afternoon on Steve’s Show . Nationally, American Bandstand blocked black teens from entering the studio during its years in Philadelphia, despite host Dick Clark’s claims to the contrary. Every weekday afternoon, in each of these broadcast markets, these shows presented images of exclusively white dancers and rendered black youth as second-class teenagers. This discrimination was explicitly or tacitly supported by an array of advertisers, television stations, music producers, city authorities, and federal communications officials.

By representing this reality—in bubble-gum, technicolor clarity— Hairspray does something that pure documentation, at times, can’t: It makes a difficult part of a nation’s history accessible (and entertaining) to millions of viewers. Hairspray encourages its audience to take the fight to integrate a teenage TV show seriously, but it does so through songs, dances, and costumes that celebrate and satirize the ’60s. The film’s executive producer Craig Zadan argued that what makes Hairspray work is, “you never feel like we’re on a soap box, or we’re preaching to you, or we’re saying this is a lesson you need to learn ... and yet, hopefully, you come away from it with something serious to talk about afterwards.” There is no guarantee that viewers will take up these discussions, but Hairspray offers plenty of material for those who choose to do so.

Perhaps the last thing 2016 needs is a star-studded, light-hearted musical endorsement of colorblindness—though, viewed holistically, Hairspray is more than that. Its fairly neat, commercialized, and revisionist portrayal of 1960s Baltimore sharply contrasts with the current messy, national discussion of identity politics—a disjunction that could prompt new audiences to reevaluate their assumptions about how racism operates. But Hairspray also resonates for at least one of the same reasons it did in the ’80s: It shows how seemingly innocent moments in popular culture were also sites of struggle over who was worthy of being a counted as a somebody in America.

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Review: In 'Hairspray,' a celebration of youth and a guileless era

By A.O. Scott

• July 19, 2007

Hairspray Directed by Adam Shankman (US)

That "Hairspray" is good-hearted is no surprise. Adam Shankman's film, lovingly adapted from the Broadway musical, preserves the inclusive, celebratory spirit of John Waters's 1988 movie, in which bigger-boned, darker-skinned and otherwise different folk take exuberant revenge on the bigots and the squares who conspire to keep them down. The surprise may be that this "Hairspray," stuffed with shiny showstoppers, Kennedy-era Baltimore beehives and a heavily padded John Travolta in drag, is actually good.

Appropriately enough for a movie with such a democratic sensibility, there is plenty of credit to go around. Shankman, drawing on long experience as a choreographer, avoids the kind of vulgar overstatement that so often turns the joy of live musical theater into torment at the multiplex. The songs, by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, are usually adequate, occasionally inspired and only rarely inane. And they are sung with impeccable diction and unimpeachable conviction by a lively young cast that includes Nikki Blonsky, Amanda Bynes, Zac Efron and the phenomenally talented Elijah Kelley.

Of course there are better-known, more-seasoned performers on hand as well, notably Queen Latifah, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken and Travolta. But "Hairspray" is fundamentally a story about being young — about the triumph of youth culture, about the optimistic, possibly dated belief that the future will improve on the present — and its heart is very much with its teenage heroes and the fresh-faced actors who play them.

Blonsky, a ball of happy, mischievous energy, is Tracy Turnblad, a hefty Baltimore high school student whose dream is to dance with the city's most telegenic teeny-boppers on "The Corny Collins Show." Bynes plays Penny Pingleton, Tracy's timid best friend, whose prim mother (Allison Janney) won't even let Penny watch the show, much less appear on it. Pingleton can scarcely imagine that her daughter will eventually fall for Seaweed ( Kelley), part of a group of black kids whom Tracy befriends in the detention hall after school.

As Penny and Seaweed test the taboo against interracial romance, Tracy and Link Larkin ( Efron), a "Corny Collins" dreamboat, take on the tyranny of slenderness. That "Hairspray" cheerfully conflates racial prejudice with fat-phobia is the measure of its guileless, deliberately simplified politics. Upholding both forms of discrimination is Velma Von Tussle ( Pfeiffer), a television station executive who uses "The Corny Collins Show" — against the wishes of Corny (James Marsden) himself — as a way of maintaining the color line and promoting the celebrity of her blond, smiley daughter, Amber (Brittany Snow).

"Hairspray" does not seriously propose that Tracy and her new African-American friends face equivalent forms of injustice. But it does make the solidarity between them feel like an utterly natural, intuitive response to the meanness and arrogance of their common enemies. "Welcome to the '60s," Tracy sings to her mother, conjuring up the New Frontier hopefulness of that decade's early years rather than the violence and paranoia of its denouement.

In freezing history at a moment of high possibility — a moment whose glorious popular culture encompasses "West Side Story" and the Twist, early Motown and Phil Spector's Wall of Sound — "Hairspray" is at once knowingly corny and unabashedly utopian. On "The Corny Collins Show" Seaweed and his friends are relegated to a once-a-month Negro Day, presided over by Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah). Tracy envisions a future when, as she puts it, "every day is Negro Day."

What is missing from "Hairspray" is anything beyond the faintest whisper of camp. The original "Hairspray" may have been Waters's most wholesome, least naughty film, but there was no containing the volcanic audacity of Divine, who created the role of Edna Turnblad. Divine, who was born Harris Glen Milstead and who died shortly after the first "Hairspray" was released, belonged to an era when drag performance still carried more than a touch of the louche and the dangerous, and was one of the artists who helped push it into the cultural mainstream.

Perhaps wisely Travolta does not try to duplicate the outsize, deliberately grotesque theatricality of Divine's performance or to mimic the Mermanesque extravagance of Harvey Fierstein's Broadway turn, choosing instead to tackle the role of Edna as an acting challenge. The odd result is that she becomes the most realistic, least stereotypical character in the film, and the only one who speaks in a recognizable (if not always convincing) Baltimore accent. ("Ahm tryna orn," she complains when she's trying to iron.)

A shy, unsophisticated, working-class woman, Edna is ashamed of her physical size even as she seems to hide inside it, as if seeking protection from the noise and indignity of the world outside. It is Tracy who pulls her out of her shell, and without entirely letting go of Edna's timidity, Travolta explores the exhibitionistic and sensual sides of her personality.

Walken's gallantry in the role of Edna's devoted husband, Wilbur, is unforced and disarmingly sincere, and their duet, "(You're) Timeless to Me," is one of the film's musical high points. Another is "Without Love," in which the two young couples express their yearning with the help of some ingenious and amusing special effects.

There are, to be sure, less thrilling moments, and stretches in which the pacing falters. But the overall mood of "Hairspray" is so joyful, so full of unforced enthusiasm, that only the most ferocious cynic could resist it. It imagines a world where no one is an outsider and no one is a square, and invites everyone in. How can you refuse?

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Rallies and Musical Numbers: Hairspray Unpacks Racism in The 1960s

The multifaceted musical represents america in the 1960s and the battle against bigotry as an ensemble cast portrays how to fight for the limelight..

Hairspray (2007)

The multifaceted musical represents America in the 1960s and the battle against bigotry in media as an ensemble cast portrays how to fight for the limelight.

The 2007 film Hairspray gives viewers a good glimpse of America during the 1960s, a time period in which racial segregation was practiced almost everywhere in the country. Jim Crow laws were tragically implemented in the Southern United States, mandating that black people and white people must be kept apart. In addition, the time period was also significant for other social and political movements, driving civil rights advocates to fight for equality for all ethnic groups. The Corny Collins Show that Tracy and Penny watch together after school is a symbol of the growing popular culture and political trends that evolved in America during that decade.

Hairspray takes place in Baltimore, Maryland, 1962, as evidenced by old-fashioned cars parked on the streets and tall apartment buildings and businesses positioned close to each other. Many women who played the characters in the film and who are stars on The Corny Collins Show have elegant hairstyles that capture the fashion of the 1960s. Tracy’s hairstyle is short with big flips at the end, a relatable look to viewers as it’s still popular today. In general, the colorful aesthetics and many of the vibrant characters help keep  Hairspray  fun without seeming “dated.”

The Corny Collins Show

The Corny Collins Show represents the growth and popularity of DJs, dance, music, film, and television. The show is broadcast on TV in black-and-white, lacking color. Teenagers who lived in the 1960s like Tracy and Penny often spent hours watching these programs and copying dance moves to embrace the rise of popular culture. Tracy’s dream of being on the show resembles the normal adolescent’s dreams of becoming famous and known by everyone.

Becoming recognizable overnight seemed possible during this decade because of new artists entering the scene like Bob Dylan and The Beatles, along with the events that captured national attention, like the U.S. Civil Rights Movement and the assassination of U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Almost any event or person seemed primed for massive coverage, and rising to stardom was a mixture of luck and timing.

If viewers can look closely on The Corny Collins Show , during “N—- Day” there is a divider that separates the blacks from the whites; also, “N—- Day” is only held on the show once a month. These conditions represent how black people were treated unfairly and were forced into situations where white people viewed them as having low status, underscoring the casual but damaging racism of the 1960s.

The Protest

When Velma, the antagonist, cancels “N—- Day”, Tracy, who is one of the few white characters that supports the black people’s rights, suggests they form a march in protest. The march mirrors acts of resistance in the U.S. Civil Rights Movement, where the black people come together as a unified force, holding up picket signs demanding an end to segregation. Many of the police officers who form a blockade against the protesters are white. The police officers who tried to stop the integration movement in Hairspray also symbolize the police officers who placed black people under arrest for protests in the 1960s. When Tracy is accused of assaulting a police officer, this symbolizes the protectors of white supremacy having power over both black people and any any allies supporting the protests.

Tracy risks her privilege of being on  The Corny Collins Show so she can join the protests and fight for a better future. The song “I Know Where I’ve Been”, sung by Queen Latifah, gives viewers a look at past struggles and future resolutions. As Queen Latifah sings, those in her black community march with picket signs as Tracy walks alongside them.

The march that Tracy participates with the black people serves to represent multiple protests and boycotts black Americans participated in to fight for racial equality.

Racist Characters

Velma is an effective antagonist because she is a white woman who opposes the civil rights of black people and supports the racism of her era. Her white skin, blonde hair and blue eyes all showcase the white privilege and standards of beauty that she possesses. She is also the mother of Amber, one of Tracy’s classmates from her high school. What makes her a true villain is her racist and sizeist personality; she cancels “N—- Day” on The Corny Collins Show just to keep the whites in the spotlight. Velma is an archetype representing the whites’ support of racial segregation because in the 1960s; many whites who enjoyed more success, privilege, and rights than blacks wanted to closely guard all they had. By keeping  The Corny Collins Show  segregated, Velma unfairly preserves the racist status quo.

Penny’s mother, Prudy, is also a highly racist character. She tries to control Penny in all aspects of Penny’s life, including forbidding her to interact with black people and demanding she only socialize with whites. Prudy goes to many extremes to keep Penny from expanding her horizons and learning from others. In one shocking scene, she literally ties Penny to her bed. However, with the help of friends, Penny is able to escape her racist mother’s grasp and appear on The Corny Collins Show, going on to befriend people other than just whites.

Hairspray Adaptations

The 2007 version of Hairspray is based off of the original 1998 film and the 2002 Broadway musical. While the 1988 Hairspray film had become a cult classic, the 2007 film is based off of the 2002 musical. Many viewers in America as well as other countries praised the 2007 Hairspray movie because of its 1960s-style dance music and rhythm and blues. Beyond even that, the movie provided viewers in present-day America an expansive picture of racism back in the 1960s. The 2007 movie presented a lot of historical lessons in terms of the political views and entertainment of America decades ago. In addition, the film has strong African-American representation; Inez Stubbs and Seaweed J. Stubbs are key characters seen on TV in The Corny Collins Show , centering black performers in the entertainment world. Racism in the 1960s is a trending topic that people even today are discussing, and these characters help to understand the challenge of pursuing show business as  black entertainers.

The legacy of Hairspray continues with its 2016 adaptation, a television special titled Hairspray Live! that aired on the NBC television network. Viewers can continue to reflect on the themes of racism in the 1960s; Hairspray Live! includes African American cast members who play members of the Stubbs family, key players in the Hairspray franchise. Other central elements of Hairspray include the cast members using actual hairspray to keep their hairdos in place and wearing eye-catching suits and dresses, adding another dash of 1960s authenticity. By diving into the  Hairspray world, viewers can deeply engage with the troubles of segregation and identify racist policies today.

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ID ); ?> --> A Note from the Dramaturg: Hairspray

By Laura London Waringer

When director and provocateur John Waters first conceived of his now-cult classic 1988 film Hairspray , he had no idea it would live on in three subsequent versions: the Tony Award-winning 2002 Broadway musical, the 2007 film adaptation of the stage show, and a 2016 live broadcast television production of the musical. Hairspray has been translated to every entertainment medium, and there are many reasons its story is so beloved and worthy of its many iterations. The story’s core messages of self-love, acceptance, and social activism continue to resonate across generations.

Set in 1962, Hairspray reflects a time in American history that lived on the precipice of the greatest wave of social change in the 20 th century. The post-war prosperity of the 1950s propelled millions of Americans into the middle class. By the mid-1960s most working-class families could afford a car and a home fully equipped with modern appliances that included the television, which brought the outside world and its influences into every living room. The idealism and sterile conformity of the 1950s gave way to a generation gap, with the children of this Greatest Generation, later dubbed Baby Boomers, coming of age and rebelling against their parents’ traditional values. This led to the true birth of teenage culture, where American youth pioneered ways of expressing their identities through their choices in music, fashion, and yes, even hairstyles.

Hairspray’s outsider ingenue Tracy Turnblad is a relatable teenager navigating a society that judges her based on her size and shape who refuses to accept limitations based on labels. With her plucky can-do attitude and natural dance ability, Tracy is able to break the mold and fulfill her dream of dancing on The Corny Collins Show , but only then does she realize the breadth of injustice and inequality faced by her African-American friends, who are barred from the show by the laws of systemic racism. Black music provided the soundtrack and inspired the dance trends for Corny Collins’ “nicest kids in town,” but black faces were nowhere to be seen on screen. Their world’s social order, just like TV, is confined to a black and white binary. Determined to fight for a technicolor utopia, Tracy finds herself in the center of the Civil Rights Movement, marching through the streets of Baltimore to integrate the program. She and her friends encounter adversity including police brutality and bigotry but persevere until they create a space where everyone who wants to dance is given the opportunity of freedom and representation.

Though commonly considered a feel-good period piece, Hairspray has much to teach our current moment about the power of active allyship, positive self-image, open-mindedness and respect for people of all identities. With its plus-sized heroine, emphasis on racial equality, and a leading female character (Edna) conceived to be performed by a cross-dressed male, Hairspray highlights the ways in which our popular culture tends to exclude or marginalize those who exist outside of the white cisgender mainstream. The show is enjoyable and infectiously cheerful but serves as a reminder that “dancing together” remains an ongoing project; one that requires action, awareness, and a bit of Tracy’s relentless optimism. Hairspray leaves us tapping our toes and its final words challenge us to be the change we wish to see in the world: Let’s dance!

Laura London Waringer  is a third year Theatre Studies doctoral student, originally hailing from New York City. She earned her MFA in musical theatre from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London. An accomplished actress, writer, and producer, she also holds a dual BFA in drama and journalism from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Her research interests include race and gender representations in musical theatre, musical interpretations of historic events and the evolution of American musical theatre training. She has presented her work at the Comparative Drama, ATHE and Song, Stage and Screen conferences. Laura is a contributing scholar for the books Hamilton: History, Hip-Hop and Politics: Essays on the Afterbirth of a Nation, Musicals at the Margins and Queen Mothers: Articulating the Spirit of Black Women Teacher-Leaders , all due for publication in 2018.

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Movie Review: Hairspray (2007)

• General Disdain
• Movie Reviews
• 5 responses
• --> July 26, 2007

Hairspray is an updated compilation of the John Waters classically campy film and the award winning Broadway musical (both of the same name). And while I very much liked the original (at least what I can recall of it), I had my reservations about the remake. That’s because remakes usually suck. Thankfully, from the moment the movie opened those fears were laid to rest.

The movie takes place in a segregated Baltimore in the 1960’s. It gets things moving with an upbeat song and dance number performed by our, oh so chunky heroine, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky). She’s a perky teenager with dreams of dancing on The Corny Collin’s Dance Show, hosted by none other than Corny Collins (James Marsden, “ X-Men 3 – The Last Stand ”). She’s got a few things going against her though — she’s fat; her mother Edna (John Travolta, “ Wild Hogs ”) has a major hang-up about her own weight and doesn’t want her daughter ridiculed; and there’s a ruthless and conniving producer Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer, “ I Could Never Be Your Woman ”) standing in her way.

Obstacles be damned though. Tracy futilely tries out for the show anyway. Aside from being made fun of by the current crop of dancers, of which Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow, “ The Pacifier ”) leads, she gets herself detention for skipping class. Who knew detention could be so worthwhile, as while she is there, she copies the dance styles of Seaweed J. Stubbs (Elijah Kelley) and other black classmates. Armed with new found confidence and a helping hand from Link Larkin (Zac Efron, “High School Musical”), she manages to get noticed and added to the dancer roster. From her new vantage point she looks to enact change.

I’ll agree that on the surface Hairspray can appear to just be a whimsical teenage musical, but underneath I can assure you, it is actually a much deeper feature. It’s really about triumph over adversity. It’s about destroying ill-founded mores. Tracy, breaks down the stigma that fat folks can’t be beautiful (aren’t we all sexy things beneath the skin?). She also manages to bust through the walls her mother has erected — essentially freeing her from her weight induced prison. Later in the movie, she stands along side Motormouth Maybelle (Queen Latifah, “Last Holiday”) to call for racial equality and seamless integration on the dance show.

Aside from some very entertaining song and dance routines the best part of the movie is the casting. John Travolta in drag was the most intriguing. I’m not entirely sure what made the director, Adam Shankman, decide on Travolta, but the decision was brilliant. He’s perfect for the part and he is clearly having the time of his life doing it. Placing a complete unknown in the lead part was another interesting decision that works flawlessly. Nikki Blonsky carries herself like a seasoned professional. It was also great to see Christopher Walken (“ Wedding Crashers ”) — 90% of what he touches is gold.

The only detracting point of the movie is there are a few scenes that seemed out of place and slowed the flow of the movie to a molasses flow. Most notably, the lovey-dovey number between Tracy’s parents was a tad grating. Also, the final act, while entertaining, was drawn out ten minutes too long. Basically, I’m saying a 110+ minute movie shouldn’t have hit the 90 minute mark.

I’m also instructing all the guys being asked to see Hairspray to suck it up. Yeah, you won’t win any cool points with your drinking buddies if they find out you’ve gone to see it, but what you’ll win from your significant other you can’t put a value on. Trust me, she’ll (or he’ll) love you long time for the sacrifice. Besides, I actually believe you’ll come out of the theaters a happier person.

Tagged: competition , dancer , high school , racism , relationship

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

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'Movie Review: Hairspray (2007)' have 5 comments

July 27, 2007 @ 7:16 am Tina

Great review. I’m looking forward to seeing this, this weekend.

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July 31, 2007 @ 12:06 pm Fletch

To respond to your advice to me to give this a shot, I just can’t do it. Maaaaybe on DVD.

Remember, Chicago won Best Picture, and I can’t stand that, either. Outside of Moulin Rouge and none other than I can recall off the top of my head, musicals make me ill. As does John Travolta these days, and that’s not even in drag!

July 31, 2007 @ 1:03 pm General Disdain

One thing sets Hairspray apart from the movies you mentioned — it doesn’t take itself seriously. Everyone in the film is having a great time. I couldn’t help but smile through most of it.

As for Travolta, I’m not his biggest fan either. What he does have going for him is he’s seemed to have lost that elitist attitude he was exhibiting a few years ago. This has translated well to most of his recent films.

November 19, 2007 @ 12:13 am Sirius Lee

Travolta in drag was worth the price of admission. Everything else was icing on the cake. This is one movie adaptation that did justice to the stage musical it was based on.

January 6, 2008 @ 12:41 pm Rylee

I disagree with the review of this very entertaining movie. First of all, yes, I agree that the scene with the mother and father, (John Travolta and Christopher Walken) had no point, but the end scene was great! I love the casting and they all did a wonderful job! I give big props to Nikki Blonsky because she did a tremendous job, with not being in any other movies! Great Job! I would have rated this movie much higher!

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The Songs and Themes of "Hairspray"

The Messages of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's Musical

Zac242/Wikimedia Commons/Fair Use 

• Musical Theater
• Stand Up Comedy
• M.A. in Literature, California State University – Northridge
• B.A. in Creative Writing, California State University – Northridge

Of all the musicals created in the last two decades, it is difficult to find a Broadway show more upbeat and life-affirming than Hairspray . The original John Waters film premiered in the late 1980s. It had a lot of dancing, but it wasn't a genuine musical. Instead, it was a campy examination of pre-civil rights Baltimore through the eyes of a plus-sized ingenue named Tracy Turnblad.

Like its movie predecessor, the Broadway show plays for laughs most of the time; however, several of the songs convey the messages more deeply than in the Waters' film.

"Good Morning, Baltimore"

The opening number "Good Morning, Baltimore" tells us everything we need to know about the protagonist. She is a goddess of optimism. Although she lives in a society in which she is considered "plump," Tracy sees herself as beautiful. Moreover, she believes there is beauty in subjects that most would deem ugly. During the song, she croons, "The rats on the street / All dance around my feet." She also greets the denizens of Baltimore, including a drunk and a flasher. In her eyes, they are kindred spirits.

The song also reveals her ambitious nature. Her main dream is to become a dancer on the Corny Collins Show, a local television show featuring attractive teens from Tracy's school.

"Nicest Kids in Town"

"The Nicest Kids in Town" is the theme song for The Corny Collins Show . Tracy and her best friend Penny are obsessed with this show, not just because of the rock n' roll hits, but because the stars on the show represent teenage royalty. In particular, Tracy lusts over Link, the handsome favorite, who happens to be dating the wickedly mean girl, Amber.

The "Nicest Kids in Town" may be popular, but according to the lyrics they don't sound too bright. When Corny, the host of the show, sings about them, he delivers several back-handed compliments about the young dancers:

Forget about your Algebra and Calculus / You can always do your homework on the morning bus.

Can't tell a verb from a noun, they're the nicest kids in town.

You'll never get to college but you'll sure look cool.

The song satirizes the youth cultures obsession with popularity, even at the expense of academic success.

"Run and Tell That"

The character Seaweed isn't simply the cool Black kid who makes Penny swoon. His character embodies a generational shift towards integration. Seaweed and the other young Black characters are marginalized at their school. They are constantly and unjustly sent to detention.

Authority figures such as teachers, parents, and television producers demean the Black characters, openly advocating racial segregation.

Seaweed begins the song, unable to understand why certain people are so prejudiced.

I can't see / Why people look at me / And only see the color of my face.

And then there's those / That try to help, God knows / But have to always put in my place.

Despite the opposition, Seaweed is confident that his character will win over others. The playfully seductive lyrics, such as "The darker the chocolate, the sweeter the taste," are more than just flirtatious banter. This, by the way, is not the first connection between multiculturalism and food. The song "Big Blond and Beautiful" features lyrics with a similar message. The message seems to be that diversity benefits society the same way a multitude of flavors can enhance a meal.

Seaweed's sister, Little Inez, was shunned during the Corny Collins dance auditions . In the song "Run and Tell That," she exudes both confidence and frustration.

I'm tired of covering up all my pride...

I got a new way of moving and I got my own voice, so how can I help but shout and rejoice.

Like other activists who wait for civic justice, Little Inez can no longer maintain her patience.

"You're Timeless to Me"

One of the most entertaining aspects of Hairspray is that Tracy Turnblad's mom, Edna, is played by a man. In the John Waters film, world-renowned drag queen Devine originated the role. On Broadway, Edna was played by the incomparable Harvey Fierstein. In movie musical, John Travolta took on the character . Aside from the humor factor of seeing a middle-aged man in a dress, this casting choice also adds another social element to the musical. Edna and her husband are a heterosexual couple, according to the storyline, but watching them on stage it is easy to think of them as a gay couple.

With this in mind, the musical celebrates a combination of cultural diversity, body image, and sexual orientation. The song "Timeless to Me," expresses the idea that appearances do not matter; it is the person who matters most. Surface details such as weight, skin color, or gender should not be considered when choosing friends, lovers, or dance partners.

"I Know Where I've Been"

The most serious-minded song and perhaps the most inspiring one is sung by Motormouth, the mother of Inez and Seaweed. Her solo "I Know Where I've Been," is a testament to the historical struggles of African-Americans. It's a powerful anthem that reflects on the past while still endeavoring to fulfill the promises of the future.

There's a dream In the future There's a struggle We have yet to win And there's pride In my heart 'Cause I know Where I'm going And I know where I've been...

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