Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that Tracy, the main character, lies to her parents and sneaks off to make out with her boyfriend. She breaks the law by participating in a sit-in for civil rights, and ends up in reform school. A peer spreads lies and rumors about Tracy, including that she's a "whore," was naked in a car, and that she has cockroaches in her hair. Set in the early 1960s, the movie also depicts acts of racism and homophobia. People are called "queer" and "faggots," and a white woman calls Motormouth Maybelle a "native woman," even though she's from Baltimore, too. There is some fighting; Tracy's boyfriend has his legs broken, and another character gets a concussion.
Families can talk about Tracy's confidence and determination. How does Tracy react to name-calling and rumors about her? What does she think of her body, and how does it affect her popularity? How do other people react to her body? Why do some of the white characters seem to fear the black characters? Can you think of any examples where the same fear exists today? How have race-relations changed from the time in which the movie is set?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Heather Boerner
Any teen who's watched Dance 360 or Save the Last Dance will probably have a soft spot for Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake) and her dream of dancing on the Corny Collins Show. Like Girls Just Want to Have Fun and other similarly themed movies before it, HAIRSPRAY encourages viewers to dream of dating the cutest boy, becoming the most popular girl, and having the biggest hair.
But Hairspray takes it two or three cha-chas further, creating a world more realistic than its counterparts. Here, the hero is a fat girl, and the dancing is segregated. That Tracy deals with all of this with childlike enthusiasm and class speaks well of a movie about a white trash girl who dreams big.
Tracy is a Baltimore high school student who wants nothing more than to dance on Corny Collins' TV show. She practices the mashed potato, the twist, and other current dance crazes (the film is set in 1962) in her living room while her mother (the divine Ms. Divine) irons an endless supply of shirts and slacks.
When the show holds a hop in her neighborhood, Tracy and her dim-witted best friend Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers) rush over, big hair and all, to join the fun. But Tracy is more than just another girl at the hop -- she's also one of the best dancers. Soon she finds herself a member of the Corny Collins Council of regular dancers, dating the cutest boy on the show and favored to win Miss Auto Show 1963. But will mean girl Amber (Colleen Fitzpatrick) and her parents (Sonny Bono and Debbie Harry, vamping it up) undermine her chances with their vicious rumors and subterfuge? And will Tracy be able to help her friends Seaweed and Motormouth Maybelle dance on the still-segregated show?
Lake, as Tracy, is easily the best, most watchable thing about this film. Sure, writer and director John Waters offers up Harry in some of the most bizarre hairdos you can imagine, and larger-than-life, overly tweezed drag queen Divine is extra fun as Tracy's mother, but it's Lake who grabs and keeps your attention. She's got star power, imbuing Tracy with a kind of dignity and confidence that you rarely see in celluloid fat girls. Far from being the funny best friend, Tracy is the life of the party and offers a great role model for all those teen girls who think they could never be popular because they're overweight.
Of course, Waters loves nothing more than subverting expectations and glorifying what most people think is ugly or unacceptable; he's made a career of it. Indeed, it's Waters' true love for Tracy that makes Hairpsray a believable and compelling underdog story.
But because this is a John Waters movie, there's some gross-out humor (such as Velma Von Tussle graphically squeezing Amber's zit), a lot of inappropriate name-calling, and a plethora of cursing. The director isn't one for subtlety, so anyone preparing to watch this film should know that he makes his points with a sledge hammer. Lucky for viewers, Waters also has a campy and silly side, and at least this once, he's overcome with infectious optimism.
Mature viewers who enjoy this film may want to check out others in Waters' oeuvre, including Polyester, Serial Mom, Pink Flamingos, and Cry Baby. Dance movie aficionados may enjoy Save the Last Dance, Take the Lead, Mad Hot Ballroom, or Dirty Dancing. For other fat-girls-get-even movies, consider Muriel's Wedding.
Rate It!
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Sexual ContentSome heavy petting, and Penny tells Seaweed to "go to second." A beatnick encourages the gang to "take off our clothes and smoke reefer." |
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ViolenceA fistfight leaves Tracy's boyfriend in a wheelchair, but there's nothing graphic and no blood. |
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LanguageLots of racial and homophobic epithets and general cursing. |
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Social BehaviorTracy is a great female role model, especially for larger teens (though she does lie to her mother on occasion); despite a constant barrage of racism and homophobia from other characters, the teens fight for what's right -- desegregation. |
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Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoThe kids are offered drinks, but they don't take them. Corny Collins drinks from a bottle of liquor. |
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