You Can't Stop The Beat
Guess what? Hairspray has officially passed $100 million at the box office. This is a real achievement for a musical (only five have ever done it). Not only that, only three musicals (Grease, Chicago, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show) have ever made more money. And the movie is really fun and warmhearted; the music is great. (The more I listen to the soundtrack, the more I appreciate Queen Latifah’s performance especially.)
But you know what the really great news is? According to this list of movies featuring fat suits (I am amazed this list exists, by the way), Hairspray has made more money than Norbit. Now if that doesn’t put the “good” in “feel-good Friday,” I don’t know what will!
Posted by mo pie
Filed under: Cold Hard Cash, Fat Suits, Feel Good Friday, Hairspray, Movies, Tidbit
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I still can’t get past Travolta in a fat suit, good message or not. I’ll stick to the John Waters original and maybe listen to the Broadway soundtrack. (And smile when I think of Ugly Betty’s nephew on the subway singing “Good Morning Baltimore” from that episode where he convinced his dad that musicals are okay).
I agree with DivaJean, mostly because I simply don’t like even the notion of fat suits. I read a couple of reviews about the movie, and suddenly realized the irony of having John Travolta in this – some writer said his dance steps were hilariously similar (on purpose of course) to the ones in his good ol’ days. But since he’s not as thin anymore as he was then, why not just put him in a dress, wig and make up? Would that really have been less funny?
Yeah, go Hairspray! I just got to see it last weekend, and I loved it, even more than I thought I would. Nikki Blonsky is just the most adorable, joyous thing I’ve ever seen, I really hope this movie gets a real career started for her, because I’d love to see her again. I’m kind of torn on Travolta; he really wasn’t that great, and the accent he put on was just terrible. But, I still found myself liking Edna. I wasn’t too bothered by the fat suit, since really, it seemed more like they just had to give him the shape of a big lady, and it actually looked fairly realistic. The face was the only part I had trouble with.
It would be nice if Nicki Blonsky got more parts but I don’t think she will ever be more than the Janeane Garofalo best friend type. I just finished read this month’s Self, and there was an article about the blonde and skinny Amanda Bynes and what she eats.
Also i just read a People, the one about Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli, and there was an article on how the chubby girl from High School Musical lost weight.
Now Victoria Beckham is going to put on a fat suit for Ugly Betty.
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/251764
This is off-topic, but I just read the link Alethea posted. This is EXTREMELY disturbing if not all that surprising:
[L]ast year, in an ELLEgirl poll of 10,000 readers, more than 50 per cent of young women aged 18 to 25 said they would rather be run over by a truck than be fat.
WTF?! Hollywood/the media has GOT to stop sending young girls messages that being fat is the worst thing in the world. I don’t know that fat suits are necessarily a part of that (I guess it depends on how they are used), but I just thought that statistic needed to be pointed out.
I read that link as well, and contrary to popular belief (or the belief expressed in the article) women of color are getting just as caught up in the “thin is in” madness as white women. I saw a picture recently of one of the former members of Destiny’s Child. It wasn’y Kelly Rowland, but the other girl (I think her name is Michelle Williams) and between her now ultra thin body and long hair she looks like a human mop. Don’t forget about Tyra Banks; she lost the 30 pounds she gained because the producers of ANTM demanded it. Your “average” black/latino woman can get away with having more “back”, but if we were to become famous that changes quickly.
I admit, I’ve never seen any version of Hairspray, though maybe I should. I’ve had problems with actors crossdressing on screen (I’m looking at you, Nutty Professor,) but fat suits don’t honestly bother me, mainly because I can understand why somebody would want the freedom to look different than they do. They could dress up as a cartoon wallabe on screen, and I wouldn’t bat an eye.
Hypothetical; suppose you had someone who was obsessed with looking fat. They wanted to look fat, for whatever reason. It was just part of their self-image, yet somehow, they just could not gain weight. I, for one, would not feel insulted if that person wore a fake fat disguise to school or work, because they’re not trying to mock or insult anybody; just look the way they want to.
If you want, you can try to convince me I’m wrong about this, but I’ve thought this over, and I just can’t see the problem with it. Aside from simple modesty, why should we all need to dress the way our society tells us to? Why can’t we all have the freedom to pull a Henry the fifth and dress differently than our life and position suggest?