Hairspray (2007)

I don’t think it’s possible to say enough good things about Hairspray. The latest incarnation is the 2007 remake of John Water’s 1988 film. Waters deserves credit for how fabulous this film is, but Leslie Dixon (writer) and Adam Shankman (director) helped continue the story’s popularity with glowing success. Original, hilarious, and honest Hairspray digs into ugly American history and manages to reveal adorable characters. John Waters draws inspiration from Queer history; he infuses the overly romantic, camp-quality into Hairspray and in the process he creates a delightful vision. It is alchemy.

Hairspray is the story of a young, overweight, white girl named Tracy who has dreams of becoming a regular on a popular teenage dance show, the Corny Collins Show. When Tracy joins the show, once a month there is “Negro Day”. When the television station eliminates “Negro Day” Tracy tackles Black political issues and marches to integrate the Corny Collins show. In Tracy’s words, she wants “everyday to be Negro day”! During Tracy’s rallying and inter-racial socializing she is joined by her mother, Trudy, played by John Travolta in drag.

Hairspray is a woman’s story. Trudy and Tracy are the central figures and both become fearlessly active, criticizing the uptight, white, concepts of femininity. Queen Latifah, who “has her foot in the door” as a regular on the Corny Collins show demonstrates the difficulties of Black feminism; while she is a regular on the show, one doesn’t see the same nuclear family structure as seen in Tracy’s household. When Trudy is afraid to be in a Black neighborhood, Queen Latifah honestly retorts, “We have more reason to be afraid in your neighborhood.” And yet Queen Latifah persists. As Paula Gidding says, “When and where I enter the entire race enters with me.” And as Queer as the women in Hairspray are, and as hard as they fight to redefine what it means to be a black woman, a white woman, the issue of sexuality is glossed over. John Travolta being in drag, and no one addressing that Trudy is a transsexual, demonstrates how little attention was placed on gender ands sexuality in this era. And while Hairspray marks the beginning of the Civil Rights movement for straight African Americans, it was not a time for African American Queers. Hairspray, however, is not to be missed and points to flaws in American culture, not an ability to write or direct.

–reviewed by T. Nova