With the current political climate in mind, writer justinkirkland4 reflects on how ‘Hairspray’ feels like a time capsule that (unfortunately) never loses relevance.
movie when it came out in 2017. We got a smorgasbord of fast food–chicken nuggets and pizza and milkshakes and curly fries–and embarked on my first watch. She did that thing where she watched me watch the movie, waiting for my reaction. I liked the movie, but it made me uncomfortable for reasons I couldn’t fully verbalize.
I came out to that same girlfriend in college three years later. Turns out, that was also something we had in common. About six years later, she came out to me, too. And althoughdoesn’t have a single LGBTQ character, there is something undeniably queer about it. For two teenagers growing up in the South, it marked a moment for both of us where we felt uncomfortably welcomed, even if we weren’t ready to talk about why.
Tracy doesn’t adhere to the rules when it comes to social norms, nor does she understand why those rules were put in place to begin with. Let a big girl dance! Don’t restrict Black dancers to one specific day! The film was eventually adapted into a musical, which served as the basis of the 2007 film, but by the time the material was optioned for a film remake, a good part of the campiness and grit that defined the original had been stripped away.
The heroes are different and misunderstood, but they’re heroes all the same. If that’s not a gay mantra, I don’t know what is.remained. Tracy’s mother Edna was played by John Travolta in drag. The story remained focused on the ostracism Tracy faced for her size, paralleled by the civil rights battle happening in 1962 Baltimore. The core message is ultimately that being different isn’t just fine — it’s the future, baby. The heroes are different and misunderstood, but they’re heroes all the same.
At the forefront of the new version is Nikki Blonsky, an unknown actress who auditioned for the role before she’d even graduated high school. After the film wrapped, Blonsky was primed to be an overnight star, but the star-turn never happened. Within six years, the well of roles had seemingly run dry. Blonsky became a bit of a meme, tweeting at celebrities, “Hi , it’s Nikki Blonsky from the movieShe was adopted by the queer community as a bizarre, if not sometimes cringeworthy, icon.
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