Review Of ' Hairspray ' By John Waters

The film ‘Hairspray’ directed by Adam Shankman, is set in June 1962 in Baltimore, America. During this time, the Negroes were segregated from the white people. There was extensive discrimination. Adam Shankman used effective film techniques that helped me to understand a key idea that is that all people should be treated equally regardless of their race and colour. These techniques include the use of prop, costume and dialogue.

There has been a notable amount of conversation on the internet on the rebirth of the natural hair movement. Cherise Luter (2014) states that despite afros and the natural hair movement not being a new concept (i.e. the Black Power Movement), it has gone under what she calls a “refreshing change”. Furthermore, what used to be “I’m black and I’m proud”, has been replaced with “I’m me and I’m proud” (Luter 2016). So, what is the natural hair movement? It is defined as a movement where black women decide to not conform to the social norms of chemically altering their hair and wearing it in its natural, kinky, or curled state (Joignot 2015). The movement could also be considered as an outlet for black women to display their racial and cultural pride or to articulate their “political position (Brown 2014:297). However, simply the terminology “movement” is something that should be shocking to many. There is a great amount of historical context behind the continuous influence Eurocentric beauty ideals have had on black women for centuries. According to Nadia Brown (2014), Black natural hair throughout history has proven to be recognized as “either unintended or intended personal and political statements” (298). the beauty standard in Western society which praises European hair textures, has influenced many black women to be critical of other black women who choose to chemically straighten their hair, accusing them of being subservient to the dominant and pervasive racist

Dance can show us a variation of things whether it is a story plot or retelling history events. Dance becomes an art when done with passion and enthusiasm. The audience can connect and respond with the dancer if done properly. When we use dancing in a story line musical we are attempting to give the audience a deeper understanding. As every story every musical has a “moral to the story” or main idea.

Citizens throughout American history have often presented the “home of the free” and the “land of the brave” as the perfect nation, filled with perfect families, and more extreme examples of how impeccable the nation truly is. No time presented the United States of America in a more splendid light than the 1950’s. The 1950’s are remembered as a decade of prosperity but as with every time period, multiple historical issues marred this time. The United States encountered political, diplomatic, and social issues throughout this decade (Hewitt and Lawson, 832). Hairspray, the 1988 film by John Waters, was set in the 1950’s and reveals depths of racism and stereotypes during this period, while presenting smaller examples of the issues of sexism, religion, and inequality.

In Zadie Smith’s The Girl with Bangs, we follow an unnamed female narrator as she chronicles her whirlwind relationship with the titular Charlotte Greaves. Though we do not get a glimpse into Charlotte’s point of view, Smith makes it obvious what type of girl Charlotte is, not only in the way she treats the narrator, but how she treats everyone around her. Their torrid affair begins shortly after Charlotte’s boyfriend, Maurice, has been called away for a dream job in Thailand. He left her with a flimsy promise asked of Charlotte to ‘wait for him’. This proves an impossibility for the mercurial Charlotte and her insatiable lover, who would let Charlotte get away with murder for one more touch of her bangs. This relationship does not last for

Chris Rock’s documentary, Good Hair, investigates the notion of what good hair is. Dominant society views good hair as straight or essentially caucasian hair. This is not only problematic to the self-esteem and confidence of black women, but it can also cause black women to appropriate Asian culture. Black women unfortunately take advantage of Asian culture in search of what society believes is good hair. Many black women wear weaves in order to align to what society believes is good hair. However, when they buy this hair, they do not realize what Asians go through. Likewise, Asians who give up their hair do not know where or who this hair will be going to. Thus, this desire for good hair further perpetuates the lack of understanding that black

Remember the Titans shows you the mentalities of the people at that time. The movie started by showing the neighbour throwing racial terms at Coach Boone family when they had moved. Or when on the bus, they first sat with only white on one bus and black on the other. We get the sense of everyone's mentality and how they feel about it. And the main protagonist Coach Boone is also spreading a stereotype. He is the victim of racism but he did say to Coach Yoast to go his daughter dolls so she wouldn't always be at the football practices. So it doesn’t only show that one side is good and the other side is bad. It shows you the how people think at the time. But Hairspray show you as if it is one vs one. Trassy vs the producer. How she is trying to stand her point and the producer trying to stand her point. The one side versus another shouldn’t be how we represent racism. How remember the Titans portrays racism and stereotype is how it should be

Musicals were meant to bring exoticism to people so that people could enjoy and feel like they are somewhere for a couple of hours. What people didn’t see was the deeper meaning that some musicals brought to the surface like segregation, racism, body issues and LGBT. Hairspray and West Side Story are two musicals that bring deep meaning to their musicals if you look hard enough you will find them. Even though there is race faced in both Hairspray and West Side Story that build issues, yet the both come together as a group at the end.

In her doctoral dissertation, Katherine Axtell examines Show Boat from its novel origins to its inception and creation as a work of musical theater. It is clear from her analysis that even though Hammerstein and Kern may not have intended Show Boat to be about race, it was still at the forefront of their minds. Axtell states, “sources…strongly suggest that, page for page and line for line, the composer and librettist expended the greatest energy on the development of material for the romantic leads, Magnolia and Ravenal; that they took inspiration…from contemporary African-American musical theater.”6 Axtell also cites Todd Decker, “who in 2007 included Show Boat in a larger study of ‘black-white encounters’ in selected American stage and film musicals... Decker argues that Kern and Hammerstein concentrated, from the beginning of their collaboration, on the development of interracial encounters and the creation of such numbers as ‘Can’t Help Lovin; Dat Man’ and ‘Ol’ Man River.’”7

The poem, “Black Hair,” by Gary Soto describes a childhood of a boy looking back on how he compared himself to his favorite baseball player’s. The speaker gives many rich images stating how the boy compares himself to the baseball players. The three vivid images that prodded out at me were, “I came here because I was Mexican” this is him comparing himself to a dark skin baseball player, “At eight I was brilliant with my body”, and “Growing sweaty in the presence of white shirts”.

This movie is a wonderful production starting from 1960 and ending in 1969 covering all the different things that occurred during this unbelievable decade. The movie takes place in many different areas starring two main families; a very suburban, white family who were excepting of blacks, and a very positive black family trying to push black rights in Mississippi. The movie

As people look around the different cities of our fair country, one might notice that many people nowadays are coloring their hair to cover grey or just for the fun of it. One difference among the younger generation and the older generation is the colors that are chosen for their hair. The younger generation of this day and age seem to prefer wild colors such as Infra Red, Mystic Heather, Deadly Nightshade, Tiger Lily, etc, as self-expression compared to the older generation choosing natural shades to cover the signs of aging. This can be seen in the rising number of young people that are seen around with these types of wild colors. Not all young people choose the wild colors over natural shades because some choose the

Rent  is a 2005 American film adaptation of the Broadway musical, which was based on Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning musical. The movie depicts the lives of several Bohemians and their struggles with sexuality, cross-dressing, drugs, life under the shadow of AIDS, and paying their rent. It takes place in the East Village of New York City in the late 1980s.

After flipping off the switch to my cheap, red Revlon hair dryer, I took one glance in the mirror and noticed my hair looked exactly as expected: terrible. My dark brown curls were separated, flattened, and all the volume had been suctioned out. My once-voluptuous locks were now dry and brittle noodles. I have never had great experiences with hair dryers. Honestly, how could I? I have fine, curly hair that frizzes at the very touch of my fingers. Some days it looks like a rat’s nest, other days it looks like five rat’s nests all got into a fight over whose nest could look the dirtiest. So let me explain to you the extent of a mess in which I deal with on the daily.

Stephen Frear’s film, My Beautiful Laundrette portrays the struggle of intersecting sexuality, ethnicity, class, race and power. Omar, son of a Pakistani immigrant, is attracted to Johnny, a white English male. Their attraction and the subsequent relationship is looked down upon, both in England and Pakistan. Omar works for his uncle who lets him take over a laundrette in London while Johnny is initially unemployed and eventually works for Omar. Together, they make the laundrette a successful business venture and a place where they can freely express their desire for each other.