Hollywood Gains more than Weight!
"The ladies of "Hairspray" are a rarity in fat-phobic Hollywood, whose obsession with willowy women is so strong the idea of a corpulent heroine is almost unheard of." These harsh but true words are the opening for a wonderfully eye-opening article about the 'new' remake of Hairspray.
Honestly, when was the last time you saw a big girl save the day? Win the contest? Get the guy? Ever?
Well Hollywood is slowly changing it's image, and the commotion is being headed by the return of the movie musical. Remember the splash caused by buxom, bitchy and beautiful Effie White played by Jennifer Hudson? That plot is riddled with weight references. However, even that was a baby step; different cultures have different beauty ideals. I think that is incredible. But until we had a "good ol' fashioned American white chick" with plenty of jello to jiggle the test of our nation's preference could not be complete. Enter Nikki Blonsky. This beauty, who plays the lead role in Hairspray, is proud of her beauty and talent. She kicks serious 'A' at the local dance contest, and she knows she is hot stuff. She encourages her mother, who is so ashamed of her own weight she hasn't left the apartment in years, to embrace the world and herself. This movie screams, "Way to go, fat chicks!" in the best possible way. It teaches us not to judge simply by a look.
I applaud the return of the movie musical, and not only because I want to star in one. The more money we can throw at the box office, the clearer the message to producers: we want to see our selves, our neighbors, our friends on the screen, not just the pretty skinny girls you picked off the runway. We are women too, we are beautiful and we are talented.
And we will be represented in the world of the media.
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