I love the movie hairspray. I LOVE it. It is so cheesy and so happy, I cant help myself. In class, Professor Jensen made the comment that she would not yet allow her 7 year olds watch it because she did not think it was appropriate. I found this so strange, because this is one of the cleanest movies I have seen in a long time. I re-watched it today, trying to see why it might not be appropriate for young kids, because when thinking about it, nothing came to my mind. I was amassed at how many things popped out at me when I was looking for them. I am so used to some words and ideas and I just accept mild sexual humor as part of life that I never noticed so many of the little things before. I actually went online and found a parental review of this film and the list of things that were questionable was extensive! Sex/Nudity (Heavy)
- A woman discusses "screwing the judges" and later refers to risking communicable diseases from such action. She later tries manipulate a man by implying that she wants to have sex, but he does not take the bait.
- For comedy, many different types of innuendo are present. A teen on the dance show will be absent due to pregnancy, and another teen sings that she won't go "all the way" but will go pretty far. After kissing a black boy, a girl states now that she has had chocolate she will never go back.
- Some teens on the dance show and in other places dance suggestively, and some women wear dresses that show significant cleavage.
Profanity (Moderate)
- The words "damn" and "ass" are used.
- The phrase "Oh my God" or derivatives of the phrase are used several times.
Alcohol/Drugs (Moderate)
- Some people are shown smoking, including several teenage girls smoking in the bathroom.
- Some pregnant women are shown smoking and drinking in a bar. A character comments that they are glamorous. The scene is intended to be funny, but the women are portrayed as beautiful and glamorous.
- Several racial comments are played for comedy and to highlight the backward thinking of some characters who believe in segregation. In the opening song for the famous dance show, the teens sing that they are "nice white kids." Once a week the show has "Negro Day," when black dancers have their own dance party show. When Tracy gets sent to detention, the room is full of black students.
Still, I noticed that these were things that I couldn't even remember when trying to think of questionable content. I know this movie inside out, but none of these things stood out to me.
Also, i feel the need to state that Link is a stud, ;)
1 comment:
Thanks for your re-look at the film. I like to think of media viewing through a milk before meat lens. I fully intend to share HAIRSPRAY with my girls. I am really only concerned that it would be age appropriate-- what I mean by this is that they would understand what was happening and that we could contextualize,and talk about the issues that are raised in the film AND that the issues are pertinent to them. I like this idea for the classroom too. For my family it means that someone elses ratings on a film mean nothing to me and that I need to do the research so that I can determine if it will be fun and edifying. Wow this is way to long. sorry
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