‘The camp object can be created deliberately
by an artist anxious to violate boundaries between the serious and the absurd’
(scott long 1983:80)[1]
A romantic, American musical set in
Baltimore in the early 1960s, Hairspray follows the life of Tracey Turnblad, an
overweight teenager whose ambition it is to dance on a local TV station, but
she is held back from achieving her goals and securing the man she loves due to
her size. However, over the duration of the film Tracey overcomes these
obstacles to secure her ambitions, whilst simultaneously helping to fight to
racial integration on the show. Transgender performances are used to evoke an
array of feelings in the viewer ranging from the absurd and humorous to the
sinister and uncomfortable. In both John Waters 1988[2]
hairspray and Adam Shankman’s 2007[3]
remake transgender peoples are used to play the role of Edna Turnblad, Tracey’s
mother. The way in which Edna is portrayed varies greatly between the two films
and in many ways her characterization is essential in emphasizing crucial
motifs on which the film is underpinned. In exploring the use of transgender
peoples to play the role of Edna I will compare the use of formal aspects in
the opening scenes where she is ironing, analyzing how they are engineered in
such a fashion as to give a very different reading of Edna and how the use of
transgender peoples varies between the two.
In john Waters 1988 hairspray the role
of Edna is played by Divine, a performance artist with whom waters frequently
collaborated with in his more controversial cinematic endeavours
such a Pink Flamingos and Polyester. Divine was little known and had only a
small cult following. Those familiar with Divine’s previous roles will be aware
of the ‘anti-normative gender politics’[4]
(Suzanne woodward, pp 123) within her performance. Waters stating ‘I liked drag
queens that made people nervous. I’m against family friendly drag queens’. Divine
is obese and a large portion of her persona centres around the fact she is
unwholesome, for example, in Pink Flamingos she is in competition to be the
filthiest person alive, with the film ending on an infamous scene in which Divine
eats dog faeces. In contrast to this is Adam Shankman’s casting of John
Tavolta, a well-known, straight actor to play Edna is well-within the comfort
of most audiences with his caricature of a women. One reason for this is that
the audience cannot look past the fact that underneath the fat suit and dress
it is very clearly John Travolta, there is no ambiguity. Whereas Divine lives
as a drag queen and is not in a fat suit, but is her standard appearance. ‘The
two portrayals of Edna, both highlight the importance of mannerisms and
gestures, and of voice in constructing a feminine persona, whereas Travolta
produces a parody of feminine stereotypes, while Divine invents a whole new
version of femininity’.
When the audience is first introduced
to Edna as played by Divine a close up shot of her hands ironing is shown. It
is ambiguous as to whether these are the hands of a man or a woman, even as the
camera continues to pan up her forearms to her chest and neck it is hard to
distinguish. The way in which we pan up Divine’s body, from a low angle makes
her appear to be larger and fill the entire shot, giving the impression that
she is of great stature and is a powerful figure. In many respects the larger
physical appearance of Travolta is also emphasized in our first introduction to
him, as slipper shod feet on the end of thick calves enter the room. However,
Travolta is presented as ungainly, but lovable and the audience is encouraged
to sympathize with her. Divine on the other hand is presented as being slovenly
and disgruntled. During this scene both Ednas’ request that Tracey turn down
the television. However, Divine is cruel, making derogatory comments about her
hair, whereas Travolta makes a remark in the same vein, but is much kinder in
approach. Travolta is portrayed as a ‘gentle giant’, Divine is presented as
being slightly malicious and resentful.
This notion of Divine’s power is
further emphasized through the use of camera. In the scene where she is
taunting Tracey about her hairstyle a low angle shot is used. This adds a prominence to her jaw, increasing
the sense of ambiguity about her gender and adding a further element of
aggression to her characterization.
Divine’s make-up in the film offers no
clues as to her gender. Her lipstick is smudged around her mouth and her eye
make-up is messy. This adds to the general image of a disheveled and unclean
character. However, in my opinion it is her drawn-on eye-brows that make her
overall appearance so unpleasant. The
eyebrows are false, overtly mobile and are used to emphasize what she is saying
in an intimidating manner. Their positioning is too far up the forehead and the
stationary nature of the rest of her features adds a very sinister quality to
her overall image. On the other hand Travolta’s make-up is understated, careful
and motherly. It is clear from her curlers that she is making an effort and
trying to do the best she can, whereas Divine appears to have little pride and
is almost flaunting her grotesqueness. Kate Stables[5]
suggests that ‘ Travolta’s cuddly drag act owes more to misses doubt fire, than
Divine’s lovably freakish original portrayal. When he twirls girlishly around
the yard, with Christopher Walken’s uxorious Wilbur Turnblad (…) he and his
indulgent audience are reveling in a mainstream masquerade, without the
slightest tinge of transgression.
The main room where Tracey is watching
the corny Collins show and Edna is ironing is colorful and ornaments line the
shelves in the 1988 film. Edna however, is dressed in dismal rags. Edna is juxtaposed
with the rest of the room and the effervescent girls and is shown to be a dark
and bleak presence. It is she who is irritable and bringing the girls’ fun to
an end. This is further emphasized through the use of composition. In this
scene Edna has asked the girls to turn the TV down and they have not listened,
so she comes through to do it. The to girls are positioned in the foreground of
the shot, colorfully clothed and happily dancing, while Edna approaches the
doorway becoming an increasingly large and looming figure until she fills it,
blocking out the light and casting the room into shade as she turns the TV off.
In comparison in the 2007 film Travolta is dressed in a lilac dress, with
matching slipper and curlers. The living room is painted in a dismal green/grey
hue and Travolta thus becomes the source of color and breaks from the drabness.
Not only that, but the camera follows Travolta from behind as he leans in the
doorway to tell the girls to ‘keep it down.’ The doorframe is significantly larger
than him and he only partially fills it. The way in which color and composition
has been used in the original hairspray portrays Divine to be a darker, powerful
figure who one is to be wary of, whereas Travolta is shown to be a brighter and
safer figure, as achieved through the warmer color scheme of his dress and positioning
within the frame and in comparison to the set.
In the 2007 remake the music on the
television does not fluctuate in quality or volume when the shot moves from the
corny Collins set to the television show on the set in their living room. This
maintains a level of falseness and reminds the viewer that it is a stage set.
Alternatively in the 1988 version the quality and volume of sound changes
dramatically when the shot cuts from the live television studio to the living
room.
This fractures the reality of the film
diegesis and can be seen as putting a distance between Tracey and her dreams,
with Divine standing between her ambitions and overwhelming the noise produced
on the television by her presence until she eventually turns it off. Later on
in the scene Penny’s mother arrives at the door. As Edna opens the door psycho
style music plays and when she walks into the room a heavy base comes in with
her. This creates a sense of threat a foreboding, uniting the two adults
against the two teenage girls and further distancing Tracey from her ambitions.
While in the 2007 remake, Edna is in sympathy with Penny, whilst inadvertently
getting her into trouble. Due to the fact that the two women unite it enforces
the fact that Divine is a woman to the audience as she sympathizes and for that
moment bonds with penny’s mother, whereas Travolta’s siding with the girls,
distances her from the other adult female, emphasizing the fact he is not a woman.
In many ways Divine’s performance both
refutes and reflects what Warhol[6]
stated when he wrote ‘When they took the movie stars and stuck them in the
kitchen, they weren’t stars anymore- they were just like you and me. Drag
queens are reminders that some stars still aren’t just like you and me.’ Divine
is doing domestic chores, yet she is never going to be like a majority of the
audience, whereas Travolta is a significantly closer representation of the
average viewer in the sense that she is caring, hard-working and takes dignity
and pride in her appearance and work. Divine is outrageously out-size from her
appearance to her performance and to those who know of her, her private life.
Divine transcends gender normative behavior in everything aspect of her being
and therefore will always play a more over the top woman than a woman.
Waters was out to shock and entertain
and his inclusion of a cult transgender person was designed to add an
uncomfortable edge to the film. Shankman’s 2007 version was a more comfortable
and sanitized performance designed for mainstream consumption. It is hard to
overlook the fact that the audience that Travolta was not transgender. In
having an actor who was so easy to recognize and laugh at, the serious issues
in the film were somewhat overlooked and the more serious narrative and
edginess was removed which in the first film was present due to the inclusion
of Divine.
[1] Scott Long 1983:80, Suzanne Woodward, Taming Transgression: Gender Bending in Hairspray , new cinema,
journal of contemporary film, 2012 pp. 116
[2] John Waters, Hairspray, 1988
[3] Adam Shankman, Hairspray,
2007
[4] Suzanne Woodward, Taming
Transgression: Gender Bending in Hairspray , new cinema, journal of
contemporary film, 2012 pp. 123
[5] Kate Stables 2007:58, Suzanne Woodward, Taming Transgression: Gender Bending in Hairspray , new cinema,
journal of contemporary film, 2012 pp. 122
[6] Andy Warhol, The Philosophy
of Andy Warhol: A to B and Back Again, Picador, 1975 pp. 55