Fan Rant: Generation 'Fame'
Filed under: Music & Musicals, MGM, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Remakes and Sequels, Fan Rant, Trailers and Clips
Just before I get started I want to make one thing perfectly clear: this fan rant has nothing to do with me hating remakes in principle. Instead, this rant is about fame (as a movie and a concept) and a disturbing trend I noticed in the marketing for the shiny new Fame hitting theaters this fall. So let's start at the beginning, shall we? I was surfing channels whey I first happened across the latest trailer for the musical update that does a little cross-promotion with the boy-wizard, Harry Potter. So as I sat there watching this bizarre combination of Hogwarts and The School of Performing Arts, it occurred to me that this trailer seemed to almost being equating 'fame' with magic. This new version of Fame seemed to have none of the pain, suffering, and sacrifice (except of the mildest teen-angst ways imaginable) of the original -- and that's when I started to get a little ticked.
Alan Parker's Fame was a part of a larger trend in the late 70s and 80s to make 'grittier' musicals (along with films like A Chorus Line or Fosse's All That Jazz) that took the "let's put on a show" tradition of musicals and revealed all of it's flaws and the screwed-up people who inhabited the business of making fantasy. What made Fame (1980) such a stand-out for me as a young girl was that suddenly the idea of stardom didn't seem so great. Instead, it became a deal with the devil, and Parker's film seemed to keep that idea under the surface of the uplifting finale and songs about lunch programs.
After the jump: why a Fame remake has me so worked up, and a glimpse of the film that started it all...
Parker's characters succumb to drug abuse, sacrifice their personal relationships, and in one case wind up starring in a skin-flick. But maybe the movie's most important lesson for aspiring stars is that sometimes, success doesn't come even if you are talented -- and if it does come, it's not going to be your guaranteed happy ending. All of those ideas seem to have been stripped away in the new film, and judging by the trailers, as dire as it's going to get will be losing your boyfriend or the parent/teacher who doesn't believe in you. Compare those problems with Coco (Irene Cara) being coerced to appear in porn, or a dancer's decision to have an abortion rather than sacrifice her career.
So why did this shiny new trailer get under my skin? I mean, it's just a silly teen movie after all. Well, I've always thought that if you want to know where a culture is at, just watch their movies. Like most teen entertainment in the pipeline these days, Fame (2009) is chock-full of mixed messages and sanitized moral lessons. Not to mention I happen to think that this generation's would-be starlets could stand to learn a few pointers from Coco before they go posting half-naked pictures of themselves on the internet.
The rise of Paris Hilton and the so-called celebutards had cultural critics gnashing their teeth about the current state of celebrity and the people who get famous for just about anything (or nothing as the case may be). But for me what is more insidious is the message that there is some unseen force that will pluck you from obscurity into the bright lights of stardom. Maybe that's why I couldn't help but be annoyed by MGM's remake, which once again trumps 'magic' over discipline...so much for Generation Fame.
Extra points if you can spot the fashion icon in these opening scenes from the classic musical...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2009 @ 7:33PM
Axel Harris said...
Kevin Smith had a rant pretty similar to this on his smodcast a few weeks ago. Those interested in this subject might wanna check it out, he goes way in depth.
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7-26-2009 @ 9:03PM
Chika said...
You have a point but your link to Vanessa was uncalled for and unprofessional because it is not accurate.
I've been moaning about the current state of journalism these days. It's unfair to her to state as fact what is not true but which you dd not bother to verify.
She of all the so-called starlets have had to learn first hand the pains that come with fame but then it takes the intuitive to see that. That picture was taken when she was still a 16 yr old nobody looking for a break and was leaked by people close to her because she happened to stumble into the fame they craved which eluded them.
Has she paid for being exploited for a mistake she made? over and over. But thanks to female 'journalists' like you, she will keep paying till she has grandchildren. After all, there are respectable mistakes and non-respectable mistakes and we decide the ones society forgives.
I wonder if she was male, an incident that occurred two years ago would continue to be harped on even though so many after her have done worse and proved unrepentant. I think of Jude Law.
And we wonder why women have it tough in Hollywood.
Keep it up.
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7-27-2009 @ 12:10AM
ML said...
Well, I think it's pretty obvious that why this "gets under [your] skin" is because this remake feeds unrealistic beliefs about fame that affects real lives whereas the heart of the original was to deal with that subject matter head on.
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7-27-2009 @ 12:15AM
esvee said...
I just watched both trailers (2009 and 1980). I think they are remarkable similar. Both accentuate young people's desires for instantaneous success and Fame.
Having said that, it may very well be that the update will glorify that Fame instead of exposing its unglamorous sides, and also what too often happens to those who get lost in the pursuit.
But its too early to say. The only way to know is to see it when it comes out. Who knows, it may be a great remake- reworked for today's audience and done with better equipment.
And thanks 'Chika'. Its a good point to forgive and forget. Continuing to "rain down the shame" is just immature.
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7-28-2009 @ 1:06PM
JG said...
It seems to me that they just want to cash in on High School Musical, that's the vibe I got from the trailer anyway.
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8-10-2009 @ 9:11PM
linda said...
first of all, it's fashion icon Isaac Mizrahi who's in the opening of the original FAME, just to get that out there. second, i suppose the thing that gets me most about this new FAME (and the remake of FOOTLOOSE--less so, but still along the same vein, and ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, which has me in such a lather, i want to cry) is that we, the generation who lived in the theatre through it, embraced it, used it as our mantra, no longer get to keep it as our own anymore. this generation already has High School Musical and Miley Cyrus. why do they need to bastardize our more intense, grittier version of it when it defined creativity for some of us? became our badge of theatrical courage, so to speak? as the writer says, i am not against remakes per se, but is it really necessary to try and recreate onese that are so iconic as to have spawned a generation? just because you have the power to redo a film doesn't mean you SHOULD (case in point THE WOMEN). you might as well get Paula Abdul to direct the remake of FLASHDANCE, or Michael Bay to re-create QUEST FOR FIRE (which, i guess, 10,000 BC sorta did, right?). hey, i'm sure John Hughes' estate would love it if Catherine Hardwicke directed a new and improved THE BREAKFAST CLUB (and this is no offense to her as a filmmaker, but a questioning of the mentality of the industry that allows for such things to happen). i know, i would. you bet.
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9-24-2009 @ 2:25AM
Susan said...
I find it remarkable that based on a short trailer so many opinions can be made and someone can write an entire article based on that. Why not wait until you have seen the film and then draw you conclusions, it seems to me there are too many judgemental people in this world that form strong opinions with so little information. Anyone who is an inspiring artist knows the hard work and dedication it takes. You worry about what message it sends, but who cares? If any person watching it decides to go and make something of themselves, will soon realise the hard work it takes. At the end of the day, no one would be blind sighted by 'fame'. To truely experience fame you would have had to work your arse off to get there.
Get a life. It is just a movie and a great one at that.
From someone who has seen the movie.
Seriously get a life!
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