Jennifer Klotz
CMN 625
Dr. Ron Bishop
Paper #2

Fame on Film

In the movie “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” staring Helen Hunt and Sarah Jessica Parker, fame is pursued through their quest to become the new Dance TV dancers. The movie starts off with Janey Glenn's (Sarah Jessica Parker) first day at her new Catholic school after a recent move to Chicago. Janey fidgets in front of the class, struggling to talk about herself at the insistence of Sister Katherine, one of the nuns. Janey talks about Dance TV, a local dance show, and gushes, "I love to dance!" grabbing another classmate’s attention. Lynne Stone (Helen Hunt) takes an instant liking to Janey because she too, is a devoted Dance TV (DTV) fan.
Lynne and Janey become friends and the two girls watch DTV that afternoon together and hear the latest DTV news, there is to be an audition for a new DTV regular couple! Lynne insists that the two girls have to tryout but Janey say that there is no way her super strict Army father would ever allow it. Janey's strict Army father does forbid her to audition when she asks him later that night, but she goes to the tryouts anyway, rebelling for the first time in her life.
Then enters the characters of Natalie Sands, a spoiled rich girl, who is also auditioning, and who has ordered her father to make sure she wins the contest and Jeff Malene, who ends up becoming Janey’s dance partner for the contest. Natalie pays off Lynne's audition partner at the DTV tryouts, guaranteeing that Lynne will not get chosen. Janey and Natalie make the final cuts, and Janey in her Catholic school uniform is paired with Jeff Malene in his Levi's and sleeveless shirt who is framed as a blue-collar rebel in the movie. The DTV producer, Ira, describes the couple as "kind of 'Rebel Without a Cause' meets 'The Sound of Music,' " since Janey had to wear her Catholic school uniform to the DTV audition.
The plot thickens when Natalie tries to further eliminate competition by inviting Jeff to her formal debutante ball at her father's ritzy country club and promising him a slow dance. Jeff and his tag-along best friend, Drew, attend the ball. Janey, Lynne, and Jeff's sister, Maggie Malene, who Janey and Lynne become friends with, are there too. But they are peering in the window from the outside because earlier that day, (for it's better to get even than to get mad!) the girls made copies of an Jeff's invitation, that they happened upon while they were at the mall, and distributed the bogus invitations in the city to punk rockers, transvestites and female body builders who crash and ruin Natalie's party. Because according to Lynne, “It’s better to get even than to get mad!” From the window, they laugh and watch. "This means war!" declares Natalie.
After his daughter’s debutante ball got ruined and the embarrassment he suffered in front of his friends, J.P. Sands, Natalie’s dad, agrees to help make sure Natalie wins the DTV finals. He makes it clear to Jeff one night when he almost hits him as he is riding home on his motorcycle, that if he doesn't drop out of the contest, Mr. Malene, Jeff’s father, (who works in a factory Sands owns) will be fired. Mr. Malene calls Sands bluff and tells Jeff to enter the contest anyway. Meanwhile, Janey is grounded (for getting caught sneaking out of the house to rehearse for the contest), but she sneaks out one last time with the help of Lynne to dance in the final round of the DTV contest.
At the DTV finals, Natalie and her dance partner, and Jeff and Janey have to enter a dance off due to a tie. Jeff and Janey end up winning the dance off and are named the new DTV regulars. Then Lynne surprises everyone, filling in for Ricki, (Miss DTV who quit earlier that night) by riding onstage in a horse-drawn chariot. She is announced as the new Miss DTV (Miss DTV delivers all the important music news of the day on DTV). Ending the movie with all the ‘good’ characters getting what they wanted and all the ‘bad’ characters getting what they had coming to them!
For all the main characters in the film, fame is viewed as an escape from their ‘ordinary’ lives. If only they can win the Dance TV contest, they will secure there position as a celebrity and become famous. It is like the acquisition of fame will lead them to bigger and better lives than they already had, bringing them true happiness and fixing every problem they have ever had. That is why the DTV tryouts become something much bigger than they really are. Kind of like American Idol today represents a gateway to greatness to its contestants. Its not just that they want to be voted the best singer on American Idol, they want that magic door to open for them to celebrity and all the fame that is supposed to come with it.
The fans of Dance TV, in this case end up becoming dancers on the show itself. In this case, the fans that DTV has are partly fans because they love dancing and partly fans because they want a piece of ‘the good life’ for themselves. They want to know celebrity through dancing on TV, and the best way to accomplish that is to win the DTV contest. This is why the contest stakes escalate, it is no longer viewed as just a dance contest, but as an opportunity to do something with your life and be a successful person.