It has been two years since I first got into USC's film school and while I've enjoyed the majority of screenings, they all tend to blur into one vague memory of being in Norris, Lucas, and the cinema library. But out of the dozens of screenings I’ve gone to (and other dozens I’ve fallen asleep to), one stands out. In freshman year, Dr. Fox(y) gave his CTCS190 class a rare treat: a screening of Todd Haynes’ Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. As Dr. Fox explained, the movie is almost impossible to get a hold of (Richard Carpenter sued Haynes for using the band’s copyrighted material without permission and prints stopped being circulated in 1990) and most of the copies that exist are on bootleg VHS. Haynes is known now for his groundbreaking, more off-beat work as the director of Safe, Far From Heaven and I’m Not There but I think this movie is not only his best but one of the more fascinating films I’ve seen.
The film focuses on Karen Carpenter, lead singer of The Carpenters, who has over time become mythologized as a public figure who died from anorexia (she had gained a substantial amount of weight over a short period of time that strained her heart, which was already very weak after years of weight loss and abuse). Made years after Karen Carpenter’s death, the film is a reenactment of the life of one of the most popular singers of all time, one who was perhaps equally known for her personal battles as her singing. Anyway, I decided to google the film to see if I could get it on amazon and lo and behold, it’s on youtube and google video. I’m posting the film because if you haven’t seen it already, I think it’s worth it because it’s a truly unique representation of a star in both her public and private lives and brings up the question of what happens to a star after his/her death: how should they be represented? Should certain lines not be crossed? How does the dynamic between that star and the audience change?
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Also, of course, how does the star image change when she is being played by a Barbie doll? And how is that complicated by the use of an actress's voice along with Carpenter's own?
I actually have Superstar on my computer (and my iPod, because sometimes I like to be pretentious), so perhaps we can show a bit of it in class tomorrow if there's time.
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