Symbolism, further explanations and such

Apologies for the late contribution! My copy of the film FINALLY came on Saturday so anyone who hasn’t seen it or just wants to see it again, more than welcome to it!

Firstly, Laura, love the blog design!

And secondly, without sounding like a dick, after reading some of the posts and looking at the brief again, I think we’re being too obvious… the brief says

“Each group will be allocated a film. Your editorial shoot will be based loosely around the theme, styling and storyline- the film is a starting point and should provide inspiration and guidance.”

I could be wrong but despite not being highlighted I think the keywords there are loosely and starting point…rather than watching the film and seeing a leather jacket and red lipstick and recreating the same look onto our own model, are we not meant to draw inspiration from the film and do something else with it? I apologise if anyone’s offended but reading some of the things written, it feels like we’re searching for an image to mimic rather than coming up with something new that in some way relates to the film… I really don’t want to come off as a bitch but I just think we need to look a little bit deeper.

No point in repeating what’s been said but first viewing, notice the leather and lace and all that craic but after reading the brief over again and having the above doubts I watched it again and looked for more symbolic and contextual references. (My combined course is Media and I did Media for GCSE and A level, this kind of thing is what we’re examined on). I’ve then went further and looked into the original script and compared and contrasted and just general facts about the film… if I am wrong and none of this is needed then hopefully at least it will spark some sort of inspiration in someone.

First of all there are two versions of the film, both start differently and there is an alternate ending.

The film, contrary to belief, is not based around the Madonna, nor was she intended to be the star. The lead role is Roberta. Madonna was chosen for her confident sense of herself and her style. The films costume designer looked at Madonna's existing wardrobe and added and customised it to create Susan's wardrobe. The film has such strong stylisation because the essence was pre existing and then incorporated to fit characters and the downtown/nuwave/punk vibe of the film which was representative of contemporary New York. Orion wanted a valued name to sell the film and Rosanna Arquette was then cast as Roberta, the lead role and intended star. Madonna was a cult name at this time. Her fame escalated shortly before the film was released. The film was never meant to be mainstream and was originally intended to be R-rated, for college students and older but when Like A Virgin was released and Madonna's name began to come more popular and she developed a pre-teen fan base and the film was then edited to be PG-13. The films real message was then slightly blindsided from finding yourself, embarking on a weird, wonderful, whimsical journey of self discovery and creating your own identity to Roberta becoming an on screen Madonna wanna be and dressing up like your idol. It's not meant to be mimicry and ironically what I think we are meant to be doing for this assignment, taking something from someone else and making it our own. Rosanna Arquette's initial stardom in the film then dimmed next to Madonna's new discovered fame.

Instead of going form the start of the film and going through to the end I've tried grouping things together but honestly they nearly all overlap and hopefully everything will make sense by the end...

Identity

The film begins in a beauty parlour to either One Fine Day or the Shoop Shoop Song depending on which version you've watched. The beauty parlour is symbolic of change and altering identity. It's about what's inside vs what's you want on the outside and the transformation from one to the next. Walk into the beauty parlour one person, come out a new one. Being remade.

When drinking with Dez they talk about the murder in Atlantic City, Dez says "maybe you're the killer". Roberta didn't kill the man but she did kill part of herself.

The Magic Club is where the two women eventually meet which is pretty much the completion on the transformation. The Magic Club suggest illusions and the idea of things aren't what they appear to be which is Roberta all over. It's the venue of wish fulfilment and completes the inside vs outside transformation which began in the beauty parlour. Possible locations or prop ideas for studio shoot.

A Journey

At the birthday party in New Jersey, Roberta feels out of place and looks out the window, across the bridge and sees New York, this then goes on to a bus which has just crossed the bridge, and Susan the mysterious woman steps off. Bridges are a connecting symbol, joining one place to another; one person to another in the case of this film. They're also about travel, adventure.

Connected to bridges is the use of water. Before Roberta goes to New York she is seen in the bath going under. Later, Susan is seen in the pool coming up. This represents the transformation. The end of Roberta as she was and the new Roberta as influenced during her time being Susan.

Dez's apartment starts at a chinese restaurant, through to a fire escape... etc and ends at his loft. This physical travelling highlights again a sense of adventure, journey from A to B, transformation and exploring new worlds.

Any of these can be used as a  studio backdrop/location

Colour

I disagree with the thought of no colour, there is a lot of black present yes but colour has been very important and cleverly used throughout the film and creates two distinct worlds at the very start. 

Roberta, the middle class suburban housewife has a pastel colour palette and is in an environment full of soft pinks, peaches and beige.

Contrast this with the first shot of Susan whose palette is more vivid and harsh, almost neon in certain places later in the film. Susan has the reds and oranges, blues, greens and despite her style being the flashy, glamourised side of grittiness and the darkness attached to the character, her colours are brighter, e.g. her pinks, by the hand drier, vs Roberta's pinks, above, in these early shots. A colour palette is important for choosing our outfits for the shoot.

Lighting isn't natural in the New York locations, especially in the night time shots, but most scenes seem to have two strong, contrasting main colours. By limiting the colour palette, a mood can be created, e.g., inside the club uses reds and purples and highlight the bars cash register in green.








But outside when Roberta is being followed whilst leaving the Magic Club, colours such as green and purple are used on the ground in the alley during the shots of Roberta and Miker's footsteps. Alleyways are not purple nor green. The limited colours also encourages audiences to focus attention to particular pieces of information such as the door through which Roberta finds the security guard after realising she's being followed. These methods are used to highlight and emphasise moods and objects and also create a hyper-reality where things are real..but still unreal. This kind of lighting was typical of MTV which wasn't too pervasive at the time. We can also use these unrealistic, almost nightclub like colours during our photoshoot.

Another example; red here symbolises danger.

Green is a dominant colour throughout. It's the symbolic colour for rebirth, renewal and also money. Susan's jacket is described by Jim as black and green with a pyramid.. at the end of the movie when Roberta comes to see Dez, she isn't wearing Susan's jacket but she wearing a green and black jacket of her own. This shows the change from old Roberta, to Susan, to new Roberta.

Egypt

The original script was aimed for an older audience and written for older actresses to play older characters. The film was originally intended for actresses such as Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton and rather than an 80's vibe, it was written for more of a 60's wondering hippie. A dominant theme in the movie is Egyptian. The original story was about a traveller who had a postcard from Egypt, not the Magic Club, in the suitcase which lead the other character to the Natural History Museum and there was a whole anthropological storyline which was scrapped when the story writers found their director who didn't want big names and decided to use up and coming local talent instead and made the film low budget. The anthropology train of thought was dumped but they kept it as a theme because a sub plot was needed to give the movie reason to continually bring the two women's lives together. Egypt is meant to be a far away place, another life, another world, mythical and magical. The earrings are purely a symbolic device to connect stray dots. They're an object for the sub plot, something which may appeal to "bad guys" but also just ownership in general...a treasure worth something, to have, to hold..."every man is desperate to have her"

Cat...cat burglar...gloves..theft

Other Egyptian references include the cats (Egyptian gods and also represent stealth, cat burglar, Susan's tendency to steal rather than work to support herself), and of course the pyramid on Susan's jacket which has a double meaning. The pyramid represents something exotic and adventurous about Susan's character which transfers to Roberta who is now embarking on an adventure. It is also, as stated, the image on a dollar bill and so stands to be a golden symbol for money and materialism. Material girl - Madonna.

Camel cigarettes were also used and product placed due to their sponsorship.

The alternate ending is when the Egyptian ambassador guy takes Susan and Roberta to Egypt and they're walking around in the desert and Jim and Dez are in New York...reading the paper, waiting to hear from them.

Egypt symbols in general can be easily put into a photograph but something like a camel or cat could be a lot harder. Egypt and the original hippie thoughts reminded me of the Bohemian type spreads in Harper's we looked at the other week which is straying a good bit from the film but an example of something different but relatable.

Feminism

This is not a typical love story. It is not about overcoming the obstacles to end up with "the one". It is a female friendship story. Gary is used to epitomise an exaggerated portrayal of the male chauvinists at the time. He goes into the kitchen after the birthday party and turns the light off on Roberta when he leaves the room like she doesn't even exist when he is not there.

Another phallic reference

Cigarettes are a phallic symbol. Susan smokes, Susan enjoys sex and a wild carefree life filled with men and random hook ups organised through newspaper personal ads. Roberta does not smoke, her husband claims that she doesn't even like sex much, but after meeting Dez, she thinks she smokes when she is Susan and first opens the suitcase then coughs up after her first drag. Dez suggests quitting but Roberta now grows a lust for the man who has helped her.

When Roberta's amnesia goes away and she remembers who she really is, she choses not to return to her old life and continues to work in the Magic Club because she can now be independent, she can now go into the world and look after herself, she has a job and can support herself, as opposed to Susan's theft and blagging methods of surviving.

In the Magic Club when the wig is taken from Roberta's head, there is a shot of her standing on the box between Dez and Gary. This shows her caught in the middle, between two men, two worlds, two lives, two versions of herself but also shows her to be above them. She doesn't need a man.

Masculine style clothing are used throughout such as the strong shoulders, blazers, Dez's ex girlfriend's outfit is very masculine for example or this visual dominance over men can be achieved in a photoshoot.

Just a little respect is quite feminist, girl power song.

Others

Doves are a symbol of hope. Roberta wants to change and needs to believe that it can happen.

Amnesia wasn't a medical concern in this film...at all. Was very much ignored that this woman hit her head and didn't remember anything and was played for comedic reasons rather than the serious issue that it is. DeJa vu is mentioned. Amnesia was a stock device used in 1930/40s comedies. 

Luck references, playing cards, gambling, Atlantic City, don't walk under the ladder...karma? fate?

Acting ability wasn't a main concern, producers had problems with Madonna who ultimately got the part for her screen charisma, attitude, persona, x factor quality...etc the same is needed from a model, not everyone takes a good photo.

Movie Theatre could be an interesting location to use..this was the era for film and music and other forms of expression and the film features quite a few references to going to the movies or being in the movies...Dez works in a theatre etc.

Gary meeting Susan is another example of sticking out, not belonging, fish out of water type of person. An uptight suburban on the dance floor with strange people, comedic but visually information and reconfirming of a theme.

Take note of the use of lighting

I like the idea of having two models, perhaps identical twins if possible as there is usage of identical triplets before Susan goes to make an ad looking for Roberta. I think this could be ironic in how do you find your own identity when you look exactly like someone else.

I do think our model(s) should be blonde because of all the carefree, wild connotations attached to blonde females - blondes have more fun and all that.

At the start of the film Roberta says she loves the word "desperate" because it's so romantic...in today's usage it's very much a negative thing and "desperately" following a person and essentially posing as them and taking on their everyday life isn't flattering, it's stalking and in a modern world, looking to hook up with a person wouldn't be through a paper and considered nice, it would be a text and called a booty call. This film is 30 years in the past and if you change to today's terms it has a very different meaning.

When Roberta leaves Dez's after over hearing his conversation with Jim she appears to be forlorn and at a time when she appears genuinely desperate, she looks at the personals, desperately seeking Susan...for Psychology last year we did a experiment looking at personal ads and found that men flaunt their wealth and success and look for a younger, attractive women, which was reiterated in the film, and women generally described their physical appearance and look for a man with different forms of security e.g. job/car/own home etc so is she really looking for Susan or if she considering giving up and going back to Gary?

External and modern contexts

The film took inspiration from French film Celine and Julie Go Boating. This film also landed Desperately Seeking Susan the Magic Club location instead of the Natural History Museum.

Thought along feeling out of place and not comfortable in your own skin and the fact that I misread the tshirt in the dance club which said "NEITS" for "Misfits" it reminded me that Alicia has some strong 80s themes in some of her styling, especially in terms of her hair and hair accessories.

The Sweetest Thing intertextualises the film in a dress up montage.

Cindy Lauper - when Madonna was lesser known, she was mistaken for Cindy Lauper during filming for this movie.

Alice in Wonderland

Wizard of Oz

Pretty Woman

Pop art

DeJa Vu - Beyonce

Madonna songs - Material girl, get into the groove, like a virgin etc

Quotes

Woman of mystery

Woman of surprises

Voice of rock

Every is man desperate to have her

One is woman desperate to be her

Someone is desperate to kill her

Wanna play?

A life so crazy/outrageous it takes two women to live it

Something different, nothing weird

Keep the faith

All your fantasies can come true

The big picture

More to life than making money

Beauty fades

Look at me

Dance for inspiration

I apologise for the length of the post, again for any offence at what was said at the start but maybe a deeper understanding will help in some way or something that has been said will create a thought that wasn't there before or I don't know..

Pictures will be added to help explain things like the colour points, anything that doesn't make sense, say and I can explain, the last couple of points are things I thought of during writing all this and I get ideas from quotes so included them too and this has taken me hours to change from note form...hope some of it helps

Keara x