Lazy Movie Weekend: Welcome to Cleveland

 

"No duck is an island. And if fate sent me here to save Earth, then Howard the Duck is ready to fight."

There is a story around the fantastic bomb of a film, Howard the Duck, that hints at the birth of a very popular and profitable animation studio we all know and love. It seems that George Lucas, executive producer and supporter of the film, was in debt and was banking on the success of Howard the Duck to help bail him out. This did not happen. He had just completed construction on Skywalker Ranch and began selling off assets. One of the assets he sold was part of the computer graphics division of Lucasfilms known as Graphics Group. Steve Jobs was one of the majority investors in this deal and the division would go on to become Pixar Animation Studios. Think of all the Pixar movies you love; now thank Howard the Duck.

I love this story. I've read it a couple of times over the years in articles about Pixar, George Lucas, and Marvel Studio films. It wasn't until I sat down to re-watch Howard the Duck for this LMW post that the story came back to mind (thanks IMDB). The 1986 film is considered one of the worst movies in history and was a huge financial bomb for Universal and for Lucas. Like so many of films I write about on LMW, Howard the Duck has gone on to become a cult classic and is adored by fans of the original comic book (published by Marvel starting in 1973) and people like me who found the movie about a space duck who saves the Earth oddly endearing and funny. I have never understood why Howard gets so much hate. Is it a great film? No, but it's not the worst film either. You can decide for yourself. Grab a Bud (that's what Howard drinks when he lands on Earth) and get comfy in your favorite chair. It's time for Howard the Duck.

1. Howard the Duck was the first attempt at a live-action adaptation of a Marvel comic book character since a 1944 serial featuring Captain America. 
2. So many duck sight gags, so little time. From movie posters (Mae Nest! Splashdance!) to  Marshington, DC on his license everything in Duckworld is a little bit like it is on Earth. Duckworld is like Earth except with ducks.
3. Note that Howard was in a band. This will be important later.
4. Like all heroes, Howard is just hanging out in his apartment minding his own business when something out of the ordinary happens to him. He is teleported to Earth and lands in Cleveland. 
5. Of course not only does he land in Cleveland but he also lands in the midst of a gang of punks who take him to a punk club where we meet the band Cherry Bomb and catch our first glimpse of Beverly.
6. Fun fact: Tori Amos, Belinda Carlisle, Paula Abdul, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Lori Singer all auditioned for the role of Beverly. I think Lea Thompson was the right choice.
7. Thompson did all of her own singing for the film and kept the Les Paul guitar that she plays. Sweet.
8. Howard, unlike superheroes, possesses no superpowers but he is a master of Quack Fu. This is nothing to laugh at.
9. Beverly's crimped hair - if any trend from the 80s returns I hope it's this one. Actually, Beverly's style is my favorite thing right now. How can I make this work in 2015?
10. Howard: What is this place? Beverly: Cleveland. Howard: Cleve-Land? Uh-huh. That is a perfectly weird name for this planet.
11. Not to hate on Cleveland again but another perfect quote: "Hey if I had someplace to go I certainly wouldn't be in Cleveland."
12. OMG - Beverly's apartment. Yes, it is in a craptastic neighborhood but seriously it's amazing. Do I have to move to Cleveland for this apartment? I bet even today that apartment wouldn't be that expensive. She has a window seat, y'all. What do I have to do for a space like this?
13. Tim Robbins! Robbins was a virtual unknown at this time (small roles in a few films) but is absolutely hilarious as Phil, the wannabe scientist who ultimately does figure out how Howard  came to Earth.
14. One of Phil's best quotes, "It's just a temporary job until I finish school and get my own museum." I think I might start saying this to people. I should have my own museum.
15. Howard parts ways with Beverly (for now) and goes to the Ohio Bureau of Employment Services. He gets a job a hot tub club (so gross) where we discover that he can't swim. A duck who can't swim? This will be important later.
16. "Space rabies!!!!" This is how Howard gets the band their money, becomes their manager, and terrifies an entire punk club. 
17. Fun fact: Six actors played Howard. Ed Gale is considered the primary actor and did most of the stunt work. Gale is also known for his work as Chucky in the Child's Play movies.
18. When I was younger, I was a huge Jem & the Holograms fan. Upon re-watching this movie, I've decided that Cherry Bomb is Jem & the Holograms if they were a band that played in dirty Cleveland punk clubs and hung around with space ducks. Also, "Cherry Bomb" was a song by an all female hard rock band, The Runaways (used on the soundtrack to Guardians of the Galaxy). I'm not sure if this is a reference to the band but I'm going to pretend it is.
19. Howard is as uncomfortable as everyone else is about the Beverly seduction scene. 
20. Enter Jeffrey Jones as Dr. Walter Jenning. Ferris Bueller's Day Off was released in the same year as Howard the Duck and Jones' principal, Ed Rooney, is one of the great teen movie villains. He is fantastic as Dr. Jenning, a scientist who eventually becomes a Dark Overlord and destroys a lot of stuff. 
21. It's science gone wrong that brings Howard to Earth. Totally plausible story. 
22. "There's no guard." No movie ever went well after this type of statement. 
23. Are you a CSI fan? Paul Guilfoyle, who played Capt. Brass on the show, is here as Lt. Welker.
24. The action picks up pretty quickly after the explosion at the lab. Jenning is on his way to becoming a Dark Overlord, Beverly and Howard hit the road with Jenning to escape, and Phil is arrested. We also see an odd Japanese diner destroyed, a fight with truckers, and the seasoning of Howard (they were going to eat him).
25. No one ever believes that your friend is a Dark Overlord.
26. Howard reunites with Phil and they fly (and I use this term loosely) back to the lab to save Beverly from becoming the mother of more Dark Overlords.
27. The action and special effects in this movie are so 1986 but were considered groundbreaking for the time. We are so spoiled today.
28. Suspension of disbelief time: Why is it so easy to get in and out of the lab? Wouldn't there be more police presence given all of the recent events and the fact that Howard was a fugitive? Why are he and Phil able to easily get to dangerous weapons to defeat the Dark Overlord? 
29. The Dark Overlord comes to life and looks like a crab, a scorpion, and an alien had a baby. It's not really scary and looks super fake but it gets the job done as far as creepy creatures from another dimension go.
30. Beverly and Phil are stunned by the Dark Overlord and it looks sort of like glitter. All I can think about is craft time gone wrong.
31. Howard has to do what any hero has to do: decide if he will sacrifice himself (in this case his ability to get back to Duckworld) or save Earth. With five seconds left.
32. Of course, the movie ends with a very 1986 musical performance. Beverly's costume is reminiscent of Tina Turner's in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Howard's guitar playing reminds me of Marty McFly in the Back to the Future.  Fun fact: the title song "Howard the Duck" was written by Thomas Dolby (who wrote all the film's songs) and George Clinton (yes the George Clinton of Parliament-Funkadelic)

So there you have Howard the Duck. I feel the same way about this movie that I do about the movie version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer; it was made before we were all ready for it. We live in a world now where movies like Ted exist and do very well and spawn sequels. Howard the Duck had the misfortune of being made too soon. George Lucas liked him too much to wait. That has to mean something. Howard recently made an appearance in the post-credit sequence in the Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy. James Gunn, the director of that film, has hinted the Howard might make another appearance in the future. Maybe Howard won't get a reboot but maybe he'll be returned to his rightful place in the weird and wonderful Marvel Universe. If we have room for a foul-mouthed talking raccoon and an endearing tree creature, why not for a sassy, kickass duck from space?

References:
Marvel Universe Wiki
IMDB
Wikipedia: the movie; the comic

Images:
Howard
Howard and Phil

RSD 2015: Toaster Strudel Day

I love Baltimore. It's one of my favorite cities in the US. I once described it as what would happen if New Jersey and Savannah had a baby. I mean this with all the love in my heart. To me, Baltimore is an interesting and odd mix of Southern charm and Northeastern industry that is both grimy and endearing. If the commute were better I'd probably live in Baltimore. Since I moved back to the DMV I've celebrated Record Store Day in DC and Virginia so it's time to take a little trip and visit Charm City and one of my favorite record stores, The Sound Garden.

Joining me on this year's adventure are RSD champion Anita and RSD newbie Matt. Our planning was relatively easy: there was an email circulating yesterday that involved snack planning (we're counting this as a road trip), coffee orders, and an inexplicable picture of a kangaroo. I also made mix CDs (yes I burned them on actual CDs). This was a major conversation topic on the way home - Matt is convinced that I need to sign up for Spotify immediately. Anita complimented my extensive liner notes. I'm a person who buys records so I don't see mix CD making stopping anytime soon.

I digress.

If I had to pinpoint what I enjoy most about RSD it would come down to two things: the record hunt and the feeling of community that you feel in a record store. I get that digital music is easier in many ways (accessibility, storage, sharing) but I have never felt the same downloading a song as I do listening to it on a record or a CD. Or physically giving someone music or finding that one album that completes a collection. It's satisfying in a way that downloading music is not. Nick Hornby said it best, "Record stores can't save your life. But they can give you a better one." I like to believe that the majority of people who come out for RSD feel the same way or at least love a band or a musician enough to enjoy the spirit of the day rather than buying up special releases and selling them on eBay. I can dream.

Today was an absolutely beautiful, sunny day; more summer than spring. I dare say it was the perfect day for waiting in line outside a record store and for a privateer festival. That was our first surprise of the day: a privateer festival was going on just up the street from The Sound Garden. I had no idea this was going on but was wondering why a guy was getting into a costume in the parking garage where we parked. As we joined our newest friends in line at The Sound Garden, a stream of pirates (ladies too) and privateers and fans of pirates and privateers paraded by on their way to the festival. (Fun fact: a privateer is basically an authorized pirate; a government wants to use the ships and crews so they authorize them to attack vessels on their behalf.) I give them all credit for excellent costumes and enthusiasm that can only be matched by an RSD fan in line in the hot spring sun. Pro tip: always bring sunscreen to RSD - I am paying for forgetting this as I type.

I've had to wait in line before but not like this. The Sound Garden just expanded their vinyl room and set up a great flow for the day. The entrance was actually the back entrance of the store and then you exited through the front where the used CDs and DVDs are. That way, people who didn't want to come to RSD could still shop. However, they could only let so many people in at a time so we waited about two hours just to get in. Hats off to The Sound Garden staff though; the line moved as fast as it could, they were super helpful and friendly (as they always are), and the new vinyl room is wonderful. It was easy to find the RSD special releases and browse the regular new and used vinyl. 

What was most fun this year was waiting in line. I know that seems silly but it was. We made friends with the people in front of us and chatted with them throughout the wait. Matt and Anita had not met prior to today but got along famously so our conversations were fun and interesting (and didn't involve work talk or mega awkward lulls). There were Wayne's World jokes ("Car", "Game on") and a discussion with the couple in front of us about what the new vinyl room would smell like (Matt's answer: Dave Grohl's hair; true answer: new paint, fresh wood, and plastic). Anita and I also did a mildly dramatic reenactment of past RSDs that was both funny and a little sad. The best part of our line friends had to be the guy who told a young woman who asked him why we were waiting in line that it was Toaster Strudel Day and we were waiting for free toaster strudel. She believed him. I'm not sure what this says about him or her. Of course this led to a discussion of how else we could answer this question and my absolute failure when a guy asked me the same question. I told him the truth and Matt called me on it. The guy was on the indie/punk rock boy spectrum of my "type" so I wasn't going to lie. Full sleeve tattoos are distracting.

So what did we end up with for two hours in line, a parade of privateers (which honestly was a gift in itself), and a sunburn? For the first time in four years I actually bought almost exclusively RSD releases with only three non-RSD albums in the mix (Big Star and Johnny Cash). I was pleasantly surprised when I found the Alex Chilton 7" special release (the only special release I really wanted); I may have squealed when I found it. Matt had initial RSD newbie panic when he first started looking around but recovered quickly and found several items on his list. Anita was really just browsing but did find an odd Heart record where they sing with Sarah McLachlan. Who knew?

All in all a successful RSD. We all got some new additions to our collections (special releases and stuff we just like), we made some new friends, my plan to dress like an extra in a John Waters movie worked (apparently), and we ended our day with the Matt College Tour through Baltimore. This culminated with a very late lunch at Ryan's Daughter (excellent food by the way) where we ran into one of Matt's friends, Derek with whom we discussed how Baltimore and Detroit are similar (this may explain my Baltimore love a bit more - you know how I love Detroit). This is my fifth RSD and I believe it's my favorite so far. It was exactly the day that I wanted it to be without doing anything but enjoying myself and my friends. It wasn't overly planned, there were privateers, and I spent time hanging out with a bunch of people who love music the way I love music. And who don't mind a plastic dinosaur coming along for no apparent reason (his name is T-Rex Manning). Until next year...

RSD 2015: The Playlists

If you're not making your way out today for Record Store Day, you can still listen to the mix CDs I created for our trip up to Baltimore. Check back later tonight for a full rundown of RSD 2015!

RSD 2015: On to Baltimore

1. Good Morning Baltimore - Nikki Blonsky
2. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes
3. Be Impressive - The Griswalds
4. Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters
5. Who Loves the Sun - The Velvet Underground
6. Take to the Sky - Tori Amos
7. In The Street - Big Star
8. Liar - The Cranberries
9. Portland Oregon - Loretta Lynn & Jack White
10. Alex Chilton - The Replacements
11. Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley
12. There Is So Much More - Brett Dennen
13. Thunderstruck - AC/DC
14. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
15. Rock The Casbah - The Clash
16. Wild Child - Lou Reed
17. New York Groove - Ace Frehley
18. She's A Rebel - Green Day
19. I Love Rock N Roll - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
20. Gimme Danger - The Stooges

RSD 2015: The Return

1. Congregation - Foo Fighters
2. Lord Send Me An Angel - The White Stripes
3. No Anthems - Sleater-Kinney
4. The Ballad of El Goodo - Big Star
5. Snakeface - Throwing Muses
6. Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
7. Jolene - Dolly Parton
8. The Man Who Sold The World - David Bowie
9. Life Is A Highway - Tom Cochrane
10. Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Urge Overkill
11. Home - Daughtry
12. This Time Tomorrow - The Kinks
13. Heavy Metal Drummer - Wilco
14. Apple Blossom - The White Stripes
15. In The Garage - Weezer
16. Saddam a Go-Go - GWAR
17. Beyond Here Lies Nothin' - Bob Dylan
18. Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
19. This Is The Day - The The

Enjoy! Off to Baltimore...

Prelude to Record Store Day

My sniffling means two things: spring is finally here and Record Store Day is right around the corner! I always seem to get a cold/major allergy attack right before RSD. It would make more sense if it happened afterward since I spend the better part of a day in record stores, digging through bins of dusty records. Maybe it's my body's way of building up a tolerance for dust before the big day. I'm not a doctor so I really can't say.

One of the things I enjoy most about RSD is that I get to add "new" music to my collection of both CDs and records. By "new" I mean things that are probably older than me and are by bands that either don't exist anymore or haven't put out new music lately (with some notable exceptions). I've never been the kind of RSD participant that gets up at the crack of dawn to get in line to get the special releases; I tend to go a little later in the day and enjoy the live music (if I'm at a place with live music) and search the stacks for items that will fit into my musical library. I have a running list in my head that I look for anytime I go to a record store:

• Bowie
• Lou Reed and/or The Velvet Underground
• The Replacements
• Classic musicals
• Random 70s hard rock bands
• Big Star
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
• Sleater Kinney
• Johnny Cash
• Dolly Parton
• Any 80s movie soundtrack
• New York punk bands from the 70s

I also like to find unusual album art just for fun. I also keep a second running list of things that my friends or brother might enjoy. You never know what you're going to find and it might be the thing that makes your friend happy. Win win as far as I'm concerned.

I like to collect things, not in a hoarder kind of way, but in a these are the things I enjoy and that make me an interesting person to talk to way. I always have enjoyed collecting things - books, stuffed animals, Legos, Barbies, Rainbow Brite toys, Russian nesting dolls, owls, music, shoes. Collecting is comforting; that's actually one of the psychological aspects of collecting. It provides the collector with a connection to a memory or a place or a person. Some collectors do it for money but most of us just like our things and stuff (to be technical). I don't consider my collecting of anything a hobby per se; with the exception of RSD, I don't really go out of my way to get any of the things I like and I have a limit on what I will spend on most items. I was reading an article this week about a man who basically bankrupt his family to collect coins. The story ends happily with them getting something like $30 million when the collection was sold but why would you want to put people through that type of stress for stuff you like? That I don't understand.

Collecting is actually a characteristic of one of my top five strengths according to the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment.  The strength is input and this is what the assessment has to say about input and the need to collect:

You are inquisitive. You collect things. You might collect information -- words, facts, books, and quotations -- or you might collect tangible objects such as butterflies, baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or sepia photographs. Whatever you collect, you collect it because it interests you. And yours is the kind of mind that finds so many things interesting. The world is exciting precisely because of its infinite variety and complexity. If you read a great deal, it is not necessarily to refine your theories but, rather, to add more information to your archives. If you like to travel, it is because each new location offers novel artifacts and facts. These can be acquired and then stored away. Why are they worth storing? At the time of storing it is often hard to say exactly when or why you might need them, but who knows when they might become useful? With all those possible uses in mind, you really don't feel comfortable throwing anything away. So you keep acquiring and compiling and filing stuff away. It's interesting. It keeps your mind fresh. And perhaps one day some of it will prove valuable.

This description makes me feel good about lots of aspects of my life. Why do I feel the need to memorize quotes from my favorite movies or random facts or the names of presidential assassins? Why do I read constantly? Why do I collect records? It also helps to prove that I would make an exceptional addition to any trivia team and would probably kill it on Jeopardy. If I combine my third strength, learner, with input I can actually combine several aspects of learning into my person: loving learning for the sake of knowledge collection and its use AND loving the actual process of learning. Not only does this help explain my collecting but it also makes my career trajectory make sense when I step back and consider the jobs I've had and even the things I do in my free time (tour guide, docent). To some extent everything has been learning centered in either the input or learner way. Finally something makes sense.

I'm in the middle of one of my new hire training classes right now and I caught myself saying the exact same thing to this group that I have said to at least the last four or five groups: we are very good at teaching students what their weaknesses are and what they're not good at but we don't spend enough time teaching them what their strengths are and how to use those strengths to be the best them they can be. We do this as adults too; it's easier to focus on the negative than to really have a vocabulary of positive when it comes to who we are and what we enjoy. I don't mean to say that we should never think about improvement or anything. We just need to do it in a way that doesn't make us feel bad all the time.

If none of this makes any sense, blame the cold/sinus/allergy medicine I'm taking. I feel like my brain might be a jumble of things right now and I'm surprised that this isn't one long string of words like "bicycle, unicycle, unitard, hockey puck, rattle snake, monkey monkey underpants."*

Next weekend: I'll take you on my annual RSD adventure all the way up to Baltimore at the Sound Garden. Check it out!

*From Lorelai's famous rant in the Gilmore Girls episode "Santa's Secret Stuff" (season 7, episode 11).

Lazy Movie Weekend: Claire did it.

Like Samantha Baker, the heroine of 1984's Sixteen Candles, I can remember a lot of things. Birthdays, family vacations, what my friends wore on dates so they wouldn't repeat an outfit, quotes from every movie I've every watched - you know, important things. However, one thing that I can't remember, at least not in any grand amount of detail, is the first time I watched The Breakfast Club. Arguably one of the most significant teen focused movies of all time, The Breakfast Club was released in theaters when I was 6 years old (1985) so I was not a first generation Brat Pack/John Hughes fan. I was a child of the late 80s/early 90s; I watched the movie for the first time on a VHS tape at someone's house at some point before the 8th grade. That's all I remember from an event/location perspective.

What I do remember from that first viewing is the actual movie and how it became an obsession of mine immediately following that experience. I have probably seen The Breakfast Club over 200 hundred times (probably a low estimation). I have owned it on VHS and DVD (two copies because I wore on of them out). I have the soundtrack on cassette tape and CD and it's in my iTunes library as we speak. I know the movie by heart, including most of the songs, and occasionally find myself quoting it just because. I listen to the song "Don't You (Forget About Me)" multiple times in a week, sometimes multiple times in a day. I've read books about the film and John Hughes and written by the cast members (Ally Sheedy and Molly Ringwald primarily). I've even been to the high school that was used for filming and the one that gave the movie it's name (perk of my training job). I may have gotten all teared up with the movie and the song were used in Pitch Perfect. I wrote a post for this blog about my ideal fan conferences one of which focused on John Hughes movies and meeting Molly Ringwald. I guess this means I'm a super fan.

All of my friends know of my obsession and have to some degree, participated in it over the years. Whether it was simply watching it with me again (thanks Heather and Kelly) or putting up with my need to put "Don't You (Forget About Me)" one every mix tape I make (everyone I have ever made a mix tape for), they've been supportive and a bit indulgent. That's what friends are for I guess. And thanks to Anita, I have now seen the movie in a movie theater like God and John Hughes intended me to. You see, it's the 30th anniversary of The Breakfast Club. How do we celebrate such significant events? By going to a Fathom Events special screening of the movie with other super fans. Anita was kind enough to not punch me as I quoted the majority of the movie. This is a mark of true friendship.

This was my first time attending a Fathom Events movie screening. With regular films, there's always a bonus of some form and for this screening of The Breakfast Club it came in the form a special anniversary feature preceding the film. This included actors from the film like Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson (looking very 2015 New Jack City), Anthony Michael Hall, and John Kapelos who played Carl (and who is awesome). Also featured were screenwriter Diablo Cody and author Hank Stuever. If you haven't read his book Off Ramp, I suggest you do so after finishing this post. It's a favorite of mine. There were also some other "authorities" on pop culture and 80s movies (why isn't this my job?). Anyway, one of the topics of discussion was the transformation of Sheedy's character at the end of the film. I have a lot of opinions on this particular topic; probably as many as I have about that horrible dress at the end of Pretty in Pink.

Sheedy's character, Allison, is the weirdo of the detention group. She doesn't speak for the first 39 minutes of the movie and she does things like use her dandruff (Parmesan cheese by the way) to decorate an intricate sketch she's drawn on the library table. She also eats a sandwich comprised of white bread, mayo, Cap'n Crunch, and Pixie sticks. Eventually, she does talk and we find out that her parents ignore her and that she's a compulsive liar. We all knew an Allison in high school (or were Allison in high school to some degree). She's pretty but is not the teenage ideal when it comes to fashion or beauty and she doesn't really care. Allison is the only one of the group that is comfortable with who she is before coming into detention even if her home life is "unsatisfying" as she describes it to Andrew.

By contrast, Claire is the princess, the most popular girl in school. She is pretty, fashionably dressed, her makeup is impeccable, and she is what high school guys want (at least in 1980s teen movie standards). By the end of the movie, the characters have fulfilled their duties as the stereotype/archetype they are representing but have also come to realize that those roles are stupid and unnecessary. As the day winds down, new friendships have been formed (maybe they'll hang out on Monday) and two possible couples emerge. The other thing that you should notice at the end is that Claire begins to orchestrate the end of the day from getting Brian to write the paper for everyone to surprising Bender with a kiss. She knows Brian is the smartest and that Bender got her in some way and she has to admit that in order to actually learn anything from the experiences of the day. That brings us to Allison's makeover.

I've always been torn about this part of the movie. If you look at this moment on the surface level, it seems wrong. It's like Allison changes to fit into a cooler clique at school. She becomes a mini-Claire "without all that black shit under your eyes" and Andrew has a reaction to her new look that is very sweet and endearing. She is still defensive in this first moments with her new look but still her; she steals his patch, she gets a little tense when Andrew says she looks different, almost like she's going to lash out at him for saying something bad about her. She even says "Claire did it" as a way to justify the new look. In the pre-movie feature, Diablo Cody takes this argument and expresses her dislike for Allison's transformation. Up until a few years ago, I would have agreed. I always thought that Allison sold out at the end, that she conformed.

But I don't believe that anymore. If you think about the movie as a whole each character has created some form of mask or armor for themselves so that they can get through high school and move on with their lives. Bender is angry and defiant, Brian is the smartest kid in school, Andrew chooses to be whoever his family says he should be, Claire is perfect, and Allison is a mute weirdo. Their clothes, makeup (for the girls), and body language speak to this throughout the movie. It's only through their realization that they're not that different from one another that they shed these masks/armor. Allison reminds me of the work of the artist Mickalene Thomas. I discovered Thomas during my docent training this summer. Her work focuses on ideas of female identity and beauty, specifically for African-American women. What reminded me of Thomas during my recent re-watching of The Breakfast Club is this quote of hers about her work with rhinestones:

"I feel like the rhinestones in my paintings are like that really glossy lipstick that women wear. It's another level of masking, of dressing up."

I think for Allison the makeover is just that - dressing up. She's trying on a new persona, a new look as teenagers often do. We all went through phases growing up and maybe we still go through them as adults. We have to try on different looks and ideas to find the things that we truly believe in and that express who we are as a person. Now I like to think about Allison's makeover as just a part of her evolution as a person. Maybe in a few months she realizes she really misses all that black eye makeup and she brings it back. Maybe she decides pastels are really her thing. Maybe she throws all of that out the window and figures out her new look. Allison is not less Allison because Claire softened her eyeliner and brushed her hair. I think she's more herself at the end of the movie because she found her voice. She can wear a ton of eyeliner or a hairband and a pink shirt. That doesn't change who she is.

I leave you with this:

Claire & Allison image
Allison - Before & After image
Video clip from YouTube