Hairspray is about an overweight teenager, Tracy Turnblad, who has big hair and an even bigger heart. Tracy has a passion of dancing and her dream is to appear on The Corny Collins Show, which is Baltimore’s hippest dance show on TV for teenagers. In this movie, each and every one of the characters has different personalities that make them only one of its kind and significant to the movie. Hairspray demonstrates various underrepresented characters in today’s culture throughout the movie.
The main character that stuck out more to me in the movie is Tracy Turnblad, and she is underrepresented in today’s ethnicity for being overweight. It’s not right to be mistreated because of your weight, how you look or even how you view things in life. Everybody is different, and unique in their own shape and form. The movie Hairspray not only talked about weight but also about race, sexual orientation and religion, those groups are underrepresented as well. Are they being underrepresented in a good way or bad way? It all depends on how people act towards them and how they show their values in things.
Tracy Turnblad is a beautiful plus sized girl. Every day Tracy’s dad tells her to follow her dreams, while her mother Edna reminds her that she doesn’t look like the girls on the show. Tracy doesn’t fit in with everyone else, because her plus sized figure has always set her apart from the cool crowd but that didn’t stop Tracy for going after her dreams. She’s a loyal friend to Penny, Seaweed, and Link. She’s very outgoing, always stood up for what is right, she’s confident, and she never gave up no matter what. Any obstacle that came her way she never backed down from it.
Throughout the movie, Tracy was prejudged based on her looks and people kept trying to belittle her to make her feel less important. Instead of admitting that Tracy has talent and good looks, they made fun of her because she was larger than others and she as well supported integration and they were against it. You shouldn’t judge someone till you know them and even if you know them they don’t deserve to be judge. They didn’t even give Tracy a chance to express herself, they just seen her and kicked her to the side all because of her size. This played a huge part in Tracy life.
Not being accepted for who you are is very challenging and bad. So people only looked at her based on what others think or see of her instead of actually trying to let her be herself. So basically, they just threw her under the bus because she was overweight and didn’t look like everybody else. Tracy never let her size get in the way, she knew she had talent and she wanted everyone to know it. You couldn’t help but to love Tracy, she spoke her mind about everything and when she wanted to do something she did it. Tracy was being identified as being a fat person who couldn’t be different.
Penny, on the other hand, one of Tracy’s best friends saw something different in her. Size was never a factor in their relationship. For an example, when Tracy went to try out for the Corny Collins show she was right by her side never thinking that Tracy would never make the show because of her size, which is a prime example of Penny indifference to Tracy size. Penny believed in her friend and always was there whenever she needed her, like joining her on a trip with the opposite race showing the true definition of a loyal friend.
Another scene where Penny showed her loyalty to Tracy, when things got a little rough for Tracy in the integration march, Penny showed support by disobeying her mother in what she believed would be right for her. Penny continued looking out for Tracy by giving her a place to stay in her home to prevent her from going to jail. She cared for Tracy as if they were sisters. Not once did Penny ever judged Tracy on her appearance but only loved Tracy for who she is and what she believed in she supported her throughout it all. In traditional friendships, people lean toward the cool and hip trends instead of just being themselves.
Everybody wants to fit in, but being different is really where it’s at. Tracy even made her mother get out of her shell. Her mother, Edna didn’t want to leave the house because she gained a little more weight than she used to be and she didn’t want the neighbors to see her that way but Tracy told her mother the world is changing. Being different is the new frontier and that she should live her life no matter what people think or see of her. Then her mother realized that her daughter is right, she have been hiding her inner self due to what people may think of her.
So she ends up being more confident and brave to do what she wants no matter what she does. Tracy mother was afraid to be judged by people, and Tracy was letting her mother know that people are going to judge you no matter what but you should always love yourself. I’ve learned that everyone is different and we should always respect each other no matter what those differences may be and Tracy deserved to be heard. Everybody have their own way of doing things and their own beliefs. Never over look a person’s personality based on their weight. I don’t agree how they treated Tracy like she didn’t belong because she was overweight.
Size doesn’t mean anything; beauty comes in different sizes, different personality, and different races. You have to accept people for who they are instead of judging them by their appearance. Back when I was in highschool, I used to always get talked about because I was short and skinny. People would always tell me I couldn’t do anything because I was short and that I’ll never be able to get on rides. They judged me on my size and never really got to know me. I didn’t like that, because I am more than just my size. I am a person with a huge personality that’s different. They tried to make it feel like people couldn’t be different.
Everybody had to be the same and that what’s making people only one of its kinds. I had to get people to look beyond my size and more into my individuality. In the movie, Tracy didn’t let what they thought of her bring her down and that’s why she had the friends that she did have. Not only was Tracy doing things for herself but she also made sure everybody else was right too. After a visit to detention hall, opened up her eyes to the racial tension on the Corny Collins Show. She then wanted to work for the rights of blacks on the show, that there shouldn’t be a Negro day every once a month but it should be every day.
Tracy then decided that they should do a walk to be heard. She wanted everybody to have the same rights. She didn’t believe in segregation, and that it should be stopped. Tracy believed that everybody is the same and everybody should be treated with the same respect as if there wasn’t any different race. Another character named Seaweed, an African American male who is one of Tracy close friends in the movie. He wasn’t a main character but then again he was. He and his mother Maybelle brought out how being a different race were being underrepresented in this movie. Seaweed was proud to be different as well.
He didn’t act like he was better than anybody. Which made him and Tracy became good friends. No matter what race they were, they didn’t let it affect their friendship or even how they viewed things. For an example, when Tracy first met Seaweed while in detention, he didn’t show any type of judgment towards Tracy because of her size or race. Back in the day, people didn’t care for integration. There was no such thing of having black and white friendships or even relationships with the different race but this movie wanted to tell and show people there’s nothing wrong with be integrated. It was going to happen anyway.
This brings back onto being prejudged before actually knowing the person. Tracy friends did not let her weight affect their relationship and they never judged her. They supported her throughout everything, always had her back. There’s nothing wrong with being different. Tracy stood her ground through everything she wanted to do. Being so confident in her, gave her everything she hoped for. All the people who judged her when they first saw her finally had a change of mind when she spoke up for people rights. The movie Hairspray teaches many lessons and wanted to seek out more to plus size women to be more positive in their selves.
Never let people bring you down because of what they think. They don’t personally know you, but you know yourself and it shows a lot about a person who critic people based on what they look like instead of getting to know them. As they say, never judge a book by its cover. In conclusion, Hairspray is a good movie and also brought out a lot of under-representation of reality. Everybody is different in their own way. Nobody should be pre-judged based on their weight, sexual orientation, and race. Who wants to fit in all the time? Embrace differences and love yourself no matter what people say. Be the change.
