Camp review- A Little Bit of Good and a WHOLE LOT that's not.
I want to tell y'all something. Sometimes (not often), I wish that I hadn't started educating myself on feminism/anti-oppression issues a couple of years ago. Also, sometimes (not often), I watch/read something that leaves me thinking "that could have been SO GOOD! If only
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I agree with some of the things you're saying, but I think for the most part you're stretching a lot of it. I'm going to follow your numbered list, which might come off as more belligerent than I mean it too (I don't mean it like, EVERY ONE OF YOUR POINTS IS WRONG AND HERE IS WHY) but rather just to keep my thoughts straight. Camp is by no means my favorite movie (it's just not very good), but I like it a lot, and I've watched it a lot, so I feel like I must disagree with some of your points. Part of it may be that I first saw it when I was fifteen or so, and I'm still clinging to that first viewing, but I don't think so.
1. Jenna's (I think that's her name) jaw being wired shut has nothing to do with silencing her as a woman of color. It just isn't related. Her race is inconsequential to that happening. In a different movie, yeah, maybe (even her parents, also black, want her black voice to be silenced! internalized racism!) but it's just not that kind of film. She happens to be black because this is one of the more racially diverse casts I've seen in teen movies (especially because it's about musical theater, a world that is really dominated by white actors, and about a camp, which is generally available to people who can afford it, who more often than not are white). As for fat-shaming, yeah, but that's the point. The point is that her parents are trying to teach her that she can't be talented or beautiful if she's overweight, and her whole storyline is based on her overcoming that and showing them otherwise. And her jaw gets wired shut, silencing her, because it's a funny way to show how absurd her parents are being. She's at musical theater camp, and she can't speak or sing. It's silly.
2. Okay, yeah, true. See, not disagreeing with everything! Though to be fair, they do show some equally bad skinnier people.
3. Yeah, true, the film doesn't show any non-gay theater gays besides Vlad, or any non-het relationships. BUT Dionne does have a crush on Michael--that's why she sleeps with him, even though she knows he's gay. So not all the girls only love the one straight guy, although even if they did, I don't see why that's weird. I only get crushes on straight guys. Also, the plot revolves basically around Ellen and her friends, all of whom happen to be gay guys, because she fits in better with them than with the girls at camp. So that's why that's like that. As for the no gay-on-gay romance, yeah, they could have done it, but I really think it's more of an omission than a pointed anti-gay thing. Plus, I feel like Fritzi's worship of Jill is a little homoerotic in nature.
4. Remember the scene where the guy and his little brother (can't remember names) complain about Fiddler on the Roof, and the director explains that it's color-blind casting? Putting Ellen as the lead in Dreamgirls is just like that. Yeah, Sasha Allen is absurdly fucking talented, but in real life. Not as Dionne, necessarily. They're playing characters, not themselves, and we as viewers are invited to believe that Ellen is one of the strongest singers in the camp. Plus, Dionne gets the lead in the song in the beginning, and Ellen doesn't lead any full song herself.
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5. I definitely don't think the message of Vlad's OCD thing is "my disability is harder than racism and homophobia." I think it's just, "I have problems too." Because Michael (who's played by Robin de Jesus from In the Heights, didja know?) basically worships Vlad, not only because he likes him, but because he kind of wants to be him. And Vlad's like, check it, we've all got shit. As for the OCD jokes, idk, that's how you act with friends. That's how I act with my friends. When you're close with someone, you can joke about sensitive subjects like that.
6. Michael is out, but he's not comfortable with his sexuality. Like I said, he basically want to be Vlad, and he thinks sleeping with Dionne will somehow fix all his problems. And Dionne then makes out with Vlad, yeah, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest that this has any relation to her race. I think it has to do with... being sixteen, and being insecure, and also becoming a sexual being. Plus, no one in the film ever refers to Dionne's actions as promiscuous or inappropriate. No one thinks she did anything wrong to begin with, so how could any part of the film blame her actions on her race? Again, I think you're reading into it too much. We can't simultaneously call for more POC characters in films and then interpret every action of these characters as A Racial Stereotype. It happens, yeah, but sometimes it doesn't. If we decide to read every action by a black character as indicative of some kind of racism, no matter the context, we'll never get anywhere. Yeah, the Jezebel stereotype exists. But only in some contexts. This just isn't one.
7. I don't think anybody actually acts like Michael is magically straight after he sleeps with Dionne, except maybe Vlad, because Vlad is an idiot. Yes, what Ellen says is terrible, I agree, and she should get called out on it. But 1) she only says it to be a bitch, because she's upset, which I think is why Michael lets her off the hook for it and 2) though what she says is false, it is sort of true in this context. That is, Michael doesn't really seem to be bisexual, he just slept with Dionne because he wants to be straight. So yeah, that part sucks, but there is some context for it.
8. I don't think she's disparaging non-conventional gender presentation by any means. She doesn't mean, "I can't hang out with these faggots in dresses anymore." She means, "I need to make some other friends, because I'm using these friends as an excuse not to have romantic relationships or be friends with girls either." It sounds worse than she means it. One of the themes in the film is Ellen's emotional development, and for her, her gay friends are her safe haven from growing up and maturing. And yeah, she has no real reason to get with Vlad. But I think that falls under the "this is not a great movie" category than the "this is a problematic movie" category.
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And I guess my POV is that, even if the problematic readings weren't ~intended~, as such, the fact that certain aspects of the films plot still do play into those tropes is...troubling. And worth looking at.
Most of your points are really good. I just want to mention one thing re: colour-blind casting. And this is a "my opinion" sort of thing, so keep that in mind.
My perspective on colour-blind casting is basically that it's important, but as a tool to ensure actors of colour get roles they wouldn't be looked at for normally. That is to say, I feel like it's meant to rectify the fact that--given no specific directions to the contrary--people tend to skew white in casting. So I feel like casting a white woman in one of the (relatively scarce) leading roles written for a PoC is kind of...I don't know. Not really true to the spirit in which colour-blind casting came about?
And I do agree that Camp is actually a lot better than quite a few movies I've seen. I think I mentioned the diversity somewhere in my review, although the WALL OF TEXT makes it hard for me to tell and I'm too lazy to reread. I guess though, that I feel like certain plot points read differently when applied to PoC than they do when applied to white folk, because of the cultural history and so forth.
It is possible that I'm stretching it on the Jezebel point. The connection's pretty tenuous.
Guh. My thoughts are all over the place. I guess, if I had to boil it down to its essence, it would be this: intent matters. That's definitely true. And I definitely think Camp has its heart in the right place. But execution also matters, and there's some stuff in the film that is definitely cringeworthy. And that's worth unpacking.
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I guess I object to the fact that Michael's response to Vlad's telling him this is basically "Oh wow! You do have it worse than me!". I do get Vlad's motivation for telling Michael about his OCD, but I feel like the response was problematic.
And yeah. It's possible to make taboo jokes with friends, for sure. But when it's the only other reference to Vlad's disability in the entire film, it doesn't really represent a balanced/fair viewpoint. It just reads as "OCD is NO GOOD VERYBAD".
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