Not So Pretty Things
The lady and I watched CBC’s The Passionate Eye tonight which featured the documentary "Pretty Things" by Liz Goldwyn. To watch a possibly fascinating documentary about mid-century burlesque dancers ruined by a film-maker who tries to put some sort of post-feminist spin on what was essentially stripping made me want to punch the screen. Don’t get me wrong, I was hoping to listen to interviews with some of the dancers from that era. I wasn’t hoping for Liz Goldwyn to try and live out her romanticized version of burlesque on the screen. I thought I was just being cranky but a lot of people not only agree with my opinion but articulate it bettter.
I finally got around to watching this documentary and I pretty much agree with everyone about Liz Goldwyn. She came across so naive and pseudo-intellectual. She has romanticized burlesque to the point where it seems that she believes that it was all about female empowerment for these women. That it was much different and loftier than today’s strip acts. She is so shocked to hear that for those women, it was a means to an end…a way to make a living.
The scenes where Liz is getting lessons on burlesque and rehearsing her act, annoyed the heck out of me. I was more interested in hearing the stories these women had to tell. This was a total vanity project for Liz Goldwyn because it was more about her insecurity about her body and sexuality, her need to feel confident and sexy, etc.
However, aside from the annoyingness of Liz, I loved Zorita. I almost cried when I heard she had died. She was awesome. I loved how she told it like it was (well, as she saw it), and she totally saw through Liz. I loved it when Zorita called Liz on her seeming fascination (bordering on obsession) with her (Zorita) being a lesbian. I also heartily agreed with her assessment of Liz’s ugly shoes and dress.
It was fun seeing all of that old footage and seeing all of the old costumes and memorabilia. I liked hearing about the careful choreography that would go into a seemingly accidental movement. It was sad,though, to hear about those troubled backgrounds and how many of them got started in the business really young, like at 13 and 14 years of age.
Rachel Shteir from The Slate has an even harsher review.