Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains

Saw Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains. It was a muddy film about music. Lots of misdirection and conflicting readings. Young Corinne is the lead singer of a very garage-band-y group called The Fabulous Stains. She is wallowing in teen angst and surrounded by dissipated hypocrites and suburban drunks. She gets her big break and begins touring with a punk band, The Looters. After she turns a bomb performance into a free-associative rant at the audience she hits the big time and gains a cult following. The media reports on the phenomenon, guessing at and accidentally supplying The Stains with an overarching message (which is essentially, "don't let yourself be taken advantage of." This is thematically interesting.)

There's something clever to be said here about the way mass media exploits and subverts social movements, using them for airtime and then blithely moving on. Doubly interesting that this don't-be-fooled message is directed at women and girls. Corinne empowers herself by preforming in a sheer top and panties. But her fans, imitating her, only supply men with free lingerie ads. Then again, Corinne herself is not so philosophically pure. She rips off the punk stylings of The Looters and one of their songs. Is the punk band, then, meant to be the authentic voice of rock? Well, they're in turn shown ripping into an old Kiss-style rocker whom they hate. They eat him alive as The Stains will eventually devour them. Does no one win in this merry-go-round of exploitation? A moving scene with Corinne's aunt on the TV suggests otherwise. The closing moments of the film show The Stains achieving wealth and fame but The Looters are nowhere to be seen and the song they're singing is a lot more synth-pop-ey than it once was. Then again Corinne was always self-serving. Is she embracing her ideals by selling out? Like I say, a muddy film.

Frustratingly, the subtlety of the film's message is not mirrored in the characterization. The media personalities are simpering and paternal and clearly, blatantly evil. The suburban housewives at the beginning are snickering and vile, the punk band is authentic and attractive. It's always very clear how we're supposed to feel about any new character. Indeed, the manipulation of the audience is perhaps thematic. The film supplies its own hall of mirrors, warning me not to be manipulated, and then doing its best to manipulate me. A discussable film.