This weekend, I saw the remake of Fame. I did not have high hopes for this film. But, having seen the original version maybe sixty times or so between the ages of 12 and 18, in the end I just could not resist. And, in the sense that the movie was a totally Disney-fied, watered-down, big budget-trying-to-look-small budget, generic, and just generally lacking version of the original, I was not disappointed. But there was one good thing that came out of the experience: The new Fame, in all its badness and drippiness, reminded me how utterly awesome is the old Fame. Like, the original one.
There are many, many reasons why you should watch the original Fame. It's a movie about a bunch of teenagers who go to the Performing Arts high school in Manhattan -- and so naturally the movie is full of singing, dancing, falling in love, and putting on impromptu dancing-on-tabletops-style performances in the lunchroom. But what separates Fame from, say, Center Stage (which, okay, definitely has its merits) is the fact that this movie was made in 1980 and truly reflects the grittiness, and the insanity, and the generally neurotic subconscious of New York in that era. Which is also to say: the clothes are reflectively amazing. You think American Apparel does good crazy dancer outfits? Think again. Not only is there an astoundingly creative art of layering displayed here, but each character also expresses an incredibly strong individual aesthetic while simultaneously wearing ... believable outfits. (It helps that there is also character development in this film: It's way easier for a stylist to dress a character that has a personality than it is to outfit "just another pretty, demure naive.")
Perhaps I've been too harsh on this remake. There is some good stuff to be seen in it. Mainly Naturi Naughton, who is an amazing singer and performer -- even if her cardigan-sweater-and-turtleneck ensembles are painfully obv. But an overly-commercial, super-cheesy, big-budget teen movie is even more frustrating when it is a remake of a film that basically represents the opposite of all of those things. Now, I shall stop getting all nostalgic for "my youth" and step down from my soapbox. Just promise me you'll go watch the movie!
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