It’s often the case that the most obscure films end up being vitally important and influential reference points for many artists, designers, musicians and creative people.
This is exactly what happened with Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, a movie that turned into a cult for many young women and for most members of the Riot Grrrl movement.
Directed by Lou Adler, written by Nancy Dowd under the pseudonym Rob Morton and shot in 1981 in British Columbia, the film follows the vicissitudes of three teenage girls, sisters Corinne and Tracy Burns (Diane Lane and Marin Kanter) and their cousin Jessica McNeil (David Lynch regular Laura Dern) and of their band, The Stains.
The girls join glam act The Metal Corpses and British punk band The Looters (more or less The Professionals, since the band features on the screen ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, Paul Simonon from The Clash and actor Ray Winstone as the singer - The Looters also sing a 1981 hit by The Professionals, "Join The Professionals") in a nationwide tour of the States.
Despite not being able to play, thanks to Corinne, who radically reinvents the band's look and starts sporting on stage a blonde/dark hairstyle that is soon dubbed the skunk-style, red lightning eye makeup, black stockings, lace pants and a red see-through blouse with nothing underneath, the girls turn into a sensation.
Disaster and betrayal are around the corner, but in the meantime The Stains manage to get enough loyal fans who start sporting the same outfits of the three girls.
Music fans may have caught the film – that was briefly released in cinemas in 1982 – on late night TV or at art house cinemas, though in recent years The Fabulous Stains was rediscovered at a few underground film festivals all over the world.
The movie is on tonight at Glasgow’s Gft (7.30 p.m.), so it would be interesting to briefly go through its main themes in this post.
Often mentioned by Courtney Love as an inspiration, The Fabulous Stains features a strong heroine, angst-ridden Corinne, a teenager who has just lost her mother to cancer and who rejects the idea of being raised in a small town (where there isn’t any space for creativity) by a young but narrow-minded aunt who doesn't seem to have the courage to rebel to conventions.
The film could be read as a tale about fame and stardom, but it is also a critique of burnout old rockers, shady agents, teenage exploitation, the media, consumer culture and the music industry (so it could still teach a couple of things to the Big Brother/Lady Gaga generation and to all the young people who tend to believe in fake fabricated icons…).
At the same time The Fabulous Stains could be analysed from a fashion and style point of view: it is indeed when Corinne radically changes her look that teenage girls enthusiastically start imitating her.
Yet it’s important to highlight that Corinne is also authentic: she comes up by herself with her new look, mottos and slogans - from the song “I’m A Waste of Time” to “I’m perfect, but nobody in this shithole gets me, ‘cause I don’t put out!” and “Every girl should be given an electric guitar on her 16th birthday”.
In a nutshell, Corinne is not a puppet in the hands of a powerful stylists and managers.
In fact, after the band manages to get legions of fans, a shady agent starts marketing The Stains' look, trying to cash in on stuffed toys, posters and red blouses.
Betrayed and abandoned Corinne understands that her band has turned into a vitally important reference point for many other teenagers when she sees two girls on a scooter with an electric guitar.
A must for nostalgic ‘80s fans, for admirers of bands such as The Professionals (in the film The Stains steal the hit "Join The Professionals" from the Looters...) and for angst-ridden teenage girls hoping to start one day their own band, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains remains an inspiration for many young women (the TV journalist who first reports about The Stains defines them as “an appeal to resist life as we know it…”).
Oscar winner Nancy Dowd even had to fight sexual harassment on the set from the crew, but to know more about the film, its connections with punk, its main characters and style, check out the following documentary about its making (and many thanks to my brother for digging out his copy of the film for the screen captures in this post).
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Those are super cute. I like you on Facebook.
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