Fashioning the Body: Versions of the Citizen, the Self, and the Subject

Superstar-The Karen Carpenter Story

It's a montage.

No, it's a black and white movie.

No, it's puppets.

No,it's a docudrama.

Whatever it is, it's kind of strange.

Full disclosure- I grew up in a Carpenters loving family. One of the few things my mom and grandma could agree on was the fact that Karen Carpenter had an amazing voice. That being said I can continue now.

On one hand, I think it's brilliant to use Barbies to recreate a story about a person who suffered from eating disorders. And using the made for television movie as a guideline for that movie is just a stroke of genius. However, I find that it's interesting to note what was considered important enough to be included in Superstar. It seemed to me that there was an emphasis placed on the effect that Karen's family had on her eating disorder. But there was little mention of the pressure of being in the media spotlight had on her. It's not a big suprise to me that she felt this pressure when you take into account the emphasis that the entertainment industry places on physical appearance.

Here's a really great video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUTJQIBI1oA