A small town girl making her way to the big stage to live out her dreams~ Of course, it is not all smooth sailing. Actually, it is a lot of hard work, tears, reality, betrayal, trial and error, and determination.
On Wednesday I watched Burlesque with Rick, and I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would! This film is in no way a "let's try to show as much cleavage and booty as possible while making a flimsy plot line so we can say it's a movie and not porn" type of movie. As a matter of fact, nobody ever takes any clothes off. Singing and dancing features quite a bit throughout, but the characters and story are still the main focus.
Without giving away any spoilers, I'd like to say that Burlesque was a beautiful movie and really shows how Ali (short for Alice) tackles her way in the complex world of stage performance at a club with financial issues. She meets powerful people, both in the personality and influential sense of the word. She and Tess, the owner of the club both learn important lessons in life, love, money, friendship, and the importance of all of the above.
Burlesque is funny, sexy, touching, and real. I definitely recommend seeing it! Whether in theaters or on DVD I don't think it matters because Burlesque doesn't rely on any special effects or require a large screen for maximum impact.
Can't say too much more without giving away spoilers, but read on for just some random tidbits about Christina Aguilera from me :P If you remember her image/songs in the 90s, hopefully you'll click with me here!
The one thing that stood out to me a lot was her natural look. Can I just say, WOW SHE IS SO PRETTY WITHOUT HEAVY EYEMAKE!
She isn't one of those naturally drop-dead gorgeous girls, but she is pretty, and I actually like her natural face better than the super-made-up face one usually finds on the internet of her.
She really captured a "determined girl next door" feel for me. Her blind determination, her pig-headed have-no-fear-until-it's-too-late attitude, and her sudden surge to mini-stardom causing a whole mess of confusion, excitement, and confidence (over-confidence?).
I haven't been following Aguilera's career much after grade school - she just sort of dropped off the radar for me save for the Lady Marmalade song in Moulin Rouge:
Erm, see what I mean about the heavy eyemake?
But I really enjoyed this new spotlight on her, and hope she keeps on singing (or maybe acting)! Her voice really is unique and strong!
Anyway, I would like to end this post by saying, "go see this movie!" and also to ask, "I may not be an expert on burlesque, but I thought the point was to wear a lot and take it off while performing, but not actually getting naked."
What little I do know about the art of burlesque I learned from one of my classmates in MN who was a member of a local burlesque troupe. They performed at our school fashion show, which I watched on tape! Her in-a-nutshell description of their troupe was something along the lines of, "a striptease without getting naked, while presenting issues in society and individual members' talents (such as ribbons, flexibility, music, etc.)" I think the "issues in society" part was just something her particular troupe did, though. Most burlesque performances are just for entertainment, I think?
The performance I saw at school was a slow dance with fans where she would dance, remove her long dress, dance, remove the chains of jewels she was wearing over lingerie, and dance. The other one was a comedy performance where she lip-synced to a funny song-story while acting it out and ended up firing confetti from her bra.
So my question to you, my readers, is "If you have seen Burlesque, what did you think of it?" and also, "What do you think about the art of burlesque in general?" Love it? Think it's disgusting? Could care less either way? Let me know in the comments!
