In her article entitled Polyester: The Perils of Francine, art historian, critic and PhD in film studies Elena Gorfinkel examines the role of women in the work of director John Waters. The author assesses the film’s realization, features and subtext and compares it to other milestones in the director’s career. The film is seen as an excellent example of the mixing of parody and the most tearful genre, the so-called women’s film about the problems and peculiarities of a middle-class woman’s life and is quite highly regarded by the critic.
The author of the article notes the paradoxes of melodramatic femininity that Waters notes in the example of the film’s protagonist. The combination of mock hypocrisy, hystericality, and excitement in the life of an early eighties suburban woman confronts the seriousness of ensuring order in the home and simultaneously disrupting it. The contradictions in women’s self-definition in such situations, reality and fiction in their perceptions, are emphasized and even sometimes grotesquely highlighted by the director, according to Gorfinkel (2019). The beleaguered banality and repulsive impression at the same time as the appeal of the protagonist are appreciated as blurring the line between anticlimax and pathos.
In addition, duality is also observed in the appearance, behavior, and presentation of the heroine. The author notes the idealized and de-idealized image, noting its reckless but quirky femininity (Gorfinkel, 2019). One can observe the meaning of the film’s title in this – after all, polyester is a modern, outwardly attractive and sturdy but cheap and artificial material. In the context of the suburban atmosphere of the film’s characters’ environment, their attempts to follow fashion and the American dream are associated with an illusion, a mask over real life, albeit a beautiful one(Gorfinkel, 2019). According to the author, it is this synthetic nature of such women’s life roles in this time period that demonstrates the grotesque and excessive (Gorfinkel, 2019). Periodic dependence on the opinion of others is also both the cause and the consequence of such outwardly brilliant syntheticism. It is noted as a violation of the mental space of the characters.
The problems in the family of the film’s protagonists, while exaggerated, are also versatile, tragic and, at the same time, parodic. Reaction instead of cardinal action in response to the adversity piled up is noted as realistic and entitled to exist. That said, one cannot help but note the retention of the general classic trashiness of Waters’ film production. He incorporated the metanarrative of trying to add smell to films in theaters into his work. He actively exploited this opportunity, expanding the audience’s perception but mocking such an opportunity by providing a negative library of smells (Gorfinkel, 2019). Provoking audiences and an anarchic attitude with notes of vulgarity were meant to break taboos and surprise audiences, something Waters successfully accomplished with his most famous film titles.
The author appreciates the director’s ability to realize permutations, ambiguities, and inconsistent elements in his works. As a result, we can conclude that Polyester is appreciated quite highly in her genre in this critical article. The author’s ability to analyze situational changes, strokes of emotion and the director’s intention demonstrate her high professionalism and passion for both women’s cinema in particular and the film industry in general. Her experience and knowledge extensively assist her in this matter. Therefore, for this reason, the article can be considered entirely competent.
Reference
Gorfinkel, E. (2019). Polyester: The perils of Francine. The Criterion Collection. Web.