Thalog482 Review of Pretty Things

Pretty Things (2005 TV Movie)

The singular worst piece I've ever seen

[1/10 · 24 September 2005]

This is the worst piece of 'film making' I have ever seen. 'Film' maker Liz Goldwyn interviews a bunch of really cool old women who used to be in burlesque. The women and the archive footage were great, those were the coolest ladies I've ever seen and what they had to say was usually quite interesting and/or humorous. However, Liz Goldwyn comes along and tears everything apart, the main thing she does is turn burlesque into something much larger then it is. She talks about it being a way to make a performance and have power in your sexuality, how it's not something shameful and all of this other rubbish. She even mentions the men masturbating in the crowd and tells them to **** off, "Who the **** do they think they are?" well, who the **** do YOU think they are? They're the target consumer. Burlesque was pornography back when it required talent as well as breasts, nothing more then that. However, she comes along and acts like it's about making an elegant performance and it's not some thing for men to masturbate too, which as well was insulting to the women she was interviewing. Everything those women were saying was contrary to this image she was trying to create for burlesque. All of their commentary about other dancers usually included, "And she had big knockers". My favorite part was when she asked that one woman if she would like to see people refer to her as being a burlesque star with the same reverence as they would a movie star, and the woman said no, because she couldn't reverse what she had done. It was a poor man's brothel, just like one of the women said at one point in the movie. Regardless of every other implication, Liz got the message of what burlesque is in an entirely farsical view point. That naive view point was even insulting to the industry. She had to make it seem like it wasn't about giving guys something to masturbate to in order for it to not be shameful, which if I was a burlesque dancer, and I was one who had been confident in what I was doing, I would find insulting. I would tell you to watch this just to have something to laugh about.