More grit than gloss
For fans of pop group Bardot in the 1990s, this should be compulsory viewing.
If all the TV, movies and books released in 2023 have taught us anything it’s that the 1990s were great, as long as you weren’t a talented, ambitious and creative woman.
Just look at the reaction to the recent Britney Spears memoir. Who knew her life was that bad? Well, anyone watching her ascension and tragic demise, really. It’s just that we wanted to believe the fantasy – created for, and by, the male gaze.
If the 1990s were sexy, sleazy and somewhat creepy, 2023 exposed it all and pivoted dramatically. This year really was the year of the “girl”.
Everywhere you looked – whether it was TV, the big screen, stadiums and arena stages – estrogen was hotter than a 90s trend.
“Matilda” is word of the year following the Women’s World Cup juggernaut led by Sam Kerr, Mackenzie Arnold and co.
Concepts such as #girldinner (a menu consisting of leftovers or toast and a cuppa with chicken nuggets as a chaser) and #girlmath – which justifies expensive shopping splurges – were among the biggest viral trends on TikTok and beyond.
Before our Tillies – pin-ups in the sporting arena for their talent and pay parity – stormed the World Cup in August, more than 15 per cent of Australians tried to buy Taylor Swift tickets.
A young woman singing pop music – a genre that has traditionally been dismissed for being the backing track for the lives and concerns of teenage girls – caused virtual Beatlemania in 2023.
Similarly, after the Matildas successful campaign it was revealed the team’s “pump up song” was Nikki Webster’s 2001 single, Strawberry Kisses.
Webster, the pint-sized star of the Sydney 2000 Olympics opening ceremony, surprised them with a post match sing-a-long performance.
Hours later, the song was back in the iTunes charts for the first time in 22-years.
“I can’t believe this. How exciting, 22 years after its release it’s back on the iTunes chart. Thank you everyone for the love and support. Means so much to me,” the now 36-year-old mum posted to Instagram with a screenshot showing the ditty sitting at a steady number 11.
Paul Hogan may have thrown a “shrimp on the barbie” almost 40-years ago, but he’s now been replaced as Hollywood’s favourite Aussie by a girl from the Gold Coast who gave an Oscar-worthy performance as Barbie. The feature film about the world’s most famous plastic doll — which is the only billion-dollar blockbuster solely directed by a woman — sold out cinemas around the world and captivated critics. Margot Robbie’s production also toppled Harry Potter from its perch as Warner’s top grossing film of all time.
It’s even infiltrated the political class.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saw it with his daughters just days after it premiered. His predecessor Boris Johnson felt so compelled he even reviewed Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s Mattel-funded screenplay.
“It is a parable about the destiny of humanity,” Johnson wrote for the Daily Mail.
Also this year another blast from the past zoomed back into the Zeitgeist in Belinda Chapple with her memoir, The Girl in the Band. Chapple appeared on Popstars in 1999, where KIIS FM host Jackie O was a judge. She was subsequently “cast” in Australia’s first reality TV band, Bardot, which also introduced us to national treasure (and Love Island Australia host) Sophie Monk. Chapple’s book expands on her experiences in the Popstars machine which saw the group rise to dizzying heights of fame, perform for hoards of screaming fans all around the country – and all while making and selling albums that went triple platinum in just two years.
She says her lawyer at the time laughed when he saw the Popstars contract.
“He said you’re not going to make a cent,” Chapple said. “Any money that you make … you won’t see any money. It all went to the men that owned the concept of the TV show.”
The women – all in their early 20s at the time – allegedly lived off a daily allowance of $25 despite reportedly bringing in about $26m in profits in the first year of Bardot.
Their first single Poison debuted at number one on the Australian ARIA singles charts and stayed at the top for weeks before becoming certified double platinum.
“The irony isn’t lost on me,” Chapple wrote.
For all the kids pushing the resurgence of Y2K, and for those of us who were obsessed with Bardot as young women at the time and waited in line outside Sanity for their debut single, Paper Dolls should be compulsory viewing.
The series is inspired in part by Chapple’s book and carries the disclaimer that it isn’t the story of Bardot, but the similarities are spooky and extremely cleverly presented.
Harlow is a fictional band created by a hit TV show “Pop Rush” and Paper Dolls charts its early days of formation, the fall outs and the (literal) insanity of the industry in 1999. “We’re leaning into the fact that, in the 90s, people wanted to hear female artists: the Spice Girls were coming out, there was Girl Power,” creator Ainslie Clouston said.
“But in terms of women actually having a voice in the industry, about what they looked like, about what they sang, about how they were treated, they didn’t have one.”
Emma Booth stars as Margot – a chain smoking, tough love, mother hen type manager – who acts as the prism through which we see how sexist, misogynistic and cruel creative success could be in times before Beyonce and Swift.
Just like Bardot, where Chapple was the “disco chick”, Harlow’s stars are assigned personas by their newly installed laddish manager Teddy who casts them as “provocative wild child”, “sexy schoolgirl” and “seductive ingenue”.
Chapple serves as executive producer of this addictive new Australian series which features some of the best creatives this country has to offer in director Nina Buxton, producer Jessica Carrera and acclaimed writer Marieke Hardy, who has penned one episode. Their magic is obvious from the pilot.
One particular standout scene is when one band member is kicked out (as was an original Bardot member, but it’s fiction I swear!). Margot is sent back to the drawing board to find a replacement.
All of the commentary about the women who audition is crass: “Too fat. Not f--kable. Ugly” as she sorts through the tapes. However the focus is firmly on Margot’s reaction to the men chiming in on the judgments, rather than showing vision of the women they were judging.
Instead she revives the career of disgraced teen star turned pizza delivery driver Izzy (Emalia) and what unfolds is less Bardot, more Black Swan meets Girl, Interrupted.
“We worked with a clinical psychologist to look at the psychological effects of fame and how people are drawn to it,” Clouston said.
“What was most interesting to me was why people want it, that it can be driven by some kind of wound within them.”
As the series rolls on, each episode of Paper Dolls dedicates a singular focus to one of the band members’ troubles, trials and tribulations, which allows the show to prove it’s more grit than gloss. That’s not to say the music also isn’t central.
Review can reveal a Harlow album may drop early in the new year. See you in line at Sanity.
Paper Dolls is streaming now on Paramount+.
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