Professor Caryl Flinn Presents Talk at Case Western Reserve University Symposium
Professor Caryl Flinn was among about twenty film scholars presenting at Case Western Reserve University’s “Popular Song in Film: Thirty Year of Gorbman's Unheard Melodies" Symposium, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Professor Claudia Gorbman’s Unheard Melodies (the book that began film music studies) on October 6-7, 2017. Flinn kicked off the event with her talk, “How Todd Haynes took the Camp out of the Carpenters in SUPERSTAR." In 1987, Todd Haynes released SUPERSTAR - his 1987 “Barbie Doll Movie” - in which he used distorted Barbie dolls to depict Karen Carpenter’s struggle with celebrity, family pressures, and, ultimately, the anorexia that would cause her early death. Critics and audiences expected it to continue the cruel “camp fest”. But despite using elements of visual and musical camp, Haynes made such a reading impossible. Flinn’’s analysis covers this reception history and the role played by youth music of this time.