Girls Just Want to Have Fun - Lynne

This week's analysis is thanks to Newbury Comics, for supplying such a great collection of used DVDs.  I'd never seen Girls Just Want to Have Fun until this weekend, and I love it for all it's campy, predictable teen-dance-movie glory.  Starring a young Sarah Jessica Parker (Janey) and Helen Hunt (Lynne), this movie very well could have set the stage for many of the teen movies in the 90's.  Watching it, I drew parallels to Save the Last Dance, Step Up, Mean Girls, She's All That and Clueless.  Here's a brief summary:


 Janey has just moved to Chicago, where a popular show called Dance TV is filmed.  Janey "loves to dance," as evidenced by her inability to not fidget and demi-plié  whenever she's standing.  At her newest Catholic school, she meets Lynne, and the two are instant friends.  Then they find out about a contest being held to bring two new dancers onto Dance TV.  The two try out, despite Janey's being forbidden to do so by her strict Army dad.  There, she meets her dance partner for the contest, Jeff, a public school boy who is expected to go to trade school.  The two doubt each other but then they fall in love, but then he is threatened by one mean girl's powerful father, and he decides it's not worth competing anymore.  They fall out, but then they are brought back together on the night of the final contest, and of course, they win, but not until after a dance-off after a tie score between them and the mean girl.  It's all very epic, and the dancing is all very 80's.  I kind of wish people still danced like that.  It seems so much more fun than the bump and grind seen at high school dances and night clubs all over.  Throughout the movie, the song that inspired the movie's title is played to a very nice effect - it gives the movie a bit more levity and giddiness that suits the teenage frame of mind.  It also helps to mitigate the effect of the cheesy synth score that swells around the characters at every significant glance or passionate kiss.  Speaking of kisses, Janey is the one to initiate the first kiss with Jeff, which is rather cool - she's a shy, inexperienced good girl, and she is the one to take control of the physical relationship.  I dig it.

Now for Lynne.  She's got a very unique style, and a huge amount of enthusiasm and spunk.  Check out the dinosaur hair clips!  Those are a little nutty, even for the 80's.  Like most besties, she's much more liberated than the leading lady, shamelessly changing on the bus.  When it comes to dating, however, it seems like Lynne isn't quite so in control as she tries to come off.  "...would I puke if he kissed me." (full quote below)  The way she phrases this, putting herself as the object, indicates that she is either all talk (i.e. just as inexperienced as Janey), or that she dismisses her own sexual agency, most likely unconsciously.  Lynne is kind of a bad influence on Janey.  A lot of best friends in chick flicks are bad influences (see, Janis Ian, Anita).  They encourage the leading lady to disobey her parents, sneak out of the house, get laid, or enact revenge on someone (usually another female).  In the case of Janey and Lynne, the revenge is actually kind of awesome.

While I doubt that a bunch of punks off the streets of Chicago would actually have any interest in attending a débutante ball, it's pretty awesome they way they trash the party, and they are impressively choreographed.  In most chick flicks, the main character is a bit of a stick in the mud, and if not for the best friend, it seems unlikely that any such things would ever happen.  Maybe it's a safety in numbers thing, but these ladies are never more bold than when they have a beta egging them on.  There is an interesting exchange of power happening... Janey would never disobey her father, even though she is so passionate about dancing, but without Lynne there to shake her head at the goody-two-shoes, Janey would have no drive to prove herself to others.  It's fair then to say that Janey never does anything purely for herself.  First she is following Lynne's lead to appear more daring and hip; then she continues to defy her father for Jeff.  Lynne and other betas, are often used to drive the plot in this way.  And if it's not the best friend, then it's the love interest that serves this purpose.  Lynne is certainly a bad influence, but still, she's there for Janey, and that's what friendship is all about.  In the land of the chick flick, rarely is there any truly irrevocable trouble, and when he sees his daughter dancing and winning the contest, Janey's dad forgives her transgressions, and they all celebrate.

Stats

Screen Time: 15 minutes
Memorable Quotes:
"Velcro.  Next to the Walkman and Tab it is the coolest invention of the twentieth century."  "My name's Lynne Stone.  I'm going to change it as soon as I'm old enough."  "You just know I must be horny.  I'm going to babysit.  You should see me when I go out."  "And so I said 'Please, Sister, anyone could have confused Hail Mary with Proud Mary.  Besides, I do a very good Tina Turner.'"  "He's a guy and he's alive, what's there to hate?"  "Whenever I'm in a room with a guy, no matter who it is - a date, my dentist, anybody I think if we were the last two people on earth, would I puke if he kissed me."  "She hyperventilated on the uneven parallel bars."