Last week, NBC aired the long-awaited production of the broad way musical “Hairspray Live”. I saw the movie when it came out a few years back, but watching one of my favorite musicals again made me fall in love with the story all over again. When the movie came out, I was just a young girl, and I really didn’t understand the plot. But now that I am older, I think that this story is very important. It is especially relevant to the world we current live in, and while watching the musical, I found three important lessons we can all applying to our own lives.
1. The first lesson we can learn is it shouldn’t matter what size a person is.
In the show, Tracy is a girl that is bigger than most, and she gets bullied for being different. When she wants to audition for the “Corny Collin’s Show”, the producer, Velma von Tussle, says that girls like Tracy shouldn’t be on the show. Tracy is devastated. But when she dances in front of Corny, he chooses her to be on the show, because he believes that the people that dance on the show, should look like the people that watch the show. I think that this topic of body image is a very important thing to talk about, because it is so important, especially among young girls. When the girls said something about Tracy’s weight, she reacted in a way that was mature. Yes, she was hurt, but she didn’t say anything to hurt their feelings. I think we all know that being mad is not always the best, but how we respond to a situation will show who we truly are.2. If somebody is in love, it shouldn’t matter what race they are, or the color of their skin.
In the musical, Penny, Tracy’s best friend, falls in love with a black boy named Seaweed. Penny’s mom doesn’t approve of her daughter being with a boy of a different color. I think that people shouldn’t look at the skin of others, but rather,they should take a look at a persons heart, because that is what really matters. If you love someone it shouldn’t have any boundaries.3. Racial equality is very much an issue in our present day and age.
In the musical, they experience many issues concerning this topic. In our present day, we still have people that look down on others who are of a different race and color. In “Hairspray”, they only let black people dance on a certain day. Tracy doesn’t really understand why they can’t dance together, and she tries to change the way the show works. Unfortunately, she ends up in jail due to her movement. But I love that in the end, Tracy’s plan works and The Corny Collin’s show is racially integrated.I think we can all apply these lessons to our lives and live in a way that invites other races into our lives.
