Female Trouble: Poor Taffy

Female Trouble is unlike any movie I’ve seen before.  Although I was a bit desensitized to some of the content, this is not an easy film to digest.  The absurdism and satire throughout the whole film just felt like John was trying to see how far he could push boundaries, and he succeeded. Each scene, from Dawn giving birth on the couch alone, Taffy being chained to a bed in the attic, the multiple sex scenes, Aunt Iba in a large bird cage, Dawn and Gator calling Taffy the “r” slur, and more, was chaotic to say the least.

I think the most disturbing part of this movie is having to watch Dawn descend into a person deeply consumed by fame and cosmetics.  She clearly was a terrible person, but what concerned me the most was watching how much her selfishness affected the people around her, more specifically Taffy.  I hated the way Dawn treated her daughter, especially since Female Trouble is a dark comedy and I knew there would never be a serious take on the outcome of Taffy’s trauma.  Dawn refused to put her daughter in school, not because she had a better plan for her education, but maybe because she did not care about her and wished she was never born.  Taffy is beaten for simply jumping rope, she is emotionally abused, almost raped by her birth father, harassed by Gator, and overall just treated like a non-factor by everyone. Take her makeup for instance, her eyeshadow, lipstick, and blush are smeared and never done neatly.  She nearly resembles an old baby doll, even down to her attire.  As ridiculous as she looked in the outfit she wore after converting to Hinduism, this was the only time Taffy appeared free, which was unparalleled with Dawn who was handcuffed to fame.  When Dawn killed Taffy, the final piece of reality that tied her down was released, which is why she goes even crazier until the end of the movie.  John Waters used obscenity to expose the horrors of stardom, not only how it impacts the person chasing fame, but also the ones they left behind.