Christina Aguilera, Cher movie 'Burlesque' a sham, says NYU professor
Bursleque starring Christina Aguilera and Cher is set to open this weekend with female movie goers as its target market. It is predicted to gross a "low ten millions" in a weekend which will continue Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 dominance, and which will see a strong opening for Disney 3D animated film, Tangled.
However, The Hollywood Reporter also says the musical film is expected to reach "high ten millions" through its first five days in theatres. Already, its creating buzz among critics with an NYU professor and burlesque performer calling the movie a "sham" for claiming to be an original burlesque.
"Hollywood, and especially Hollywood musicals, especially these large-scale Hollywood musicals, sort of bastardizes the thing that they are sort of celebrating at the same time. So calling the movie Burlesque is one thing, but claiming that your movie is original burlesque is another," Dr. Lucky tells Big Think in an interview.
"I didn't have a problem with the film until I read this recent L.A. Times article that talked a little bit about the film and the resurgence and the scene in L.A. And he was like: "No, this is original burlesque. And you know, people just don't know what it is and I want to take it back to what it was."
Dr. Lucky said that what Steven Artin has done with his film Burlesque is a "very particular subset of an entire history of burlesque."
Dr. Lucky is a Ph.D. and faculty member and teaches "The History of American Burlesque" at New York University. She has headlined the New York Burlesque Festival and the Toronto Burlesque Festival and has been featured on NPR, Time, Bust Magazine, and The Washington Post. Watch her inteview with Big Think here.