Dottie Gets Spanked
(1993)
Directed by: Todd Haynes.
Written by: Todd Haynes.
Starring: J. Evan Bonifant (Steven
Gale), Barbara Garrick (Lorraine Gale), Julie Halston (Dottie Frank), Robert
Pall (Steven's Father), Harriet Sansom Harris (Sharon's Mother), Irving Metzman
(TV Show Guide), Ashley Chapman (Sharon), Rhea Silver-Smith (Darcy), Gina
Gallagher (Kim), Adam Arkin (Dick Gordon), Richard DeDomenico (Dream
Messenger).
There
are many superlatives that can be used to describe Todd Haynes, but funny
usually isn’t one of them. Out of all of his work, it’s really only the 30
minute TV short Dottie Gets Spanked that could be described as a comedy – and
even then, Dottie Gets Spanked is actually a pretty serious comedy – one that
addresses issues of identity and exclusion that Haynes has focused on
throughout his career. His feature debut, Poison, was all about social outcasts
– and the violence and oppression they endure. Dottie Gets Spanked approaches
similar subject matter – but in a much lighter way – and ends up being even
better for it.
The
film, like much of Haynes work, takes place in American suburbia (this time, in
the 1960s). Young Steven is around 10 or 11 years old, and he is obsessed with
Dottie – a Lucille Ball like comedienne, with a sitcom where cartoonish husband
often spanks her when she does something wrong. The girl’s in Steven’s class
are likewise obsessed with Dottie – but that’s okay, because they are girls.
Steven keeps his fandom to himself – sensing that it isn’t something that he
should really be broadcasting to the other kids. His mother is supportive, as
all mothers in idyllic suburbia are, but the father worries about his son
obsessing over the girl show.
It
would be tempting to read Dottie Gets Spanked as another allegory for
homosexuality – that Steven fears reprisals for exposing who he really is, and
you can certainly make that argument. But the sexuality on display in Dottie
Gets Spanked is far more innocent than that – Steven lusts after Dottie in the
way that only a kid who has no understanding of sex can – he sometimes
imagining he is spanking her, and sometimes the other way around (at one point,
Dottie is dressed as a man doing that, which may only suggest a more fluid kind
of sexuality).
The
film works in many ways. It certainly does foreshadow Haynes’ recreation of
1950s suburbia in Far From Heaven (that film is, of course, far more detailed
than this one), and also looks backwards toward Poison, with its story of
someone fearing be forced out of society for their feelings. But Dottie Gets
Spanked doesn’t beat you over the head with its message like Poison does – and
nor is it the parade of misery that Poison can sometimes be. In my review of
Poison, I referred to it more as a “blunt instrument” than most Haynes films –
and that is true. Dottie Gets Spanked certainly has a softer view of society –
Steven never gets punished the way the protagonists in Poison are – and more
subtle. It also benefits from not having to cut back and forth between
different stories like Poison did – so the film has a chance to build
throughout its 30 minute runtime. While much of the film is quite amusing – the
end certainly strikes a note of melancholy (the symbolism in the final shots
may be a touch heavy, but not too much).
Dottie
Gets Spanked, which aired on PBS in 1993, shows real growth for Haynes – taking
his ideas in a more subtle direction, while still showcasing his skills.
Obviously, a 30 minute short doesn’t have the breadth of one of his best
features – but there’s plenty here to admire. As many with oddities in
directors filmographies – non-feature work – this tends to get overlooked (for
instance, I’ve been a fan of Haynes for well more than a decade, and didn’t see
it until recently). That should change – as while Dottie Gets Spanked doesn’t
rank among Haynes’ very best work – it’s still a key film in his progression.
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