Thoughts on Tap: 003
on losing your looks (again), the $80 Hermes Birkin dupe and a 1960s TV show that predicted our future
Have you ever made an ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ kinda meal that involved using up as many ingredients in your fridge as possible? (If you haven’t, you’re better than most of us). That’s basically what ‘Thoughts on Tap’ is- a stream of consciousness, anything goes type of experience that can be inspired by a number of things. This is a hot take, but I think a person who consumes nothing but fashion content is greatly stifling their creativity. So while that is what we love, it is not all that we are.
So……let’s talk about some things!
The latest docket includes:
Thoughts on ‘The Last Showgirl’ (no spoilers!)
Hermes bags for the wirkin class girlies
The 1964 sci-fi TV episode that predicted our future
Bring back ‘slice of life’ movies, especially ones starring women
I had the pleasure of watching an advanced copy of the new Pamela Anderson film, “The Last Showgirl”. Directed by Gia Coppola, the film centers around Pamela’s character who is facing something of an existential crisis after the longtime Vegas cabaret she is a part of is going to close down. Shelley (played by Anderson) has been with the show for decades and is fully unprepared to deal with a world in which she is not dolled up and dancing in elaborate costumes. And let’s face it, the world is not kind to mature women who are looking for their next break. (And total sidenote but, there’s something to be said here about how women fight nature to make ourselves look younger because the world will be kinder if/when we do look for the next break…..but I digress). The film follows Shelley as she deals with what we’d expect anyone to deal with who’s just been given the axe from a tenured position, with a realistic depiction of what it’s like to be working class in Las Vegas.
Now, I will say this…..I would fully consider this move to be a ‘slice of life’ film. Go into it with that in mind. I feel like American cinema has conditioned people in the last few years to expect to see a blockbuster movie (thanks Marvel). There are no crazy CGI scenes, no fast cars, no loud explosions, no car chases. It’s just a glimpse at a regular human grappling with regular human things. But I think that’s a good thing to see portrayed on screen and American cinema has largely gotten away from that. The cinematography is beautiful and the movie made me think (once again, just like The Substance) about the passage of time and how we still have so much work to do in the world to show up as women who continue to stay alive. Because that’s all getting older is…..having the audacity to still show up in the world.
Do you wish you could buy a Birkin bag and groceries at the same time?
Well, now you can! Sorta.
In case you missed it, Beyonce’s internet has been ablaze with an all out brawl between the haves and haves in training about Walmart’s answer to the Hermes Birkin bag. Behold….the ‘Wirkin’ bag.
This $80 (!!!) “dupe” has been the talk of the fashion town in the last week or so in cyberspace and people are VERY divided on it. (I put dupe in quotes because I’m very confused about what people are calling dupes these days, which I discuss in the latest podcast episode. For example, DHGate feels more like blatant counterfeiting to me lol). As you can imagine, people buying the dupe are defending their right to do so and arguing that they should be able to get a style of bag they like at whatever price point they’re willing to pay. Other people, Birkin owners or not, are defending the right to intellectual property and slamming Walmart for selling a blatant ripoff from a brand that is as invested in craftsmanship as Hermes.
I’m somewhere in the middle per usual because life is full of gray, contrary to what the internet would have you believe. As a general rule, I don’t believe in buying things that are a blatant ripoff of someone else’s designs. If I can’t afford it, it’s not the end of the world. Some things in life are good enough to be admired and if I never acquire it, that’s alright with me. I also believe that it’s silly to think you’re ‘sticking it to the man’ when you choose to shop with Walmart over the bougie French guys because Walmart is arguably worse in a lot of ways. And ultimately I come back to the same question….why do you even want a Birkin? Do you like the design? Or do you like the status that you think it affords you? (And being blunt, anyone who can afford the real thing would absolutely run in the opposite direction if you pulled up with a Great Value Birkin so who is it really supposed to impress?)
This 1964 TV show predicted that we would all have Instagram face
I’m not a big TV or film buff but I have a short list of shows that I will encourage anyone who will listen to watch. The sci-fi series ‘The Twilight Zone’ is one of those shows. (Don’t be fooled, there’s a spinoff version from the 1980s that is awful, we’re talking about the OG black and white TV show).
There are so many episodes that feel like the writers had access to a crystal ball that showed them the perils of man in the 21st century and one such episode is from season 5, the 17th episode of the season called “Number 12 Looks Just Like You”. This is the opening narration for the episode (back when shows had those):
“Given the chance, what young girl wouldn't happily exchange a plain face for a lovely one? What girl could refuse the opportunity to be beautiful? For want of a better estimate, let's call it the year 2000. At any rate, imagine a time in the future where science has developed the means of giving everyone the face and body he dreams of. It may not happen tomorrow, but it happens now, in The Twilight Zone.”
The episode is set in a dystopian future (*coughs 2025*) in which upon reaching your 19th birthday, you are to choose from a set of pre-approved model bodies to have a surgery called ‘The Transformation’. Not only is your body ‘beautiful’, but the pre-approved bodies have prolonged life, less susceptible to diseases and also have…..unspecified psychological improvements. Adults wear name tags to avoid confusion because….everyone looks alike. Everyone in this world looks forward to their transformation except for Marilyn Cuberle, who is the focus of the episode.
Marilyn’s refusal to be transformed perplexes everyone around her and she begins to suspect that while it is not legally mandated, being transformed is not optional……and I’ll leave it at that. It’s SUCH a good episode and if you can stream it, I highly recommend it.
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-xoxo Jenn