Comparing Cabaret and The Party Monster

The Party Monster, based on the book Disco Bloodbath, is a film showing New York in the early 80s, graphically showing the realities of partying and drug use. We see the rise of Michael's party status as he is taught "the rules of fabulousness" by James St. James, "I don't do, I just am." 

The film shows the wild parties thrown, with similar entrance rules as The Blitz Club, where image is everything. If you were ordinary, you were not welcome in the club, so weird was good, "no publicity is bad publicity". The outfits would be completely outrageous, colourful and androgynous. The Club Kids wore wild clothes and make-up showing no particular sexual preference and they were "famous because they're fabulous". But this idea of life is shown to be impractical as we see their partying antics and drug usage spiral out of control and they lived in a very deluded life were image and partying was everything.

Viewed 27.11.14 [online image] Available at: http://www.dcclubbing.com/style/edm-documentaries-worth-the-watch/

This is comparable to the film Cabaret in the sense of partying and wild and deluded lifestyles. But what differs are the motives. In The Party Monster, drugs are the motive, and in Cabaret, sex is the motive. Cabaret shows a lust for one another and the loosely sexual behaviour, rather than competition over image with one another and the routine drug use shown in The Part Monster. Yet, the unhealthy lifestyles are very similar in the sense that they don't live in a real world and their actions will soon take a bad turn.

Viewed 27.11.14 [online image] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/penelope-andrew/tcm-fest-2012-cabarets-li_b_1419569.html

In comparison of character, I feel that Sally and Michael show similar traits. They are both naive, young and charming, yet they are selfish, foolish and don't understand the consequences of their actions. To Sally, everything is a show, and she is very self indulged and has little interest in others around her. The way she acts and likes to present herself is very much like Michael. They both dream of an increase of their social status, being famous and making it to the top. But their dreams are deluded and not realistic, which they will soon discover. They are also both very sexually mature for their ages and completely self obsessed, making them oblivious to the realities of their ambitions. 

We see Michael's downfall with his reliance on drugs and doing anything he could to get them, including killing Angel. Similarly, Sally essentially 'kills' her baby when she has an abortion because she has been so obsessed and caught up in her daydream of a world that she doesn't understand the realities of her actions. And as Michael has the same views, he doesn't see any wrong in his murder and acts in a completely calm and passive manner. 

The story line for these films both start with excitement and optimism and we are strung along in their worlds, but eventually we see the reality to their behaviour and everything begins to fall apart when excessive actions take place. As Sally always enjoys saying in Cabaret, "divine decadents", it is ironic that we see her favourite saying displayed in both films, showing the decline in moral values, and decline in general, as both their characters see their decline to be quite a fabulous one.

Using this information as a clear link to Cabaret, I feel it is important to understand a character's motives. My character being Sally, I will be focusing on her motives for sex, money and fame, but also being sure to portray the element of her behaviour spiralling out of control, potentially linking this to alcohol and drugs. With keeping her character contemporary, I will also use The Party Monster as a reference to how the party lifestyle and drug abuse can effect a character with their appearance and hunger for status.