Return to Hysteria / What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Happy Tuesday afternoon, everyone. It's great to be back and writing Hysteria posts again! I hope everyone had a truly amazing break, whether you were taking time to recuperate for spring or doing something more exciting. I didn’t do much besides spend time with family and friends, but I did manage to visit the Shedd Aquarium on one of their free days, which made my break all the more enjoyable. Regardless, I have a great film I’d like to show you all today, one that is revered not only by Kat Bjelland but by everyone, it seems! What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a cult classic psychological horror film that explores the values of its time, particularly regarding child stars, fame, and the public scrutiny that comes with aging. If that interests you, please keep reading, and welcome back to Hysteria—I have a lot planned for this semester!

(via Amazon)

The fashion choices (and, similarly, aesthetics) of the riot grrrl movement can be traced back to movies like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?—this sense of distorted femininity (think babydoll dresses, heavy makeup, and little girl hairstyles) was extremely popular among legends like the aforementioned Kat Bjelland, Courtney Love, Katie Jane Garside, and many more fashionistas of their time. Even the very concept of the movie—a disgraced Hollywood starlet suffering from alcoholism, reminiscing on her infancy and cursing her adolescence—feels like just the kind of story those girls are known for writing about and portraying.

(via What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? on Tubi)

If you haven’t seen the movie, I recommend watching it; I watched it for free on Tubi. I’m going to give a little recap, though, without spoiling anything, of course. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? revolves around two siblings, Baby Jane herself and her older sister, Blanche. Baby Jane, once a revered child star, waned in popularity when audiences grew fonder of the work of her older sister, whose career was cut short in her early twenties due to a car accident, in which she accuses a drunken Baby Jane of being involved. I’m not going to spoil it anymore, though, because it's one of those kinds of psychological horror movies that hinges on suspense and anticipation!

(via What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? on Tubi)

The film itself is incredibly campy and gloomy. If it were a person, it’d reek of powdery perfume and sound like the clanking of big heavy necklaces and the tap of high heels. Baby Jane and Blanche are caricatures of glamour: dark and drawn eyebrows, overlined red lips, thick, dark eyeliner, and ghastly skin. Their feud is merciless and infectiously dramatic. It almost reminds me of The Yellow Wallpaper when Blanche is stuck, locked in her room, forever in a wheelchair, meals and misery brought to her by Jane. The characters have such strong personalities that it’s easy to root for the good ones and become angry when the bad ones succeed. The film is also a great look into how psychological disorders can affect you. However, I doubt any of this was accurate to any specific mental illness, and I’m sure everything was pretty dramatized to make Baby Jane seem like a killing psychopath. Also, I was so pressed about what they did to Elvira, justice for her!! 

(via What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? on Tubi)

Anyway, I really recommend you go check the movie out, it’s free! It is also the type of movie you can have playing in the background since the plot moves slowly at the beginning. I hope this enticed you to watch it, and I’ll be back next week to cover a band. In the future, I plan to cover a wider variety of media (movies, books, music, fashion), so stay tuned for more than just music! Have a great week and hang in there.

Hysterical to be back,

Mila