Cabaret and the fetishised infantilisation of women

[Ricecrispiesatsix]

I saw Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club last night and despite it being an impressive show in many ways one thing in particular just did not sit right with me. In Sally Bowles’ incredibly sexualised opening number “don’t tell mama” she is wearing a baby bonnet, puts on a baby voice and sucks her thumb.

The whole show was very on the nose (masturbating to Mein Kampf being another example of that, and “if you could see her” which was a punch in the gut) but the casual paedophilic undertones just really creeped me out. Is it that the show was trying to shock audiences that have become less and less shockable, or is it that there is so much societal acceptance of fetishes now that even that one has been normalised?

Personally I don’t want to live in a society where boundaries have become so eroded that paedophilia and the infantilisation of women is just another fetish, no big deal.

Yes cabaret is highly sexulised and imo creepy, did you not know before you went ?

This. Have you not seen the film.
The musical has been around since 1966 the film was 1972.
So it's not because of this "is it that there is so much societal acceptance of fetishes now that even that one has been normalised?"

Is that why she’s wearing the revolting dress in some of the trailers? I couldn’t work out why anyone would be seen dead in it unless they’d lost a bet or had some weird fetish.

Cabaret is set in a club in pre war germany it is about "headonisim" you seem suprised that this is what it is about,

watch the 1972 movie, it hasn’t changed much from that except perhaps the outfits are a little more riske because we wear far skimpier, tight fitting clothes as normal daywear now (well i don’t but youngsters do). What shocked my dd and the young lady sat in front of us were the nazi flags at the end of the first half, neither had googled the story! Was interesting seeing 2 21 year olds (never met before) visibly shocked and we (her mum and me) were surprised because to us the highly sexualised production was more worthy of shock ( though I was expecting it)

I was vaguely aware that it was about hedonism in Nazi Germany & not interested in seeing it, but saw pictures of the main character in a horrible dress with a big frilly skirt & wondered occasionally what she was wearing it for. Now it makes sense & I’m still not interested in seeing it.

"she is wearing a baby bonnet, puts on a baby voice and sucks her thumb"

Maybe I'm from a different planet, but that's not cabaret. It's not even close.

Right! I have read the script of Cabaret so I knew what it was about, I expected it to be raunchy and on the edge - it was specifically the sexualised baby voice/costume/actions that I disliked.

Is that really in the 1970s film??

Chatted to a woman in the toilet queue who had seen the same London production a couple of years ago and she said it’s got more explicit since then. Maybe they were just trying to be as shocking and controversial as possible. In which case they succeeded. Once I got the ick though it was hard to enjoy the rest of the show.

I can't quite remember her costume in the film but Sally does act like a little girl. I think the costume is supposed to be symbolic, it isn't something i would go and see because it is so seedy,

I’d also suggest reading Goodbye to Berlin, the book by Christopher Isherwood on which the film and musical are based.

It's meant to be very seedy isn't it? The club is a seedy place and Sally Boles is a failed singer who is probably not very good (this changed for the film because they had Liza Minelli) and a bit deluded about their future.
It's about the decadence in Weimar Berlin (people have debated this narrative but that's the narrative the show goes for) that facilitated the Nazis rise to power. And (probably because of the extreme poverty levels than inherent decadence of democracies) that also included prostitution and also child prostitution sexual exploitation. Sally Bowles isn't actually a prostitute. But she's on the edge of that life (reference also her friend Elsa). And she isn't actually a child but she's performing as a child in order to titillate the viewers. The end result isn't meant to be titillating but grubby and unpleasant. I think it's a way of nodding at the very seamy underside of Berlin nightlife in a way that's still acceptable as a musical (an actual musical about the very worst aspects of sexual exploitation and poverty would be horrendous).

TLDR I think the paedophilic undertones are deliberate but your not meant to approve.

Like there's the Lady Marmalade musical which is sort of "yay isn't sex work fun, look at us prancing around in corsets and fishnets". (Obviously the main character wants to escape it but the overall tone of the show is light-hearted.) Cabaret is also about nightlife but its meant to feel quite unpleasant at times I think while still presumably being something people will go to see so.its probably a shock if people are expecting a bit of risqué fun.I've don't like it. It's too grim (even if it's deliberate). It's probably the most grim musical I can think of. Strange it exists at all really.

i did a bit of googiling i can't find the particular song in the film, i was positive i had seen it but maybe clips of the stage show, it grlm i agree.

This. It’s supposed to be shocking and seedy and nihilistic.

I think part of the problem for shows like this is that the marketing doesn’t really match the content. They’re trying to sell tickets for £400 a pop so need to make it seem like a glamorous, fun event whereas the whole message of the show is that this stuff is anything but glamorous and fun. The Great Gatsby musical has the same problem.

I saw the production when Self Esteem played Sally and I was blown away by the whole thing. It was one of the best things I've seen in the theatre and I found the costumes etc worked perfectly.

It isn't supposed to be a feel good experience.

I think that's part of the intention (with Cabaret, not quite so much with Gatsby). It's very Brechtian (Brecht himself collaborated on other cabaret-type shows referencing Weimar Germany).

That shock that was mentioned up thread of the audience members when they see Nazi flags is intentional because of the contrast of the glamorous marketing with the actual subject matter; the marketing is part of the show in a sense. It doesn't always hit the mark with everyone (same for the balcony scene in Jamie Lloyd's Evita!) but it's purposeful.

The baby costume adds to the discomfort I think.

Yes i think you are right, they want to sell it as something fun,entertaining and arty. It is quite depressing although ive only seen the film once but hated it.

That’s reassuring. Though it felt like it was marketed as such.

This is a really interesting take.

I read a review somewhere saying that Berlin 1930s nightlife was very edgy (slash seedy) at the time but what was edgy and shocking then is pretty mainstream now. So they’ve had to ramp up the shock level to create the same effect for today’s audiences.

Looks like it worked given this thread.

As pp said her life and act is meant to look a bit sad and seedy rather than glamorous, albeit the marketing is kind of at odds with this.

The whole point of it is the sadness of Sally Bowles and the decadence of the cabaret scene as Nazi Germany emerged. The book is an uncomfortable read and I thought the film was amazing. Haven’t seen the show, tickets were too expensive at the beginning with Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley. It really couldn’t be anything but disturbing knowing what subsequently happened in Germany. When the boys sing ‘Tomorrow belongs to me’ it’s spinechilling.

I've seen the film about three times but not for many years. I can't remember seeing Sally Bowles dressed in a baby outfit. But yes, the Kit Kat Club is about as seedy as it gets.

I think I misrembered i don't even think the song is in the film.

Is that really in the 1970s film??

Don't Tell Mama isn't in the film. The whole show has been reworked many times. Songs taken out/added and the order of songs changed. Sometimes Sally is dressed as a young girl/baby sometimes as a nun. It's not about fetishization, it's about the fact (as the lyrics portray) her mother thinks she's still young and innocent and going to join a convent.

I agree with PP -

That shock that was mentioned up thread of the audience members when they see Nazi flags is intentional because of the contrast of the glamorous marketing with the actual subject matter; the marketing is part of the show in a sense. It doesn't always hit the mark with everyone (same for the balcony scene in Jamie Lloyd's Evita!) but it's purposeful

The shock of the audience is palpable, as it moves through the second act and it's abrupt change from the glamourous risque performances to the dark realisation of what is really happening. Both shocking and moving, given we all know what happened next.