Todd Hayne's "Superstar"

The use of both live actors and Barbie was something really unexpected and truly desired, and meshed very seamlessly. I was also thinking about how the dolls, despite having no change of facial emotions, seemed to convey real personality and emotion; I think this is mostly achieved by good voice-acting and the human need to add human characteristics to things that have faces. None of the puppetry was very complex, and I found that most of the work was with the camera, and also the voiceover. I guess my real question is why were the dolls so compelling? I think maybe also the idea of using a Barbie really cinches that idea that Karen is really struggling with her weight and trying to achieve perfection, which can arguably be seen in Barbie, who has impossible measurements. Very interesting and entertaining film.