The Last Showgirl and Thoughts on Ephemera
Time after time I am reminded of the scene in the Sopranos where Tony tells Paulie, “Remember when is the lowest form of conversation.” It resonates with me after hearing countless pointless anecdotes throughout the decades but it also haunts me. People often come to me for stories, they want to get to know me, be entertained, go on an adventure from my past. It’s hard sometimes, I don’t want to share vapid garbage nor do I want to seem like a braggart. Throughout the years I have witnessed other women in the industry or adjacent spheres bang on the glory days with these sort of hollow stories that show a stagnation.
The Last Showgirl (2024) was full of moments like this. The film tells the story of Shelly, an aging showgirl and member of the cast of the last remaining feather and rhinestone review on the Vegas strip, Le Razzle Dazzle. We follow Shelly and eventually discover that her refusal to change is fueled by selfish delusions and vanity. Refreshingly, the film doesn’t paint her to be sympathetic, but pitiable and out of touch. It is excellently acted by the supporting cast and while Pam looks the part her acting is painful at best and outshined by the likes of her costars.
The film’s style of strange static shots of landmarks and vignettes of the main character basking in the glow of the light of the Vegas sun or neon are evocative of many smaller, artsy films in the late 90’s, early aughts. It however reads as a student film that just happens to have massive stars in it. I am not writing the director, Gia Coppola, off as a talentless nepo baby, as I have not seen her entire oeuvre but based off of this, I think the girl needs to cook a bit longer to find her own style or even let it mature.
Of course, a big theme is change and Vegas is a perfect canvas as it constantly evolves. From dramatic building implosions to something as subtle as a management group change, Vegas is a machine optimized and hungry for change with cogs and lubrication made of the humans who work and play there. Shelly is averse to change, the review has treated her well and as it’s poster girl back in the day, she seems convinced that she *is* Le Razzle Dazzle which creates her blind loyalty to it despite the costs to her family and personal life. Change is ever present in her lifelong; she sees her best friend adapt from showgirl to cocktail waitress, hears the tales of Eddie, the stage manager transitioning from one show to the next, even experiences her coworkers audition for other shows after news of Le Razzle Dazzle’s closure. Despite everyone’s progress and ample examples of ways to move on she is resolute. She makes feeble attempt to audition for another show, but is smacked down with harsh words that tell her she’s stayed behind, her style hasn’t evolved.
Credit however must be given for including a bit of hierarchical drama that permeates the industry. Nostalgia goggles tends to color people’s perceptions that the acts of the past are more noble and elevated than their current iterations and Shelly argued that the current topless shows on the strip were so beneath Le Razzle Dazzle which her daughter so nicely put as, a “boobie” show. This particular moment of delusion made me laugh a little, it was just too real.
Shelly’s resistance to adapt caused me to reflect on my own motivations and plans. I love what I do, and I know I have told a good many of you that I would do this as long as possible. It’s treated me well and has allowed me a peace of mind, healthy homelife as well as time and fodder or introspection which has allowed me to grow in ways other paths would not. I worry about becoming a Shelly, stagnant and delusional to the point of myopia. To hear her bang on about her days as an ambassador for the city, being flown to the Great Wall of China for a photo shoot, the glories of the past, I’ve worked with plenty of women who talk like that about their tenure in the industry. If I am being quite frank, becoming an industry trope is not what I’d like for myself.
It’s amazing how often I meet people who are averse to change and growth. Yes, comfort is amazing and all but trying new things to evolve into becoming a better you is even more amazing. It’s easy to get entangled I the seductive spell of nostalgia, but I recall a wise mandrill telling a lion destined to be a King, “The past is in the past.” While our past has shaped us and put as at this very point in time. one needs to adapt to survive, let alone thrive. I can only wonder what my next evolution will be.