"I Re-Sing the Body Electric" -- Get Ready for Fame The Remake!

When I hear about a new big-budget Hollywood remake in the works, my reaction is almost always, “Why bother?” or “Noooooo!!!!”

But when I heard that MGM is planning a remake of the musical Fame, I thought it did make a fair amount of sense. The original is already 27 years old, so it’s not nearly as fresh in people’s minds as some other questionable remakes. The music, much of which will apparently be utilized in the remake, remains extremely popular among the karaoke set. And the plot – performing arts teens singing their hearts out and yearning for fame – seems more apropos than ever in the American Idol age.

But the movie is also dated. Hilariously, horrifically dated. And I’m not talking just about the jazzercise fashions. I’m talking about its treatment of gay character Montgomery MacNeil, played by a young Paul McCrane, who went on to terrorize residents for several seasons on ER.

It’s not all bad. Montgomery sings two ballads, “Dogs in the Yard” and “Is It Okay If I Call You Mine?" (which McCrane also wrote) that are beautifully understated on a soundtrack dominated by the noise and whistle-blowing of, say, “Hot Lunch Jam.” And the film does get visibility points for putting a gay teen on screen at a time when this was hardly commonplace, even in a movie set in the world of performing arts. To put the significance of that in perspective, consider that Making Love, which is generally heralded as a milestone in representations of gay men in cinema, followed Fame by two years.

However, as is all too typical in a period that still viewed gay characters as tragic figures right out of Boys in the Band, Montgomery is hardly comfortable with his sexuality and manifests any number of cliché’s. Let’s see, the guy’s lonely, depressed, in therapy, wears makeup, and is subjected to cruel humiliations – in drag, no less! And his dialogue contains one howler after another, including this little gem:

“Never being happy isn't the same as being unhappy. Is it?”

So here’s hoping that in remaking Fame and presumably updating it for this millennium, the movie will portray a less-stereotypical, more self-possessed gay character. Let’s also hope that the fact that producer Mark Canton also brought us 300 shouldn’t be cause for concern. And finally, let’s hope that whoever writes this thing understands that in a performing arts high school, chances are pretty good there’s more than one drama queen singing through the halls, and he’s probably not so unhappy about it.

Here's a little something to tide you over for the 392 days or so until Fame: The Remake’s premiere: