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In her first acting role since her devastating, candid Netflix documentary Pamela, A Love Story, Pamela Anderson is back on our screens in the Gia Coppola-directed The Last Showgirl.
The Baywatch legend stars alongside Jamie Lee Curtis, Brenda Song, Kiernan Shipka, who all play showgirls in Le Razzle Dazzle, which is due to close its doors after a 30-year run. The impact of this crisis plays out for all women throughout the film, but we get particularly up close and personal with Pamela’s Shelly and the reasons why the closure of the show makes her question her identity and life choices.
The Last Showgirl is unflinching in its depiction of the ways that women are punished if they stray from the status quo, though, especially as they get older. Both Jamie Lee Curtis’ character Annette and Shelly in particular are faced with the terrifying truth that a life spent on the showgirl circuit has left them with no retirement plan or security. Annette becomes homeless, and Shelly is pushed into a difficult-to-watch storyline where she’s encouraged to pursue a romantic relationship with Dave Bautista’s Eddie, the show’s producer, for the sake of securing some form of financial security, even at the cost of her own dignity and ideals.
As Shelly comes to terms with the closure of the show, we see the ways in which she has been shamed and isolated from her family for choosing this path for herself. Her relationship with her daughter Hannah (played by Billie Lourd) is extremely strained, due to the fact that Shelly wasn’t always able to prioritise her care as a young girl due to the nature of being a showgirl. Of course, this is heartbreaking, but it also exemplifies the ways in which women are expected to sacrifice as mothers, to shy away from a non-conventional path that might fulfil them.
Why isn’t society – as well as the men in Shelly’s life, specifically – supportive of both her professional endeavours and her identity as a mother? The entire movie seems to hinge on the devastating truth that Shelly couldn’t have both the show and her daughter in her life – and the impact of what she chose, because society told her she wasn’t able to have both.
The fact that performing as a showgirl empowers Shelly, that it makes her feel seen and beautiful and is a key part of her identity, is lost on her family because of the ways in which it stopped her from delivering as a conventional mother and wife. And on top of that, the currency she traded with in her job – her youthful beauty – is no longer available to her. We are reminded over and over throughout The Last Showgirl how much Shelly and her colleagues have been failed by a society that shames them, instead of supporting them.
The diminishing worth of women when it comes to ageing and beauty standards was also explored through awards season favourite The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. The “body horror” explores the life of a 50-year-old TV aerobics star who is unceremoniously fired due to her age, leading her to resort to taking a “substance” that promises to make a “better” version of herself. It’s enduring message that women absolutely cannot have it all as they age rings throughout the movie, as well as the visceral nature of body image and beauty standards expectations.
Some have argued that Demi's Golden Globe win for The Substance signifies an acknowledgement of the film’s plight, as well as the renaissance of the “popcorn actress” – a comeback for the middle-aged female actors who were in big blockbuster movies but whose careers essentially decreased in momentum as they got older, making way for younger names to take over their mantle. Pamela's SAG Award and Golden Globe nominations for her The Last Showgirl performance also put her forward as member of this comeback category.
But the very existence of a “popcorn actress” mantle – and the huge discourse that’s surfaced from Demi in particular overcoming it in some way – proves the point that women have historically been, and continue to be, punished for ageing, and the progress towards appreciating and championing us as we age is all too slow.
So as we see the stories Pamela and Demi tell – and the incredible careers they continue to build – shine a light on the pressures women still feel when it comes to ageing, “having it all” and following a non-conventional life path, it’s clear that we need to champion these narratives as hard as possible, and ask for change when it comes to how we perceive women as we age. After all, The Last Showgirl sums up the biggest fear of so many women – that an audacity to dream and go against the patriarchal system might not pan out, leaving us punished and stigmatised for it.
Let that truly heartbreaking fact be the reason that we hit back against the gendered obstacles and expectations that lead to women feeling they can’t follow a non-conventional path towards empowerment and fulfilment.
The Last Showgirl is available to watch in UK cinemas from 28 February.
