Hustlers
Okay, so off the bat, you should know: this is a movie about sex work. It’s also full of dubious morality, like drugging people and stealing money. So I mean, you’ve been warned, I’m about to talk about how much I admire and respect women who did a bunch of socially unacceptable things. Because yeah. I do admire them. These women are awesome. So if it’s gonna bother you or offend your sensibilities, I won’t be mad if you click off this one.
Apart from that little warning, I don’t even know where to start with this movie. How do you talk about a film that tells the (more or less) true story of a couple of strippers who dreamed up a million-dollar money-making scheme without victimising, demonising or moralising the sex workers? It’s practically unheard of. For some reason, Hollywood still has a huge problem validating any form of sex work, despite the fact that the sex industry makes billions and billions of dollars every year in the US. But finally, we’ve been given a gift in the form of this film.
Quick summary: Hustlers tells the story of two strippers who start doing it hard during and following the 2008 financial crisis. They find that, without agreeing to full service sex work, which they’re not interested in, they can’t continue making a living just stripping at these clubs where no one ever shows up anymore. So they cook up (quite literally) a plan to drug and steal from Wall Street millionaires to take care of themselves. As mentioned earlier, it is based on the true lives of two women who did commit these crimes, but names are changed and many details invented or fudged, as well as extra characters added for our interest.
The start of this movie had me worried, I’ll be honest. Constance Wu, playing the narrator and main character of the story, Destiny, starts at a new strip club and tries to offer lap dances. She looks awkward and unsure, and it made me worry that this was another ‘victim’ perspective, about a woman who felt trapped and unable to go into any other line of work, a woman who wanted out. But then, Jennifer Lopez shows up.
This scene is flawless, and there are so many reasons why. Destiny watches Lopez’s character, Ramona, as she performs her pole routine, drawing the attention of every eye in the place. Paper bills cascade onto the stage around her as she performs. At one point she is literally bathing in the money, rubbing it on her skin, tossing it in the air like bubbles in a bubble bath. And it’s an amazing scene to watch, because Lopez, who was 50 when she filmed this by the way (and she did all of the pole work herself), has perfect control of her body and perfect control of the room. But it’s also amazing to watch the look on Wu’s face as she looks on. She is awed and amazed by Ramona’s talent and gravitas and as the audience we can see on her face that it is not stripping itself that she has a problem with.
This is only confirmed throughout the rest of the movie, as we see Ramona take Destiny under her wing. She blossoms and talks emphatically about the excitement and glamour of her life as a stripper. And this is not the only form of sex work we see in the film either. While full service sex work is not the focus of this film, I appreciate the fact that, when it is touched upon, there is no moralistic argument against it or attempt to paint it as evil or somehow worse than stripping. There are women in the film who are happy working as full service sex workers, they just don’t happen to be the women this film is about.
But let’s go back to that pole scene with Ramona, while Destiny watches on, and compare it with the scene a few minutes later where Ramona shows Destiny her moves. In both scenes, Lopez isn’t wearing a lot of clothes. The first scene consists of an elaborate and titillating costume, because that is generally the kind of thing strippers wear when they’re working. The second outfit is something akin to workout clothes, but it consists of a busty sports bra and some sort of sports briefs. Let’s get something straight: there is skin. Not just in these scenes, but everywhere in this movie. We see skin and we see bodies: butts, boobs, bellybuttons and basically everything else under the sun. This movie doesn’t shy away from any of that. But the thing is, it’s not the point. And that’s why it is so different.
I talked yesterday about the male gaze. This is the concept of how women’s bodies are so often portrayed on film, as if they exist to be looked at by men, to be appreciated by men, as if women’s bodies are for men. There are a lot of things that go into this like camera angles, costuming, framing, lighting, a million other things I don’t know about because I wasn’t a film student. But almost everything pre-2005 let’s say, is filmed in this manner, with the male gaze in mind. There are exceptions of course, but they are, unfortunately, few and far between.
This film, a film about strippers, female strippers who were servicing primarily men, allowing their bodies to be enjoyed by men, subjecting their bodies to the literal male gaze on a daily basis to get that bread, this film does a remarkably great job at avoiding the male gaze. How could it possibly, I hear you asking. Well, I think the first thing to establish before I go any further is that filming for the male gaze and showing women’s bodies are not the same thing. Women have bodies, as all humans do, and we use them for all of the same things everyone else uses their bodies for. But we are not our bodies. We do not have value based on our bodies and our bodies do not exist solely for men to enjoy. Keep this in mind when thinking about the male gaze in film and media.
So yeah, how could a film about an occupation catering heavily to the male gaze in real life avoid it on screen? It’s a great question. The answer is complicated. There are certainly camera angles and focus points throughout this movie that might excite people to see, because the women’s bodies in this movie are beautiful and strong and honestly incredible. The pole dancing scene with Lopez is the perfect example. J’Lo is known for her butt, so it’s not surprising that it’s on full display in this clip, and it’s certainly seen. It’s practically completely uncovered after all. There are even shots that seem to focus on her butt. But point of view is an important aspect of this scene.
We are watching J’Lo’s pole routine from the perspective of our narrator, Destiny, and as such, we are being directed to admire what she is admiring about Ramona in this scene. It’s not her ass and her tits and all the skin she’s showing. It’s the absolute command she has of her body, every muscle and tendon and inch of skin. She is strong and graceful and in complete control, and this is what Destiny sees. This is emphasised in the following scene when she asks Ramona, ‘How come you’re so good?’ And this scene isn’t unique. We never watch the strippers in this film from the perspectives of their clients. If anything, it’s the opposite. We look at the men, we watch them the way they’re used to watching. The point is that we are not watching these women’s bodies, we are watching what these women can do with their bodies, and we are watching their deliberate choices of exactly how to do it.
There’s another incredibly important aspect about this film that we need to talk about though. The diversity. The main characters are a Latina and an Asian woman. There are three black American women who also feature heavily. Only one of the strippers is white, and our other white character is based on a real life person, the reporter who wrote the article this film was based on. And the diverse cultures and ethnicities represented are not the only diversity we’re seeing either. There are women of all shapes and sizes; Lizzo makes an honestly iconic appearance as herself, Cardi B is her usual crude and vulgar brand, there’s J’Lo’s curves, Constance Wu’s up-and-down body. Never once is this commented on or asked about or questioned. It’s just a realistic sample size of what women, in any industry, look like (or should).
Part of the importance of this story is that it’s the first of its kind (as far as I know). Not only are we dealing with a movie about strippers that actually focuses on the strippers’ lives and choices, but we also get to hear the story of a Latin woman (although I’m unable to confirm whether the real-life woman was actually Latina or not) and a Cambodian woman. These women are seven different kinds of marginalised and it is so refreshing to finally see their side of the story being told.
[SPOILERS] For anyone truly worried about the illegal and morally grey actions of the women in this film, they do get their come-uppance in the end (and did in real life too). I just don’t personally think that what they did was really that big of a deal (besides, y’know, drugging people without consent… don’t ever do that, it’s bad).
I love this film. It’s controversial probably, and it’s certainly not the kind of movie I’d recommend showing to anyone below the age of 18, but I think it tells an important story that we haven’t seen in Hollywood up to this point. And I do kinda love that these women flaunt their actions by walking around in full-on giant fur coats. How can you be mad at that?
Hustlers is available to stream in Australia and the UK on Amazon Prime, on Showtime in the US, and is available to rent or buy everywhere on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play and Apple TV.
