Dottie Gets Spanked

DOTTIE GETS SPANKED accomplishes in 30 minutes what most movies can't do in 2 hrs. It's a transforming experience. Somehow, without pretension, clutter or unnecessary detail, the filmmakers manage to convey the soon-to-be queer identity of a child in all its complexity.

Yet the film always feels straightforward, simple, and emotional. Very few films make you cry without making you feel like a dupe, but DOTTIE GETS SPANKED can, and doesn't insult your intelligence either. This is a major film. Bravo!

I'm into movie watching for the so-called "long form." That's where you are transported to another world, something happens which may change your life and then (sometimes) you are registered back home.

Many, many elements of this enterprise are difficult, and few films do the trick. The "short form" is where some element of the larger goal is attempted. Usually it is the introduction to another world, and some people are satisfied with merely being transported (because most people don't wanted to be changed anyway).

Todd Haynes is something of a master at this. It is all he does, even in his full-length movies, which is a bit disappointing, but the upcoming Dylan project looks like he is trying to play with the big boys.

This is his best so far, in part because it is so carefully constructed. Entry into other worlds usually depends on folding abstractions. The fold in this case is Steve's reality folded into a TeeVee show (which also contains his dreams) which is folded into the reality behind the show. All these collapse into a multidimensional spanking fantasy that gets put away to haunt him as an adult.

The characters and such are well done, but it is the folding that makes this thing work.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Every once in a while, I stumble across a video that just calls out to me, whether it be a funny title, a bizarre description, or a lesser known work of a much admired director. Todd Haynes' "Dottie Gets Spanked" is my latest acquisition of this type and was absolutely delightful.

This 30 minute short film was commissioned by the Independent Television Service, with funds from PBS, as one of a series of shows exploring the difference between "tv families" and "real families." In what Haynes call his most autobiographical piece to date, "Dottie Gets Spanked" tells the story of Stevie, a seven year old boy obsessed with a television star, Dottie Frank, star of the 1950s show, "The Dottie Show", an obvious allusion to Lucille Ball and "Here's Lucy". Stevie loves everything about Dottie, never misses a show, draws pictures of her, creates stories around her, even dreams of her. As the title suggests, he witnesses Dottie getting spanked, which opens up a whole new world of emotions for a young and impressionable boy.

Todd Haynes is one of the most recognized directors of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 1990s. This little gem of a show is a brilliant representation of how one boy's gender identity blossoms, together with his awareness (and shame) of his differences from his peers. If you are over 40, loved the old sitcoms, even a little atypical, then there is a decent chance you will love this too.

Perhaps I am missing something, but I just didn't get it. I mean, I myself am gay, yet I didn't see how this short film was some sort of triumph of homo cinema. I mean, this is one of those films that you don't understand at all, but you watch fascinated, and you know that in the end it will all come together and make sense. However, that didn't happen. After a half hour of bizarre, freaky dream sequences and lots and lots of spanking, I was no more enlightened than I was at the beginning. I mean, what was Todd Haynes trying to say? That a little 6 year old boy obsessed with an old "Lucy"-esque sitcom has a spanking fetish? I'm sorry, I saw "Velvet Goldmine" also, and I didn't get that either. Maybe Todd Haynes and I are just not clicking. Also, where was Harriet Sansom Harris? The credits state she plays Steven's mother... Well, I am sorry, but that is NOT Har.

Todd haynes writes and directs this thirty minute short film. Steven, a young boy, watches the dottie show each day, and seems extra obsessed with watching her get spanked. It seems steven doesn't really understand why he enjoys it, and his parents sure as heck don't understand. And they aren't sure how to handle it. Steven is quite lonely, and only his mother understands him... she seems to be his only friend. Kind of a cult film. Or maybe a coming of age story for a little boy. I wish it had been longer; maybe more things would have been explained. Although i'm sure many of us felt the same loneliness and shame that steven appears to feel. Without knowing why. I had seen many of haynes' other full length films; he wrote and directed some biggies! Good stuff! I look forward to seeing more from him. This one currently showing on kanopy streaming.