Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story - Part 1

Todd Haynes [Far from heaven, Safe] burst upon the scene two years after his graduation with his now-infamous 43-minute "Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story" (1987). Seizing upon the inspired gimmick of using Barbie and Ken dolls to sympathetically recount the story of the pop star's death from anorexia, he spent months making miniature dishes, chairs, costumes, Kleenex and Ex-Lax boxes, and Carpenters' records to create the film's intricate, doll-size mise-en-scene. The result was both audacious and accomplished as the dolls seemingly ceased to be dolls leaving the audience weeping for the tragic singer.

Unfortunately, Richard Carpenter's enmity for the film led to the serving of a "cease and desist" order in 1989, and despite the director's offer "to only show the film in clinics and schools, with all money going to the Karen Carpenter memorial fund for anorexia research," "Superstar" remains buried, one of the few films in modern America that cannot be seen by the general public.

• Category

  Film & Animation

[Ivan Tovar]

taringa !!! morbo mueve

[deborahsuewho]

Thanks for this. I saw it in an english class in college and was afraid I'd never see it again. Most of the class cried - a movie casted with dolls made us, a class of working adults, cry. Incredible.

[Ed Cao]

This movie inspired my filming style. Thanks for posting.

[Johnny Ev]

OMG! I have been waiting to see this a LONG time.

[Dennis N]

R.I.P., Karen & thank you for the music.

[Carole Morin]

I wish Todd Haynes would direct my Dead Glamorous movie. Now what happened to the fairy on the xmas tree?

[Marc Rollins]

I actually addressed that issue in a comment on another part of this documentary.

Yeah, it was all unlicensed and he never offered to pay to have it licensed, instead he offered that the documentary be shown in certain institutions as an educational type video about bulimia and other eating disorders, of course all of the profits would also be donated to a few named charity and education programs.

Richard Carpenter decided that wouldn't be a good idea, perhaps rightfully...

I'm not really sure

[Paglia444]

Well, Haynes also used their music without license, so he violated their copyright. Did Haynes offer to pay to license the music?

[naturalesque81tv]

Weird.

[Marc Rollins]

This movie has been out of print since 1989 because of a cease and desist order issue by a judge on behalf of Richard Carpenter. Furthermore, most of the copies of this film were destroyed; so it's a wonder this is even on youtube.

Count your blessings it's even on this site, Richard Carpenter was so afraid someone would think he was gay (because of implications in this doc) or that his family were uncaring so he sued Tom Haynes, there's a lot more to the story though

[Marc Rollins]

The context of it all is really the most important; though it couldn't have been done with any other type of doll, seeing as how Barbie and anorexia go hand in hand.

This film is truly sad because it just goes to show how obsessed people can be, even over others, like Karen.

[MrEarlander]

Yes, Barbie and Ken are created in the image of being "perfect" people, and Barbie is extremely thin. It ties directly into the story.