Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story

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Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story is a 43 minute film regarding the life of pop vocalist Karen Carpenter. It was directed by Todd Haynes and released in 1987. It was later withdrawn from circulation after Haynes lost a lawsuit filed by Karen's brother and musical collaborator, Richard Carpenter. The title of the film is derived from "Superstar," their 1971 hit song.

The film covers Karen's life from the time of her "discovery" by her brother in 1966 to her untimely death by cardiac arrest (secondary to anorexia nervosa and bulimia) in 1983. The movie begins with a quasi-first person recap of Agnes Carpenter discovering Karen's body in her parents' Downey, California home on February 4, 1983, and then returns by flashback to 1966. The story touches on major points in Karen's life from 1966 on:

the duo's signing with record label A&M
their initial success and subsequent decline
Karen's development of anorexia nervosa (spurred by an infamous review which described the well-proportioned Karen as "chubby")
her on-stage collapse in Las Vegas
her search for treatment for her anorexia nervosa
her attempt to restart her career
her gradually developing reliance on syrup of ipecac (a product which, unbeknownst to her, destroyed her heart and led to her cardiac arrest).

An unusual facet of the film was that, instead of actors, almost all parts were played by modified Barbie dolls. In particular, Haynes detailed Karen Carpenter's worsening anorexia by subtly whittling away at the face and arms of the "Karen" Barbie doll. Sets were created properly scaled to the dolls - including locales such as the Carpenter home in Downey, Karen's apartment in Century City, restaurants, recording studios - including minute details such as labels on wine bottles and Ex-Lax boxes. Interspersed with the story were documentary-style segments detailing the times in which Karen Carpenter lived and also detailing anorexia; these segments were seen as dry and melodramatic parodies of the documentary genre. The underlying soundtrack included many popular hits of the day, including songs by Gilbert O'Sullivan, Elton John and - of course - the Carpenters.

The tone of the film was sympathetic to Karen, especially as regards her anorexia, but much of that sympathy was gained by making the other characters as unsympathetic as possible. Karen's parents, Harold and Agnes, were portrayed as controlling and indifferent; Agnes, in addition, was portrayed as dismissive of Karen's concerns about her weight. The duo's initial meeting with A&M Records owner Herb Alpert was intercut with stock footage of the Holocaust; the scene ended with a naked female corpse being thrown into an open pit, with a chilling scream overdubbed. Richard Carpenter was portrayed as a rampant perfectionist who frequently sided with his parents against Karen, and was also depicted as hypercritical of Karen. This culminated in a scene where Richard berates a fatigued and obviously ill Karen for not meeting business demands and "ruining my career", causing her to break down in tears. Haynes even insinuated during a fight between Richard and Karen that Richard was homosexual - which, if it had been reported to the public in the 1970s, would have decimated the Carpenters' "clean" image and the group's career.

Haynes' treatment of the film was quite dark; his choice of black captions often blended in with the scene, rendering them unreadable. Additionally, Haynes worked spanking (a common theme in his works) into the film with a repeated segment featuring a black-and-white overhead view of Harold administering an over-the-knee spanking to a bare-bottomed adult Karen. The meaning of this segment is never discussed, leaving it to the viewer's imagination - it may be an actual event, a representation of Karen's self-loathing regarding her inability to be the "perfect" child, or a representation of the self-discipline involved with her anorexia.

Upon its release, the film was a minor art hit, more due to its use of Barbie dolls than due to its subject matter. However, shortly thereafter, Richard Carpenter viewed the film and became irate with the film's portrayal of his family. As Haynes never sought clearance for the Carpenters music used in the film, Richard Carpenter sued Todd Haynes for failing to obtain the clearances - and won. (It is generally believed that, had Richard Carpenter not sued based on unauthorized use of Carpenters music, Mattel would have sued based on unauthorized use of Barbie figurines). As a result of the lawsuit, all copies of the film were to have been recalled and destroyed; however, numerous bootleg copies of the film survive and are available on various internet sites. The Museum of Modern Art retains a copy of this film but has agreed with the Carpenter estate not to exhibit it.