Seven-year-old Steven Gale (Evan Bonifant), who lives with his parents on suburban Long Island in 1966, is obsessed with beloved sitcom star Dottie Frank (Julie Halston), who is not only the subject of his elaborate drawings but the primary supporting player in his bizarre dreams. While watching Dottie Gets Spanked viewers might reasonably ask, “Is there a point to this?” For the answer, they'll need to listen to the commentary supplied by director Haynes: quoting his original pitch letter aimed at securing funding for this 1993 short, he says the film was intended to “expose the erotic fixations embedded in the electromagnetic icons of our television past, creating a dark little dreamscape….” Um, okay. Haynes subsequently admits that Dottie Gets Spanked is largely autobiographical, based on his own childhood obsession with Lucille Ball and a later fascination with the Freudian interpretation of spanking. But what emerges on celluloid is another tiresome indictment of pre-Vietnam '60s suburbia as superficially placid but profoundly repressive. Barely a half hour in length, with only the short claymation parody “He Was Once,” the aforementioned commentary track, and a behind-the-scene photo gallery as DVD extras, Dottie Gets Spanked isn't worth the $20 asking price except to completist fans of the director (whose other works include Poison, Safe, and Far From Heaven). Optional. (E. Hulse)
Dottie Gets Spanked
Zeitgeist, 45 min., not rated, DVD: $19.99 Volume 20, Issue 1
Dottie Gets Spanked
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