Prom Night in Kansas City

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03/20/2008 a fairly uninspired documentary that proves how lame prom really is See more 07/11/2005 [center][img]http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0009I7O48.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg[/img][/center] (DVD) (First Viewing, 1st Lee and von Ziegesar film) The basic idea of PROM NIGHT IN KANSAS CITY is to look at the prom experience from several different angles, and try to make some kind of sense of this revered ritual of American teenage culture that has emerged since the 1950's. Is prom merely a democratized version of the debutante ball? Is it a subconscious rite of passage? A "junior wedding day?" An outlet for awkward adolescent romance? Or is it merely an excuse for high school seniors to dress up, dance dirty, drink a little and maybe, if one gets lucky, to get laid? To get a full view of the prom rituals, various different types of schools and student bodies found in Kansas City are represented. The inner-city, upscale suburbia, a religious sect and the gay and lesbian communities are all present and accounted for, with students representative of each school and different social and economic backgrounds giving their opinions, ideas, projections and even their dreams of what their big night is going to entail. It quickly becomes apparent that expectations for prom are as varied as the events themselves, and it is mostly the students, with their respective giddiness or scorn, that drives the film's flimsy exploration. And that is both the strength and weakness of PROM NIGHT IN KANSAS CITY-- while many of the individual stories and events are compelling enough on their own, they lack any kind of overall analysis to give it any kind of context or meaningful insight. There are so many diverse factors involved with proms-- capitalism to hormones, Hollywood-inspired expectations to familial pressures-- that are just barely touched upon, if mentioned at all. Also absent is any kind of depiction, let alone analysis, on the freak dancing, drinking, and/or sex that defines many student's prom experience. This further underlines the disappointing shallowness that plagues PROM NIGHT IN KANSAS CITY, and prevents it from ever evolving into any kind of substantial examination on the subject at hand. See more Read all reviews

Prom Night in Kansas City

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