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Zoolander

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Zoolander
Directed byBen Stiller
Written byDrake Sather
Ben Stiller
John Hamburg
Produced byScott Rudin
Ben Stiller
Stuart Cornfeld
StarringBen Stiller
Owen Wilson
Christine Taylor
Will Ferrell
Jerry Stiller
Music byDavid Arnold
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Village Roadshow Pictures
VH1 Films
Release dates
September 28, 2001
Running time
89 min. (theatrical)
LanguageEnglish

Zoolander is a 2001 film based on a pair of short films directed by Russell Bates and written by Drake Sather and Ben Stiller for the VH1 Fashion Awards television show in 1996 and 1997. The short films and the movie feature Derek Zoolander, a dimwitted male fashion model. The title role is played by Ben Stiller, and in the feature film (which Ben directed), Zoolander's agent is played by his father Jerry Stiller. The movie also stars Stiller's wife, Christine Taylor, and features an appearance by Stiller's mother, Anne Meara.

Phrases such as "Blue Steel", "There's more to life than being really, really ridiculously goodlooking" as well as other dialogue from this popular movie have been reused by many people, and the movie has generated a cult-like following.[citation needed]

Plagiarism

Author Bret Easton Ellis has claimed that the plot of Zoolander was stolen from his novel Glamorama. Ellis has stated both that he attempted to take legal action against the producers of Zoolander for plagarizing his story and that he reached an out-of-court settlement with the producers. [1] [2]

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler In Zoolander, the supremacy of Derek Zoolander as the world's top male model is challenged by the up-and-coming Hansel (Owen Wilson), an acid-tripping, Great Spirit-worshipping throwback to the '60s. After his best friends are killed in a "freak gasoline-fight accident," Derek announces that he is retiring from the male modeling profession while performing a "eugoogley" (mispronunciation of eulogy by Zoolander) as a eugooglizer (one who gives eulogies). He returns to the coal mines where his father and brothers work, but soon finds himself rejected and desperately out of place.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Prime Minister Hassan of Malaysia is working on reducing child labor in his country. The evil world-wide organization known as the fashion industry is determined to retain Malaysia as a major source of cheap labor, and is desperate to thwart the incumbent Prime Minister. Fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu (Will Ferrell), helped by his tough assistant Katinka (Milla Jovovich), is assigned to train a dull-witted male model to assassinate the Prime Minister under the guise of the Derelicte fashion show.

File:Derek Zoolander Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good.jpg
Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too

Meanwhile, journalist Matilda, who had previously published a scathing article about male models and Derek in particular, discovers that Mugatu actually wants to train Derek into an assassin and warns him just in time, after Derek loses a 'walk-off' against Hansel (adjudicated by David Bowie as himself). They find out more from the world's greatest hand model (David Duchovny), who set up a meeting with Matilda in St. Adonis Cemetery. They are ambushed by Katinka and her minions and Derek and Matilda beat a hasty retreat. They need to find somewhere to hide, so they hide at Hansel's since no one would expect Derek to stay with his archrival. Hansel and Derek make up and begin to work together to thwart Mugatu. Derek discovers--during an orgy--that he is in love with Matilda.

At Mugatu's Derelicte, Derek struggles to act casually and avoid killing the Prime Minister. His trigger is Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax." Fortunately Hansel breaks in and saves Derek's mind. Mugatu's evil intentions are quickly uncovered. But Mugatu counters that Derek is nothing because all three of his poses are identical. When Mugatu tosses a razor sharp weapon to kill the Prime Minister, Derek flashes the long-awaited look "Magnum," which shockingly stops his weapon in mid-air. Everyone is spellbound by the incredible "Magnum." Mugatu is quickly arrested and everything turns out alright.

After Derelicte, Derek founds "The Derek Zoolander Center For Children Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too." The place quickly becomes a great success and Derek ends up marrying Matilda. Derek Jr. even strikes his first pose.

Template:Endspoiler

Reception

The film was never shown in Malaysia, the country figured prominently in the film, as it is depicted as impoverished and dependent on sweatshops. Malaysia's censorship board deemed it "definitely unsuitable". [3] The film was also banned in neighboring Singapore due to bilateral sensitivities and the movie's excessive drug use. However, as of 2006, it has since been re-rated with an NC16 rating and finally released.

This movie's box office was hurt by the fact that it opened two weekends after the September 11, 2001 attacks. In the trailer for the Oliver Stone World Trade Center, a poster for Zoolander can be seen in the background as the shadow of the first plane to hit the WTC passes over New York City.

Running themes

Blue Steel and Magnum

File:Zoolandera.jpg
Derek Zoolander displays "Blue Steel", or perhaps "Le Tigre" or "Ferrari"

"Blue Steel" is the name of a male model pose in Zoolander. The film's protagonist Derek Zoolander invented the pose and he protects it as a trade secret (it is supposedly patented). The style of the pose is identical to all his other named poses, (which include "Le Tigre" and "Ferrari"), except for "Magnum", in which he turns left, a feat he has been unable to do all his life, as he is not an "ambiturner." This contributes to the running joke that despite his reputation as a male model, Zoolander knows only one pose. His facial expression is also softer and the lips are protruded more in the "Magnum" pose than in any of the others.

The pose "Blue Steel" is a distinctive and, among the film's fans, instantly recognizable creation of Ben Stiller. Its defining characteristics are a lead-in that consists of using the neck to whip the head from one side to center and a facial expression that is decidedly feline.

Derelicte

"Derelicte" is the name given to the fashion line designed by Will Ferrell's character Mugatu. It is described in the film as "a fashion, a way of life inspired by the very homeless, the vagrants, the crack whores that make this wonderful city so unique." During the scene where Mugatu introduces Derek (Ben Stiller) to Derelicte, an actual homeless person appears on a pedestal. He is known in the New York area as "Radio" and frequents large movie shoots. This is his first major role.

Political subtext

There is a hidden political subtext in the movie, one which has been widely missed, except perhaps by the Malaysian censor. In 1997, in the wake of the Asian financial crisis, Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attacked Jews for undermining Malaysia's economy. He especially accused the Jewish financier George Soros of economic sabotage.[4] He later claimed that "We may suspect that they, the Jews, have an agenda, but we do not want to accuse." [5] The movie portrays a conspiracy in which a cabal of fashion designers seek to control politicians, similar in concept to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Several of the designers are clearly intended to be Jewish, e.g. Mugatu (Moogberg) and Ballstein. The choice of the Malaysian PM as the target of the assassination seems particularly deliberate given that many other countries have worse child labor abuses.[6]

Trivia

  • The name of the character Mugatu is a reference to the Star Trek episode "A Private Little War." In the episode, there is a predatory, venomous, and very fake-looking primate called a "Mugatu". It, like Zoolander's Mugatu, has bright white hair.
  • Throughout most of the film, Zoolander shows an inability to turn left. To compensate, he will continuously turn right until he faces the correct direction. So, rather than making a 90° turn left, Zoolander will turn 270° right. However, a goof showed him exiting the awards show by turning left. In fact, an inability to turn left is one symptom experienced by those with Hemispatial neglect - a condition caused by damage to the right hemisphere of the brain. Patients with this problem compensate in the same way as Zoolander, turning right until they're facing the desired direction.
  • Le Tigre is the name of a feminist electro post-punk band
  • The scene where Zoolander and Hansel try to find Mugatu's files parodies the dawn of man scene from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, even featuring the famous Also sprach Zarathustra theme.

Cast

Cameo appearances

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Zoolander.
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