102: “Reality Is Very Disappointing” – Mannequin & Mannequin On The Move

When We Were Young - an 80s and 90s pop culture podcast

Sometimes, iconic characters from a movie become pop culture references that outlast and outshine the movie itself. Sometimes, you’d rent a movie at Blockbuster based on the cover alone. And sometimes, ambitious white women in ancient Egypt or “Hauptmann-Koenig” time travel and teleport into beautiful mannequins in a department store in Philly! In 1987 and 1991, that sometimes and those iconic characters were the namesakes of MANNEQUIN and MANNEQUIN TWO: ON THE MOVE.

Whether in the role played by Kim Cattrall in the first outing (playing an Egyptian character – in ancient Egypt) or by Kristy Swanson in the sequel, the female lead of this well-known franchise is a woman hopelessly trapped in a department store window mannequin until a hapless and bumbling (but secretly talented!) handsome guy named Jonathan or Jason arrives to become her instant true love and render the force of life into her immobile body. Cue the instantly-iconic Starship power ballad “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and the inevitable wedding bells!

In both movies, Meshach Taylor plays the indefatigable and fabulous Hollywood Montrose, an out and proud gay man who does window displays at the Prince and Company department store and who helps these men meet their mannequin matches. How moving are Mannequin’s representations of women and of “Hollywood” in 2022? Is the Mannequin still vibrant and vivacious – or have time or Egyptian gods or a cursed necklace turned her back into cold, expressionless, painted fiberglass? Also, why don’t more movies Have A Dog? Our podcast hosts surveyed every cranny and corridor of Prince and Company by hang glider to answer those questions and revisit these movies.

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