
Watch Exotic World and the Burlesque Revival
- 2012
- 1 hr 30 min
A goat-farm-turned-museum in the middle of the Mojave Desert becomes ground zero of the largest burlesque revival since the 1940s. In the margins of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, surrounded by 25,000 square miles of desert, striptease dancers Jennie Lee (a 1950's labor organizer for strippers) and Dixie Evans ("The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque") transform a goat farm into the only museum and retirement home in the world dedicated to striptease dancers. Located in a region known for its extreme climates, casinos, brothels, nuclear test sites, and homeland security trainings, Exotic World stands as a vulnerable, yet magnetic cultural institution. Part museum docent, part stripper, part historian, and part champion of the working-class, 75-year-old Evans wields the eroticism of an experienced dancer, animating each dusty object in the museum into a vibrant history of women's performance art, DIY craft, and labor. With little more than a social security check, Evans refuses to let the sexual and comedic artistry of American women fade to memory and begins fueling the largest burlesque revival since the 1940s. As young performers make pilgrimages to Exotic World, a culture emerges seeking to arouse something more than commercial or personal pleasure; dancers draw on history to forge critiques of mainstream sexual/gender roles and to choreograph a new erotic consciousness. In the meantime, in the literal and figurative margins of American culture, Exotic World struggles to remain financially viable. Through this one story, the complexities and politics of American memory, sex, feminism, class, aging, joy, and art unfolds. Director: Red Tremmel Narrator: Margaret Cho Producer: Courtney Hermann Editor: Kerribeth Elliott Language: English Release Year: 2012 Genre: Documentary Website: http://exoticworldthemovie.com/ Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/EWmovie Twitter: twitter.com/ewmovie YouTube http://tinyurl.com/mt298hv IMDb http://www.imdb.com/titl