Spice World just might be the best star vehicle of all time. With absurd cameos (Meatloaf is the band’s tour bus driver; Roger Moore plays the main villain), aliens, and incredible overacting on the Spices’ part, it should be terrible, but somehow, it works wonderfully. The plot has more layers than an onion, but the core conflict concerns how the Spices deal with their lives and friendship in the face of their burgeoning fame. As a Girl Power text, the film focuses most explicitly on friendship and women’s independence, with nods to other key tenets scattered throughout.
As the Girls are attempting to prepare for their first big show at the Royal Albert Hall – taking dance lessons, appearing in photo shoots, and attending a “Spice Boot Camp” – they face off with their overbearing male tour manager, Clifford, about maintaining some semblance of their pre-fame freedom and ordinariness. Although Clifford says that he’d like to allow the girls some free time to visit with their family and friends, enjoy a “normal” life, it just isn’t possible given their work schedule (mandated and controlled by him) and their increasing levels of fame. The band’s relationship with Clifford can be viewed as a metaphor for women’s position in the patriarchy: always subordinate to the needs and rules, and desires of men. Although Clifford wants to give the girls the opportunity to live their own lives, his interests (and especially his business interests) must come before their own, just as the needs of men generally must come before those of men. Although the girls do manage to slip away and do “what’s in their heads” (visiting their pregnant friend Nicola, who goes into labour while she’s with the girls), they manage to return in time to perform at Albert Hall, fulfilling their obligations to their fans and Clifford; while they want to stay with Nicola, their responsibility towards others must come first. As Lemish (2003) says, they are “teetering along the thin line between obedience and resistance”, attempting to balancing doing whatever they want with pleasing the man.
Friendship is another key tenet of the Spice Girls’ girl power feminism, and is a major theme of the film. The band’s relationships with each other and with people outside of the band (specifically, their friend Nicola) are frequently tested over the course of the film. Although the film depicts the band’s friendship as being “clearly of an adolescent nature” (Lemish, 2003), with sleepovers and plenty of giggling, it also depicts how it grows and matures when faced with challenges and stress – in the girls’ case, balancing their new roles as celebrities with their desire to remain normal and ordinary. While most viewers will not relate to that particular problem, the challenges of maintaining friendships during difficult periods are incredibly relatable. It’s also important to note that, except for a tiny side plot involving the girls’ handlers, romance is conspicuously absent from the film; the film is entirely focused on the importance of the friendship between the Spices, and the message is clearly that female friendship must always come before romantic relationships and the interests of men. The scenes with Nicola, as well as those with the girls reuniting after a major fight, are illustrative of this. At the film’s climax, they must work together to make it back across town in time for their show, making it evident that they are better together than alone; this can be viewed as representative of all female friendships. In Girl Power parlance, while independence is great, women are better together.
As the Girls are attempting to prepare for their first big show at the Royal Albert Hall – taking dance lessons, appearing in photo shoots, and attending a “Spice Boot Camp” – they face off with their overbearing male tour manager, Clifford, about maintaining some semblance of their pre-fame freedom and ordinariness. Although Clifford says that he’d like to allow the girls some free time to visit with their family and friends, enjoy a “normal” life, it just isn’t possible given their work schedule (mandated and controlled by him) and their increasing levels of fame. The band’s relationship with Clifford can be viewed as a metaphor for women’s position in the patriarchy: always subordinate to the needs and rules, and desires of men. Although Clifford wants to give the girls the opportunity to live their own lives, his interests (and especially his business interests) must come before their own, just as the needs of men generally must come before those of men. Although the girls do manage to slip away and do “what’s in their heads” (visiting their pregnant friend Nicola, who goes into labour while she’s with the girls), they manage to return in time to perform at Albert Hall, fulfilling their obligations to their fans and Clifford; while they want to stay with Nicola, their responsibility towards others must come first. As Lemish (2003) says, they are “teetering along the thin line between obedience and resistance”, attempting to balancing doing whatever they want with pleasing the man.
Friendship is another key tenet of the Spice Girls’ girl power feminism, and is a major theme of the film. The band’s relationships with each other and with people outside of the band (specifically, their friend Nicola) are frequently tested over the course of the film. Although the film depicts the band’s friendship as being “clearly of an adolescent nature” (Lemish, 2003), with sleepovers and plenty of giggling, it also depicts how it grows and matures when faced with challenges and stress – in the girls’ case, balancing their new roles as celebrities with their desire to remain normal and ordinary. While most viewers will not relate to that particular problem, the challenges of maintaining friendships during difficult periods are incredibly relatable. It’s also important to note that, except for a tiny side plot involving the girls’ handlers, romance is conspicuously absent from the film; the film is entirely focused on the importance of the friendship between the Spices, and the message is clearly that female friendship must always come before romantic relationships and the interests of men. The scenes with Nicola, as well as those with the girls reuniting after a major fight, are illustrative of this. At the film’s climax, they must work together to make it back across town in time for their show, making it evident that they are better together than alone; this can be viewed as representative of all female friendships. In Girl Power parlance, while independence is great, women are better together.