Before The Doll Project, there was "Superstar"

Exquisite Corpse: Death of A Supermodel - from the Doll Project book

I had heard about Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story when I was taking film classes as an undergraduate, though I had never seen it. It was an underground thing, a legend, very hard to find. Until YouTube, of course. As an artist, it's hard to decide sometimes whether it's best to view work that is similar to mine, or if it would somehow distract me or even derail my process altogether. But the comparisons between what I am doing with Barbie dolls in The Doll Project and what Todd Haynes did with Barbie dolls in Superstar are inevitable.

I finally watched this film for the first time a few months ago and was very moved by it. I had my doubts about a film dramatized with Barbies. But I shouldn't have doubted at all. It was a moving a powerful story that stayed with me for weeks after my first viewing. If you want to see it too, watch the video below. It's only 43 minutes, but if you like experimental films, it's 43 minutes well spent.