The 1962 movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is about two older sisters, who were successful and famous in their early years. Now, they just think about the old days and wish they could get back to those glorious days. The two sisters in the movie are Jane and Blanche Hudson. Jane was a famous child star, where Blanche got recognized and became a famous actress later in her life. After reading Susan Sontag’s essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” I feel that the movie is “Camp.” In her essay Sontag says, “ All camp objects and persons, contain a large element of artifice.” Throughout the movie, we witness how manipulative these two sisters are. Both sisters juggle with each other to take control over each other, but no one wins. Blanche tries to run over Jane with her car, but she ends up breaking her spins. Blanche never reveled the truth until she was near to death. Blanche put the blame on her drunken sister Jane and Jane was too drunk to remember what actually happened. Jane takes control over Blanche and she make sure Blanche is isolated from the outside world. Jane kills Blanche’s pet bird and serves her as her dinner. This shows how these two sisters play tricks on each other to manipulate their lives. According to Sontag’s …show more content…
She tries to recall her old glorious days and she wishes to go back to the phase where she was famous child star. She even hires a piano player to paly the music, which she performed as a baby Jane. I can relate this to what Sontag mentioned on her essay. According to Sontag, “ And camp is esoteric - something of a private code, a badge of identity even, among small urban cliques.” Jane was unable to establish her career as an actress, so she drinks to replace her isolation. However, Jane starts to advertise herself and she is determining to restart her performing career. Jane tries to give herself a “ badge of identity” by finding herself in the phase of baby