The Magic That Is Mike

As those of you who follow me on Tumblr may have noticed, I watched Magic Mike on Wednesday night. Now, I very much enjoyed it despite not being the kind of girl who just goes silly over almost entirely naked men. I watched it with the intention of blogging about it, seeing as it is a film about stripping and this is a blog about stripping. I took many, many notes while watching it; this may be a long post.

What Can't You Touch?
This initial setting down of the rules only to take them away with 'but I think we got a lot of lawbreakers in here' intrigued me. Despite the laws, it is considered acceptable for the women to touch the men. Now, in the club where I work at least, and I am assuming in other clubs in the country, the men don't touch women. The women don't want to be touched and the men that do try to touch the women are at the very least looked down upon. I am not talking about actual sexual assault here, because obviously that is always wrong, I just found an interesting difference in the way male and female strippers expect their customers to act. Similarly, I found that the enthusiasm of the girls was very different to the way the men act in the club I work in. This may be because it is only a small club, but, in all honesty, I can't see them getting that excitable, even in a big club.

Promotional Work
I mentioned in an earlier post about promotional work and how I hated it. I will admit that I have only been once, but I was struck by how easy it seems to be for Mike and Adam to do. I'm not sure if this is because it is already night and I was promoting in the day time or if it is because they are male. I hate to go on and on about gender roles and essentially become a stereotype, but it does seem more accepted and therefore easier for men to approach girls than the other way around. I also wonder if it were easier for Adam not initially knowing what he was promoting.

Big Performances
I think that the dances, both the group ones and the individual ones are what really sold the film for me; I am an absolute sucker for dance movies. At the club where I work, we have a tiny stage with a pole on it. Sometimes girls get up to dance, but there is no production, no show. As a dancer, a performer, I envy the girls at bigger clubs for their audiences. I haven't yet got on the pole because I don't yet know how I would go about doing that.

His First Time
Something that I do not envy Adam for is his first dance. My first dance was for a young lad from Argentina, just the one, with no one else watching. Admittedly he struggled to accept the 'no touching' rule, but at least that was all. He had no previous experience of strip clubs, had no expectations, was just happy to see a naked girl. Now Adam, poor Adam, had to do his first, awkward and uncomfortable dance in front of loads of women, his boss and his new co-workers. I would not have been able to do that.

Learning Lessons
In the film, Adam gets a lot more direction than I have had. On my first night, I was given a lap dance by one of the girls and since then I have had no real insight into anything. Adam gets a mirrored room with his boss telling him exactly how to do his job. He gets to go on a shopping trip for 'work clothes' with Mike who really helps him with what he should wear. I have so far only been on the one shopping trip and it was on my own. Yes, I bought something pretty, but also yes, it was directionless and awkward.

Family Issues
Now, as I mentioned recently, my family do not know what I actually do for money. I would not leave my stuff hanging around where any family member may see it, in fact, I have not bought actual stripper shoes and do not plan to because I would be worried that my mum would see them. But Adam got caught be his sister. I would quite like to know how she didn't guess straight away. If I saw this sudden change and acquiring of interesting and 'exotic' attire, I would not first think 'gay', but instead 'stripper'. And then she went to the show. I have younger brothers; if I had been informed that they were strippers, I would not go to the club where they were stripping. That would be weird.

House Calls
I don't know how I would feel about going to houses to strip for parties. I have seen 'Player's Club' (maybe I will blog about that one day in the future; I have a lot to say about it), and it doesn't seem entirely fun. In fact, in this film it doesn't seem quite jelly and ice cream.

Some Final Points

• The miniature pig is my favourite character, closely followed by his owner, if only for her perfect hair and despite the fact that she is just a drug addict with no real character development. 
• Mike's house is absolutely beautiful and I dream of one day living in that exact house, even if it doesn't actually exist in the real world.  
• "I think we should be best friends" - yes this is really rather cute and, yes, this is what I want. I will admit that I went into stripping with the expectation that I would find a guide, a really close female friend who would look out for me. Unfortunately, despite how lovely the girls I work with are, I have yet to find that relationship.
• "You're not just stripping. You are fulfilling every woman's wildest fantasies." I just like this quotation. My boss has said something similar to me, only about men, not women. 
• How much clothes do they go through? They just keep ripping them off. Do they have to buy them themselves?

I said that I took many notes, didn't I? So yes, I very much enjoyed this film. It didn't need anything more than it had, in my opinion. I watched it like I watch a dance movie and didn't worry about it.