When I saw the preview for Bad Reputation, I immediately added it to my queue and decided to watch it at home. I like Joan Jett, but I’m not a fan so seeing it in the theater seemed unnecessary even though a documentary about a mother of rock and roll was definitely something worth watching. I think that I made the right choice because then I could have subtitles and rewind if necessary, which it certainly was.
Have you ever watched an entire movie then realized that it washed over you; it is over; and you remember nothing? A lot was going on when I initially saw Bad Reputation, but the movie is also rapidly paced and almost feels as if the filmmaker was racing through her story, which means that you won’t be bored, but you also may not absorb anything and walk away from the movie with the impression that the filmmaker and its subject wanted you to have. Apparently the director normally makes music videos, documentaries about rock stars and sci fi television series, but I’m not familiar with his work so I have no idea if he is always rushing, and it is his style, or it is a one time deal. It may be an attraction for his subjects. Documentaries about a famous person requires that person’s cooperate in order to even have a film, which is tricky because then the documentary can never be solely the filmmaker’s creation (not that any film is one person’s creation) because the subject can literally end the entire project and give it to someone else. So unlike most documentaries that feel revelatory and probing, documentaries with famous people as the subject feel more like summaries and can feel as if something is missing. I would theorize that is why you get a director with a lot of experience with rock stars, not a great filmmaker. He gets the unspoken rules.
Bad Reputation is a biography of Jett, but also her work husband, songwriter Kenny Laguna. If you’re expecting a lot about the Runaways, then be prepared to leave after twenty-six minutes into the ninety-three minute movie. A distinct feature of the film is that the interviewees get their name splashed on a record so the viewer knows who they are. Kathleen Hanna is one of the interviewees, and if you wanted to have a double feature movie night featuring this documentary and were looking for another film to pair it with, I would recommend The Punk Singer even if you don’t know or care about Hanna or rock music—all categories that I can claim, but after watching that documentary once, I remembered Hanna.
Bad Reputation also featured other interviewees that filled me with rage. Miley Cyrus gushes about the influence that Jett had on her music. Ugh. If she treats Jett the same way that she treats rap music, it won’t be long before she stops riding Jett’s coattails for fame then blaming Jett for her own shortcomings then walking back her comments when her reversal is not met with enough positive feedback. Go wash your feet. Cyrus is my Lena Dunham. I cannot stand her mainly because I’m not looking for her, but she keeps appearing everywhere. How did you get here? Nikki Haley is also interviewed. If you do watch this documentary, you’ll know that Haley is probably one of the last people that Jett would even have a cup of coffee with—the absolute last would be Presidon’t. Why? Did the filmmaker genuinely not know who Haley is and what she stands for so they included her because she was the only politician eager to talk about a rock star?
Documentaries are tricky. On one hand, they need to be timeless enough so that when they are viewed in the future, they age well and the importance of the subject is divorced enough from others that it doesn’t get weighed down by the baggage of others that appear in it, but on the other hand, in terms of immediate success so you can get funding for your next project, you need to get butts in the theater so you throw in as many famous faces as possible to make it happen so your film appeals to greatest number of viewers. Bad Reputation features some archival clips. One that hasn’t aged well, but was fine at the time that it originally aired was an appearance on Roseanne Barr’s short-lived talk show. The Roseanne Show aired from 1998 through 2000 so it was long before insomnia maybe destroyed her career. (Fun fact: I didn’t know that she tweeted George Zimmerman’s address in 2014 so what happened? Economic anxiety?)
While Jett is undoubtedly a progressive and a feminist, Bad Reputation notes, but does not explore why Jett never performed with a band of women as equals since The Runaways except when she mentored punk groups. It simply notes that because her experience with The Runaways was so damaging, which I’m not doubting because it sounded abusive in a physical and sexual way AND they were children, she sticks with guys. When I heard that reasoning, as a woman, it reminded me of all the times that I hear another woman say that she just gets along better with guys, and that is why she has no women friends. Eye roll. I wish that more women would unpack the issues that they have with women and challenge what led up to those issues because while superficially the reason may not be sexist, it leads to an inadvertently sexist result borne from a sexist experience and paradigm that exists to create division among women in competing for one spot when men can have all the rest. Jett is actually reinforcing the establishment by constantly picking guys and not picking women.
It seems incredible to have to even spell it out, but not all women in a band will act the same as the girls/women did in The Runaways. The real issue is that a band of women will have to face the same sexist reductive reception of their music so Jett chooses to opt out of that discomfort, not deal with the dynamic of forced competition projected onto (and obviously on some level for The Runaways) and occasionally accepted by a group of women thus not risking her place of power. For a different, more positive examination of group dynamics of women consciously confronting and overcoming these societal pressures after struggling with it, I would encourage you to see Maiden. It is disappointing that Jett never shares the assumptions that led to her decision, but I get that maybe it is an unpacking best left in a therapist’s office assuming that she is conscious of it being an issue. Documentaries about successful pioneering women need to examine how successful women unconsciously compromise and cosign the sexist systems that they are trying to subvert so that we can unpack and learn from that experience so the next pioneer can move one step forward.
Bad Reputation is entertaining, but so rapid paced that it could evaporate immediately after it ends. Jett is a fascinating and inspiring individual who deserved a better documentary, but is probably happy with the results.