Do you have a woman in your script who has (ahem) loose morals? Want to know the quickest way to let your audience know that she is supposed to be the town tramp? Other than dressing her like a teenage talk show guest, (Next on The Maury Povich Show: “Maury, help me with my wild teen!”) there’s another surefire way to drill this fact into your audience’s head- get her in a red dress and have her sing or dance to the song “Fever”.
I’m sure you’ve seen this on too many movies and TV shows to count. (Married… With Children had Kelly Bundy do this in its third season, but I think we already knew by then that Al’s Little Girl was “Open for Business”.) Either we see the spectacle happen early on in the film or show to establish that this woman is a “friendly girl” or else it is used to symbolize a change in a bookish woman’s demeanor. After all, how many times have we seen straight-laced schoolmarms or librarians take off their glasses and rip off their conservative clothing to reveal a tight-fitting red dress, all done to the tune of “Fever”?
Many people have commented on how a quick way to make money in the music industry is to write a Christmas song that takes off, then sit back and watch the money roll in. I would imagine that an even better way to rake in the cash would be to write a new song that could be used by Hollywood as a replacement to “Fever.” Until then, I would imagine that the people who own the rights to that song are happy that Hollywood movies and television shows are still full of sex crazed women- and written by lazy writers.
