The musical Hairspray began as a film in 1988 written by John Waters and was made into a Broadway show in 2003 before being recreated into a film in 2007. Hairspray is set in the 1960s in Baltimore and is about a girl called Tracey Turnblad who doesn't fit into the social norm of society. Tracey is an overweight teenager trying to get her dream role: dancing in Collins' corny show and hoping to meet her crush, the famous lead dancer Link. Tracey has to overcome her refusal to be on the show because she doesn't have to look hard for television. Tracy ends up in detention at school and learns a whole new style of dancing from the black students who dance "once a month on Negro Day" in Collins' corny show, builds friendships, and uses her new moves to win a spot in the show. Now she has a constant battle of feeling like she doesn't belong with lead dancer Amber and Amber's mother makes things difficult for her and tries to ruin her role on the show since there's a chance Tracey could take Amber's crown for Miss Teen. Baltimore. Tracey then causes trouble because she can't understand why blacks and whites can't dance on television at all. So he leads a protest, takes the side of blacks and fights for integration on television and in everyday life. As it looks like Amber will win the title, Tracey arrives to claim victory and dances for all races and all types of people and the whites and blacks all dance together starting a new chapter as equals. Hairspray takes place in Baltimore in 1962, during a time when history was being created such as the civil rights movement. This musical leaves a significant impact by showing us the social issues that were happening in... middle of paper... living in the present day, some informed facts and information about what it was like to live in the 60's. In a musical John Waters managed to evoke the true history of American culture with issues such as segregation and integration. It also showed the difficulties of the older generations having difficulty moving on to the next chapter of the 1960s and showed the change that occurred in the 1960s aided by the younger generations. He also manages to base the entire musical on a passionate and outspoken teenager who dreams of being on television but is constantly rejected and looked down upon because she is an older girl and does not belong to the upper class of society. But he actually does the right thing and stands up and helps create new change in Baltimore, all while following one message: do what you believe in and do what you think is right.