Dolls (1975)

Produced and directed by University of Texas at Austin graduate students Dwight Adair and Gary Ganter, this 1975 experimental documentary highlights the culture surrounding beauty competitions. The film captures a swimsuit competition, an evening gown competition, and the final crowning. Throughout the film, Adair and Ganter juxtapose images of the pageant with clips of a women’s wrestling match and shots of female mannequin dolls. The only sound is the recorded audio from the pageant. After graduating from the University of Texas, Adair began a career as a filmmaker, writing, director, and producing documentaries, television commercials, and training films. Bill Mackie was a professor in the Radio-Television-Film Department at the University of Texas.