History Film / Showgirls

* HostileHitchhiker: Nomi thumbs a ride to Las Vegas from a man in a pick-up truck. En route, the man suggests sex-for-mileage; Nomi and her switchblade vehemently disagree. BookEnds with the closing scene, where Nomi thumbs a ride to Los Angeles with the exact same man and pick-up truck. She shrieks, "You stole my luggage!" and resumes slashing at him while he's driving.
* {{Hypocrite}}: Nomi who denies being "a whore" despite her various roles as a showgirl, including stripteasing, private lapdances, simulating sex onstage, faking lesbianism, stealing Cristal's boyfriend, doing drugs and sleeping her way to the top. See AtLeastIAdmitIt above.

The film tells the tale of [[PunnyName Nomi Malone]] (Elizabeth Berkley), a country girl who hitchhikes to UsefulNotes/LasVegas in hopes of becoming "a dancer" and eventually (after a lot of nudity, a lot of sleaze, a little violence, and a lot of choreographed dance numbers) making her way to the top.

* BerserkButton: Nomi really hates being called a whore and being asked to be one.

* DrugsAreBad: Nomi repeatedly refuses offers of drugs until after she sleeps with Zach, finally taking cocaine in a manner similar to Cristal. It's presented as a sign of Vegas-induced corruption.

* StageToScreenAdaptation: In 2013, an off-off-Broadway parody called ''Showgirls! The Musical'' was mounted by Bob and Tobly [=McSmith=] of Medium Face Productions. Originating at The Krane Theater in New York City, the critical and audience response was overwhelmingly positive. It was moved to a 200-seat off-Broadway theater, XL Nightclub. The production continued to be successful, its original run was extended through July 15, 2013. Actress Rena Riffel reprised her role from the films as Penny for one month of the production. The show closely mimics the plot of the film and often directly incorporates dialog from the film. As the title suggests, it is a musical. It is highly satirical while staying true to the campy nature of the film. The musical takes several characters and condenses them for stage. The characters of Marty and Gaye have been combined to one character, simply called 'Gay'. The characters of Molly and James are both portrayed by actor Marcus Deison. Zack is simply called Creator/KyleMacLachlan. The show features sexually explicit language and nudity throughout. The {{tagline}} is "Singing. Dancing. Tits".

* UngratefulBastard: Nomi. After puking on Molly's car then being saved by Molly, Nomi still cusses her out and acts petulant when Molly offers her a place to live.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Christal warns new girl Nomi: "There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you".

* AmbiguouslyBi: Nomi who is attracted to men but shares a lot of closeness and tension with both her friend Molly and her rival Christal.

** Nomi’s strange reaction when Tony Moss jokingly calls her “[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/Pollyanna Pollyanna]].”

** Right around the same time as she's grinding on other naked women on-stage, Nomi seems mortally offended at how [[DepravedBisexual Crystal]] eyes her up and, later, is very reluctant to perform a private dance for her and Zach (insisting that the rules only allow her to dance for one person at a time and "no women"). She seems to be okay with making money off of faked lesbianism, but baulks at the idea of actually being desired by another woman (at least [[BigDamnKiss until the end]]).
** Two other dancers are in an ongoing rivalry, and one puts up with all kinds of abuse... right up until the other [[BerserkButton starts swearing at her kids.]]

* GroinAttack: After impressing a man with her dance moves, Nomi kicks him in the groin doing a dance, causing him to stumble back and accidentally cause a fight to break out on the dance floor.
* HairTriggerTemper: Nomi tends to fly off the handle at other people for any reason-- or no reason at all.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Nomi who denies being "a whore" despite her various roles as a showgirl, including stripteasing, private lapdances, simulating sex onstage, faking lesbianism, stealing Christal's boyfriend, doing drugs and sleeping her way to the top. See AtLeastIAdmitIt above.

* BlackBestFriend: Molly to the white protagonist, Nomi.

* TwoDecadesBehind: The major news coverage of Cristal being hired as the lead of ''Goddess'' might have been plausible in prior decades, but by the mid 1990s the popularity of Las Vegas showgirls was waning and the kind of shows featured in this film would die out a few years after the film's release.

** When aired on VH1, the networks not only dub over bad language and edit out most of the scenes of sex and violence, but use digitally-rendered bras and panties (most of which look as if it were rendered by graphic artist majors doing this as part of their college internship) to cover nudity. It was required to have a broadcastable version in which the plot (what little of it it has) makes any sense at all (there are plot-relevant scenes that take place while the main character, Nomi, is topless or in the nude), but really, the film's better off not being aired on television at all.

* BittersweetEnding: Nomi hitchhikes to Las Angeles and is implied to be returning to prostituting and inflicting violence on people just like before but she makes up with her friend Molly and makes peace with her rival Christal before leaving.

* {{Bowlderise}}:

A [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showgirls_2:_Penny%27s_from_Heaven direct-to-video sequel]] starring the minor character of Penny was released in 2011.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Showgirls_53.jpg]][[caption-width-right:300:''[[TagLine Leave your inhibitions at the door. The show is about to begin.]]'']]

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showgirls_2:_Penny%27s_from_Heaven A direct-to-video sequel was produced in 2011]].

* BiTheWay: Christal, who is attracted to many male and female clients including her rival Nomi.

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: The film was re-released as a "VIP Edition" which included, among other things: Shotglasses, playing cards, a "pin the pasties on the topless Elizabeth Berkeley" game, drinking game rules, a commentary track by a creepy superfan of the movie, and a short lapdancing tutorial from two girls of Scores. It's all part of the publisher's attempt to re-market the movie as a camp classic.

* TwoDecadesBehind: The major news coverage of Cristal being hired as the lead of ''Goddess'' might have been plausible in prior decades, but by the mid 1990s the popularity of Las Vegas show girls was waning and the kind of shows featured in this film would die out a few years after the film's release.

** She's also thoroughly pissed at James after James bails her out of jail. He is later revealed to be as big a jerk as Nomi calls him, but he'd done

* FetishRetardant: The film is riddled with this, as it's attempts to try and be erotic fanservice fail miserably. Elizabeth Berkley and Gina Gershon sharing some hostility and possible onstage Les Yay? Tempting. The lackluster acting, puppet-like dance moves, pole dancing, poor costume designs and the idealized pool sex scene which looks like a mix between a shark attack and an epilepsy? Not so much.

** Nomi getting her period and Zach "checking her" to make sure she isn't lying and is left with bloody fingers.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Nomi. See AtLeastIAdmitIt above.
* IdealizedSex: The legendary pool sex scene. Nomi is too high up and far too wiggly on Zack for it to be legitimately seen as intercourse.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Nomi says this verbatim to Zack, after [[spoiler: he confronts her with her criminal record and about her ''long'' stretch of prostitution arrests, saying she did what she had to survive on the streets after her parents died in a MurderSuicide.]]
* ImmodestOrgasm: Nomi and Zack both achieve this in the [[IdealizedSex swimming pool]], complete with a lot of splashing.

* JizzedInMyPants: Zack gets the full treatment when Nomi gives him a lap dance.

* AnatomicallyImpossibleSex: When Zack and Nomi have sex in his swimming pool, since she's perched far too high for intercourse to be possible.

* AmbiguouslyBi: Nomi who is attracted to men but shares a lot of closeness and tension with her friend Molly and her rival Christal.

* TheBeard: Zack is this for Cristal, who ogles Nomi through her show and while Nomi delivers a private lapdance on Zack.
* BettyAndVeronica: Nomi (the Betty) competes with Cristal (the Veronica) over Zack (the Archie).

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Zack eventually discovers that Nomi [[spoiler: saw her parents die in a MurderSuicide and spent years hooking in various states (in addition to assaulting someone with a deadly weapon)]] before she arrived in Vegas.

* DrugsAreBad: Nomi repeatedly refuses offers of drugs until after she sleeps with Zack, finally taking cocaine in a manner similar to Cristal. It's presented as a sign of Vegas-induced corruption.

** Right around the same time as she's grinding on other naked women on-stage, Nomi seems mortally offended at how [[DepravedBisexual Crystal]] eyes her up and, later, is very reluctant to perform a private dance for her and Zack (insisting that the rules only allow her to dance for one person at a time and "no women"). She seems to be okay with making money off of faked lesbianism, but baulks at the idea of actually being desired by another woman (at least [[BigDamnKiss until the end]]).

* FakeShemp: That's not Creator/KyleMacLachlan when Zack walks nude into the pool.

** Nomi getting her period and Zack "checking her" to make sure she isn't lying and is left with bloody fingers.
** The pool sex scene between Nomi and Zack, complete with unrealistic impossible sexual positioning and the climax looking like a seizure.

* FemaleGaze: Zack's butt in the pool scene. Enough said.

* AnatomicallyImpossibleSex: When Zach and Nomi have sex in his swimming pool, since she's perched far too high for intercourse to be possible.

* TheBeard: Zach is this for Cristal, who ogles Nomi through her shoe and while Nomi delivers a private lapdance on Zach.
* BettyAndVeronica: Nomi (the Betty) competes with Cristal (the Veronica) over Zach (the Archie).

* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Nomi. [[spoiler:We find out at the end of the film that her father killed her mother and then himself.]]

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Zach eventually discovers that Nomi [[spoiler: saw her parents die in a MurderSuicide and spent years hooking in various states (in addition to assaulting someone with a deadly weapon)]] before she arrived in Vegas.

* DrugsAreBad: Nomi repeatedly refuses offers of drugs until after she sleeps with Zach, finally taking cocaine in a manner similar to Cristal. It's presented as a sign of Vegas-induced corruption.

** Right around the same time as she's grinding on other naked women on-stage, Nomi seems mortally offended at how [[DepravedBisexual Crystal]] eyes her up and, later, is very reluctant to perform a private dance for her and Zach (insisting that the rules only allow her to dance for one person at a time and "no women"). She seems to be okay with making money off of faked lesbianism, but baulks at the idea of actually being desired by another woman (at least [[BigDamnKiss until the end]]).

* FakeShemp: That's not Creator/KyleMacLachlan when Zak walks nude into the pool.

* IdealizedSex: The legendary pool sex scene. Nomi is too high up and far too wiggly on Zach for it to be legitimately seen as intercourse.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Nomi says this verbatim to Zach, after [[spoiler: he confronts her with her criminal record and about her ''long'' stretch of prostitution arrests, saying she did what she had to survive on the streets after her parents died in a MurderSuicide.]]
* ImmodestOrgasm: Nomi and Zach both achieve this in the [[IdealizedSex swimming pool]], complete with a lot of splashing.

** Molly's rape.