What I mean by that is that the film isn't saddled with a story about a misunderstood kid and well-meaning parents. There is no authority figure explaining to the audience that rock and roll is just good, clean fun. Unlike other filmmakers at the time, Tashlin ignored most of the template established by Sam Katzman. While The Girl Can't Help It benefits from solid Hollywood production values, Tashlin both celebrates and parodies popular culture, particularly when Edmond O'Brien, nobody's idea of a hipster, takes the stage.

Perhaps the best testament to Tashlin's artistry is in Bernardo Bertolucci's The Dreamers. There is a scene where the characters watch The Girl Can't Help It in a theater. The scene is doubly nostalgic for having characters in 1968 watch a movie made in 1956. Tashlin cuts from shots of The Platters singing to shots of the audience swaying to the music. Bertolucci in turn filmed his audience swaying along with the film within the film. The song, You'll Never Know serves as a commentary for Tom Ewell and Jayne Mansfield's feelings towards each other. For Bertolucci the song and Tashlin's film provide contrast between the past as represented by Tashlin and the Bertolucci's characters acting out a temporary nostalgia for that imagined past. If The Girl Can't Help It represents romance and innocence, The Dreamers is pointedly about sex replacing romance and the loss of innocence.

One of the more famous scenes in The Girl Can't Help It is of Tom Ewell imagining lost love Julie London. London is heard singing "Cry Me a River". Ewell can not escape her voice or image, with London appearing in different rooms with different outfits. Even when she is not seen or heard, London, playing herself, haunts Ewell's character, the entertainment agent, Tom. The night after I saw The Girl Can't Help It, I saw V for Vendetta, a film with the title character declaring that there are no coincidences. Well maybe it wasn't a coincidence but for the second night in a row I watched a film that included "Cry Me a River" as part of the soundtrack. And I was really hoping that when Natalie Portman was peaking into the different rooms that the ghost of Julie London would make a cameo appearance. The difference between the Wachowski Brothers and Frank Tashlin is that while the Wachowski's enshrine popular art, Tashlin isn't afraid to be totally immersed in both its absurdity and glory.