Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Rocky Horror Picture, and the discomfort of genderfuck
This week I got my new Criterion release of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (Lots of pictures over at my Twitter.) It came with this essay. I had my issues with the essay, as I will also distrust anything that itself distrusts "identity" or bemoans "defensiveness." But it did get me thinking.
Hedwig is the movie of my soul. I first saw it when I was 15 or 16, still wrestling with my non-binary identity, poorly medicated, enduring a harsh school situation, and regularly clashing with my then homophobic and transphobic mother. And then there was Hedwig. It shook me. I was disquieted and out of sorts for days afterwards, processing. It wasn't the first LGBTQ movie I'd seen, but it was the first to be so defiantly and unapologetically queer. It was strange, and sentimental, and new to me. "Whether you like or not, Hedwig." Whether you like it or not. I have spent 15 years trying to live my life with that energy and pure disregard. I haven't managed it yet, but I'm closer now than I've ever been.
But.
But Hedwig isn't really Good Representation, is it? Hedwig isn't a trans woman. She's not even really non-binary. She was a cis man who was forcibly transitioned, something that could be seen as a continuation of some transphobic narratives about men who get their penises cut off. And John Cameron Mitchell is a cis man.
And yet.
And yet Hedwig is't a cis man in forced fem. She owns her womanhood, shapes it to her own expression. Mitchell has described Hedwig as a “beautiful gender of one.” It isn't any good trying to put a label on Hedwig's identity. Her journey isn't about trying to label herself; it's about trying to be herself.
I don't want to sound like I'm decrying "identity politics" or that I'm against labels. I love labels! Labeling myself, first as genderqueer, the as non-binary was a vital step in understanding and accepting myself. But genderfuck isn't really genderfuck if it can be easily described. Genderfuck has to claim the in-between space.
The Rocky Horror Picture show doesn't feel so transgressive now, in an age where bisexuality and the word "transsexual" have lost much of their power to shock. But whatever transgressivness it retains were thoroughly sucked out from the Fox live version, simply by being a Fox live version. But among many decisions, one I particularly noted was the "sensitive" casting of Laverne Cox as Frank-N-Furter. Now, they very clearly thought they were combating textual transphobia. And that's genuinely sweet. Buuuuut, there's really no textual evidence that Frank-N-Furter is a woman rather than a man who likes wearing skimpy corsets. (And who amongst us! If I could fit sexily into a corset, you bet I would.) And the idea that an AMAB person who likes pearls must actually be a woman is it's own kind of gender policing. But that's not the main problem. The main problem with trying to cast and portray Frank-N-Furter in a sensitive Good Representation way is... Frank-N-Furter! He's a depraved, predatory, murderous bisexual! To me, casting Frank-N-Furter as a trans women is more transphobic.
Yeah, Rocky Horror is centered around monstrous (but sexy!) gender-varient bisexual. And looking at the way Rocky Horror has been claimed by allocishet audiences versus queer ones would be worth looking at. (But you would need a lot more resources and knowledge than I have.) But it has been fiercely claimed by (some) queer people. Because even if it doesn't shock like it would have in the 70's, it's still genderfuck.
I think that's a thing that genderfuck does. It doesn't just make the heteros uncomfortable. It has the power to make all of us uncomfortable. It's not for everyone, but for me, sometimes it's good to sit in that uncomfortable place and try to claim some of its bizarre energy.
This entry was originally posted at https://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/480814.html. Please consider commenting there.
Hedwig is the movie of my soul. I first saw it when I was 15 or 16, still wrestling with my non-binary identity, poorly medicated, enduring a harsh school situation, and regularly clashing with my then homophobic and transphobic mother. And then there was Hedwig. It shook me. I was disquieted and out of sorts for days afterwards, processing. It wasn't the first LGBTQ movie I'd seen, but it was the first to be so defiantly and unapologetically queer. It was strange, and sentimental, and new to me. "Whether you like or not, Hedwig." Whether you like it or not. I have spent 15 years trying to live my life with that energy and pure disregard. I haven't managed it yet, but I'm closer now than I've ever been.
But.
But Hedwig isn't really Good Representation, is it? Hedwig isn't a trans woman. She's not even really non-binary. She was a cis man who was forcibly transitioned, something that could be seen as a continuation of some transphobic narratives about men who get their penises cut off. And John Cameron Mitchell is a cis man.
And yet.
And yet Hedwig is't a cis man in forced fem. She owns her womanhood, shapes it to her own expression. Mitchell has described Hedwig as a “beautiful gender of one.” It isn't any good trying to put a label on Hedwig's identity. Her journey isn't about trying to label herself; it's about trying to be herself.
I don't want to sound like I'm decrying "identity politics" or that I'm against labels. I love labels! Labeling myself, first as genderqueer, the as non-binary was a vital step in understanding and accepting myself. But genderfuck isn't really genderfuck if it can be easily described. Genderfuck has to claim the in-between space.
The Rocky Horror Picture show doesn't feel so transgressive now, in an age where bisexuality and the word "transsexual" have lost much of their power to shock. But whatever transgressivness it retains were thoroughly sucked out from the Fox live version, simply by being a Fox live version. But among many decisions, one I particularly noted was the "sensitive" casting of Laverne Cox as Frank-N-Furter. Now, they very clearly thought they were combating textual transphobia. And that's genuinely sweet. Buuuuut, there's really no textual evidence that Frank-N-Furter is a woman rather than a man who likes wearing skimpy corsets. (And who amongst us! If I could fit sexily into a corset, you bet I would.) And the idea that an AMAB person who likes pearls must actually be a woman is it's own kind of gender policing. But that's not the main problem. The main problem with trying to cast and portray Frank-N-Furter in a sensitive Good Representation way is... Frank-N-Furter! He's a depraved, predatory, murderous bisexual! To me, casting Frank-N-Furter as a trans women is more transphobic.
Yeah, Rocky Horror is centered around monstrous (but sexy!) gender-varient bisexual. And looking at the way Rocky Horror has been claimed by allocishet audiences versus queer ones would be worth looking at. (But you would need a lot more resources and knowledge than I have.) But it has been fiercely claimed by (some) queer people. Because even if it doesn't shock like it would have in the 70's, it's still genderfuck.
I think that's a thing that genderfuck does. It doesn't just make the heteros uncomfortable. It has the power to make all of us uncomfortable. It's not for everyone, but for me, sometimes it's good to sit in that uncomfortable place and try to claim some of its bizarre energy.
This entry was originally posted at https://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/480814.html. Please consider commenting there.