The 52: Hedwig and the Angry Inch

   From June 2023 to June 2024 I'll be watching a lgbtqia+ film each week and coming back here with my thoughts, feelings and plenty of hopes we aren't met with the "kill your gays" trope. I call this The 52.

Well, this is… odd. It took me a good 45 seconds to clock that Hansel describing the first time he ever tasted a gummy bear was actually symbolism for oral sex, and trust me: it wasn’t subtle. 

Image credit: Wikipedia

I didn’t like this film. I really wanted to like it, wanted to understand the cult status it sometimes wears and the reception it has apparently garnered... but I didn’t like it. It made me angry, because this was another film that didn’t appear to understand trans people - even at some times perpetuating the trend of confusing drag with trans people. It was strange in a way that could have been wonderful, and certainly there were a few moments that remain memorable and lines I wrote down to remember (“one day, in late mid eighties, I was in my early late twenties”) but overall? I was bored and frustrated.

I suppose you could say Hedwig’s story is one of being forced to transition and ultimately choosing to detransition, but the way it was presented, the way this story was told… perhaps the comedy covered subtitles of anger and sadness I didn’t perceive, but very few things felt serious and pain was never acknowledged unless it was in the form of the breakup with Hedwig's ex, Tommy Gnosis.

And then there’s the fact that Hedwig’s relationship with Tommy feels predatory (he’s the oldest son of the family she babysits for) and retrospectively it feels like Hedwig’s story is more of an attack on trans people and the lgbtqia+ community than a story of understanding. Hedwig isn’t a good person, and she doesn’t have to be: flawed characters are interesting and real and good, but again I felt misled in that I’ve only ever heard of this film being triumphant, a masterpiece, sensational… and I suppose it’s my fault for thinking the main character might be good, on top of that.

I felt so conflicted when I realised how little I liked this film, how poor a creation I thought it. I suppose that when you’re faced with a film that seemed beloved, especially a film that centres around your own, rarely featured community, you don’t expect to dislike it so viscerally. One or two of the songs were beautiful, but a lot of them felt insensitive. Some of the dialogue was special, but most of it was not. Hedwig was unnecessarily cruel and I did not want her to be.

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