Hi dear tutor, I got 57/100 in this paper so I really need help. I have so much work going on so I can't spend too much time on this. It's a film analysis and the film is Hedwig and the angry Inch, please be SPECIFIC about scenes you pick. I think I n

Evelyn Xu

912243285

FMS125

06 March 2018

Film Analysis of Hedwig and the Angry Inch

The first aim of any producer is to entertain their audience. Watching Hedwig and the angry inch and you realise the producer did not disappoint. Every scene from the beginning you will realise he carries his audience first through a selection of characters. Hedwig`s actions and moves throughout the movie brings the utopia on the heads of the audience on how the situation was at that particular moment. Richard Dyer explains how musicals bring out entertainment based on the society in the equation. The Hedwig and the angry inch piece first incorporates the rock musical. The type of music genre chosen can be the point of focus if making a musical piece as it will determine the acceptability by the audience because different cultures are identified with a different genre of music. In Gold diggers of 1993, the producer segments the musical plot which brings out tension the piece, and that is what the audience will enjoy.

The dual focus by Rick Altman is also apparent in this piece. Though Hedwig is the focus and the music career, the producer adds a top that at that time and even currently is a controversial topic, gay marriage and the whole issue of transgender debates presently around the world. The shift of male to the female character in the movie is also one parallelism that the producer uses well. Watching the first few minutes and you will be like, is Hedwig a male or female? This question is still being asked today if one visits the different review pages available online. When there are two protagonists in a film, it brings out the thrill even more. The gold digger series identifies man and woman differently based on their wealth and beauty respectively.

The musical series is known for how it creates asymmetry representing different sexes and sometimes supporting male dominance. The society identifies males to be a superior gender based on past behaviours from previous civilisations. Just like the gold digger of 1993, Hedwig and the angry inch producer focus on the gender politics. The gender-based violence is apparent in the piece. Yitzhak and Hedwig`s relationship is not that healthy. She constantly abuses him. She is threatened by the talent he has that shadows her own. Looking at gold diggers of 1993 where the producer brings out the notion that woman becomes rich only if she marries for money. Hedwig is forced into operation so that she can marry the general her only escape.

The gender spectacle in Hedwig and the inch is represented very well when Hedwig decides to go to Kansas to marry Luther. Surprisingly, on the first anniversary, Luther leaves her and goes for a man. The same day Berlin wall falls resulting in the reuniting of Germany hence the sacrifice Hedwig made was not worth. Despite all these, she comes out strong creating a great identity as feminine and forms her rock band, The Angry Inch.

The application of spectacle in any film makes the different film to have some glamour. The scenes are usually remembered by the audience and become the talking point once they leave the cinema hall. In Hedwig and the inch scenes like the moment Hedwig is kissing with Tommy which leads to him realising the defect between Hedwig`s legs. Spectacles bring out the anticipation thus delays narrative`s resolution. The same is evident in Gold Diggers which employs coitus interrupts.

The radical displacement is another feature as shown in the Hollywood musicals. The significance of sexuality is brought out. The Hedwig and the inch must have been groundbreaking especially a time when gay people had not understood the aspects of transgender. Many questions would have been raised if the movie was written today. Looking deep into the film you realise that the transgender issue was not the centre of focus as such. In the end, both Trans-characters are made whole again and goes back to their cis-gender selves.

This film also elucidated on the three different kinds of listening; causal, semantic and reduced listening. The manner Hedwig shared his past was through songs and narrations in between while performing at the local bars in the USA. People hear and adhere to his story through these different modes of listening.

Causal listening must not be overestimated since it has the most significant potential to give the listeners the information they would love to hear. Mostly, it is based on analysing sounds. Such as in this film, the voice of Hedwig evidences a male though he is high pitched in most of his singing, the male deeper sound coming from his mouth and throat naturally exposes him to be a man despite the physical and outward appearance. People listening to him will have second thoughts as to the gender of the singer. The movie shows that the painful experiences that the lead actor went through are expressed through his type of music in collaboration with a band of instrumentalists who brought to life his story and the lessons that he would love to share to people. There is power in music. Sometimes speech and language are communicated through the melody of the sounds. The film showed the audience of the difficulties of a transgender and how they are persecuted, left behind and considered as freaks in the society. The more that Hedwig wanted to please the men in his life, he ended up alone and deceived. However, he showed that nobody could see still his dreams. Indeed someone might steal his songs and words, but he could always make new things and fight for his goals in life. While Semantic listening focuses on a particular language that gives the meaning of the message being relayed to the audience. This kind of listening is complicated and has been a part of linguistic research used for studies in the area of communication. Thus, in this movie, semantic listening was also used to understand better the message being sung and performed by Hedwig. As stated by Chion M. that a “phoneme is listened to as inclusive of the whole system of variation and differences”. The pronunciation of words and the use of language or how it is spoken plays a significant role in the mode of semantic listening. There is no hard and fast rule in this case except that semantic listening does not focus too much on the variations in language pronunciation but takes the language system as a whole.

Moreover, the sound could employ both casual and semantic types of listening at the same time. Hence, in Hedwig’s performances, the listening audience relies on both the words and sounds to understand the message of the songs. The manner that the performer expresses himself affects the depth of understanding of the individual. As Chion M. explained that there is the need for a voice for causal listening to be perceived in the same way that handwriting is an essential part to the written message as to the one reading the same! Lastly, Reduced listening is another mode or style for listening which could be used in this film such as it focuses on the sound itself regardless of the meaning and causal interpretation. It faces head-on the music itself being played by the instruments. In this area, the listener is not burdened to interpret of finding the meaning behind the sound but just to listen and appreciate the music. This film could also be understood through the form of reduced listening whereby all the listener has to do to focus on the sounds and not be pressured to analyse or interpret the same. Thus, in this story, Hedwig who came all the way from Berlin, a communist country and after having experienced the brutality and violence by war used sound, music and instruments to express the pain he went through.

Even the part where he got married to an American Military Sergeant and how this man left and abandoned Hedwig all became a part of his musical act. Such story was something that common and ordinary people could relate. Music was used to generate and tell the story of loss and grief of being deceived and left without anything in life, stripped off from even the most critical thing he treasures, his music. Such was a devastating and tragic circumstance in the lead role’s life which further strengthened his resolve to live life continuously and show his detractors that he will never quit, back down nor give up in his fight to take back what belongs to him.

The film involved a very taboo storyline, one that was hard to accept in the past years where people have such high regard for the morality and integrity of the principles. Sex change of transgender and homosexuality was not yet fully accepted in the society. It is noted that in this movie, Hedwig had to undergo sex change on the ground that he could go to America and live the life of dreams. He had no idea that the one who pushed him to change his identity and the one who helped him achieve his goals would, later on, leave him like he was not a human being.

Ultimately, reduced listening is the perfect mode of listening that the audience could use in this film about Hedwig. Base on the explanation of Chion M. that this is the most basic strategy used regarding looking at films, videos or movies on that ground that cinema is figurative and semantic. Thus, reduced listening has the compelling advantage of widening the ears and increasing the power to listen. Also, Chion relayed that the movie or video makers, artists, and technicians can develop and improve on their mediums through reduced listening and even accomplish mastery in the whole process. The emotional and aesthetic elements of a sound are connected to the causal definitions we provide, as well as the possession of qualities regarding the timbre and melodic quality. Thus, the cinematographers could acquire more knowledge through the form of listening. Visual materials and textures could be refined and made to be more accurate. Amazingly, as opposed to any other Broadway musical, Hedwig’s movie was able to stretch for only 95 minutes and be able to tell or narrate the whole complicated story of the life of the character and his past. According to Scott M. (2003) that this movie was created in the exact time that Rent, the stage play was also made. The film was theatrical with a touch of comedy. Hedwig’s life was a mixture of his mother’s love, Luther’s (the military) abandonment and the botched surgery. The story also focused the different personalities and wigs he had to wear in the years that came, of how she survived the second abandonment by Tommy. He showed courage and survivor’s instincts being a Frankenstein monster who just wanted companionship. He interpreted that his life separated him from his other half and finding that other half will make him happy. Hedwig believes in destiny and that the future could only be lived fully if he saw the one who could make him happy. This view and perception led Hedwig into a dangerous and risky position.

If the lead character only had discernment knowing how cruel the world could be most of the time because of people who take advantage of other’s kindness. Such people who would take advantage of your generosity just to get what they want at the expense of losing their integrity, dignity and morality, do not deserve one’s time, efforts and trust. The manner of how Hedwig handled himself in the midst of uncertainties and hopelessness was featured in this movie. It shows the strength of character and the ability to turn the tide around and to rise despite the obstacles, challenges, failures and defeats. Music was used as a form of attraction that appeals to the audience, and it is also Hedwig’s strategy of getting his story across, earning profits and at the same time doing the thing that he loves the most. This movie was a mixture of many elements such as music, acting, drama and comedy. The audience had seen everything in just one film. Aside from Hedwig’s talent as a singer, his stage productions have drawn more crowds than before.

However, there were instances in this movie that left the story inconsistent and incomplete such as Hedwig’’s relationship with Sgt Luther up until the divorce. Likewise, there also wasn’t much attention as to the Yitzhak story and how they came to know each other and how they both ended their relationship. At the end of the story, it was said that Hedwig and Tommy reconciled, some scripts were left to the imagination of the readers and watchers. The narrative was at one point, or another had inconsistencies. Such story was something that the people love could relate. Music was used to generate and tell the story of loss and grief of being deceived and left without anything in life, stripped off from even the most important thing he treasures, his music. Such was a devastating and tragic circumstance in the lead role’s life which further strengthened his resolve to live life continuously and show his detractors that he will never quit, back down nor give up in his fight to take back what belongs to him.

Also, the author Kracauer S. states that “Those who have backed out and isolated themselves from the community and consider themselves to be different regarding their personalities having in possession their souls fail when it comes to building new patterns of creativity. If these people are to take part in such a performance, the ornament will not transcend them” (pp 67-76). An analysis of the movie shows that the audience has no idea as to how Hedwig’s relationship with Luther eroded and the details of Hedwig’s life afterwards was only narrated generally. It was not mentioned if Luther had his reasons for leaving the former, the story was usually in favour of Hedwig without any fairness as to the cause why Luther left. The latter was not given a graceful exit in the movie; the audience believes him to be the ungrateful and infidel husband who went looking for greener pastures. Hedwig, in some way, portrays the iconic rock star Pink Floyd: The Wall who was known to be the protagonist with almost a similarity with Hedwig’s story. Hedwig uses songs to capture the hearts of thousands of his audience and gain their favour and belief that he is right and that he must be praised and worshipped. Nevertheless, the legal battle which ensued between Tommy and Hedwig was not given in detail, and the decision of the court was not justified nor even mentioned as to who won the case.

However, the desire of Hedwig to be loved and chosen, to be domesticated, brought him into an openness that led him to harm. He should have focused on his career; he could have sung and made his music known at Berlin or looked for a way to go to the USA without the need to have a sex change. Then he could have saved himself from all these sorrow. The movie was brilliant in showing the different scenes that elaborate on the emotional suffering of Hedwig and brought the audience to the inner core of his life. The audience became immersed in the story being told. They felt pity and pain; it made them love Hedwig, the victim, the persecuted. This movie was shown to use music to go beyond logic and touch the deepest parts of the raw emotions alive within everyone who has suffered some form of injustice during their lifetime. One never goes unscathed from rejection, deception and pain. There are two kinds of people in the world, the victim and the oppressor; we choose to become one of these. Moreover, Tommy, the man who stole everything from Hedwig was not correctly shown in the film except in the last parts. Nobody knew what exactly brought the man to take the songs of Hedwig and claim ownership over each one. Was it greed, pride or a sense of wickedness in his heart or has Hedwig in some way pushed him to become the person who goes against all forms of morality? Has Hedwig hurt him in any way that the audience or even Hedwig himself knows nothing about.

Tommy was not given a chance in the film to show himself innocent of all of Hedwig’s charges against him. He was the nemesis in the film, and Hedwig was the protagonist victim who uses his story to win the hearts of fans and audiences all over the world and even earn profit from all of it. The film was a mixture of rock and punk music which envelopes the cultural practices of the present society at such time. The story moves on with Hedwig narrating on stage or videos clips of the past in the form of flashbacks were shown.

The movie enables Hedwig to walk back in his past and reminisce the parts of his life. One of his songs “Wig in a box” allows Hedwig to go back in time and shovel up all the memories that led him to where he is at present. Hedwig was hooked in storytelling, and the movie shows the many areas of his life with the use of music to introduce every moment in the past to the audience. As a summary, the three forms and modes of listening could be efficiently used in this movie so that the viewer would be able to have a deeper understanding of the story being told by Hedwig. Furthermore, this film also introduced the different styles of listening; causal, semantic and reduced listening. The manner Hedwig shared his past was through drama, songs and narrations in between while performing at the local dining areas in the USA. People are persuaded by his story through these different modes of listening. Hence, this paper critically evaluates and have given a precise analysis of the film with the very element of the message that the writer and film director is relaying. Supporting literature review have been enumerated to appreciate the lessons in the movie. Hedwig who became known for his originality in going from one bar to another narrating her life story and exposing Tommy for being a cheater and liar has become a globally recognized rock singer who has suffered loss and rejection while on his way to fame as a music lover and advocate. It could be seen that the movie is in some way showing the people that when a person abandons you, a friend or a family member, it is not the end of the world and does not become the finality of all things in life. Instead, the failures and disappointing memories should only be used to push forward to success and victory as what Hedwig did in this movie and his life. People believed in him and listened to the story that he has to tell and were mesmerised with Hedwig’s creativity and his ability to say the bitter-sweet memories of his life through a very unusual and creative style of singing, acting and communicating to the audience.

Works Cited

IMDB. “Hedwig and the Angry Inch”. 2001 Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0248845/plotsummary

Heath S. Roland Barthes: Image Music Text Essays, Selected and Translated. Fontana Press,

pp 179-190

Chion M. "The Three Listening Modes".

Scott M. “Inside Hedwig and the Angry Inch”. 2003 Retrieved from

http://www.newlinetheatre.com/hedwigchapter.html

Kracauer S. “Mass Ornament”. New German Critique, 1975. Pp 67-76 Retrieved from

https://www.scribd.com/document/22265059/The-Mass-Ornament-Author-s-Siegfried-Kracauer-Barbara-Correll-Jack-Zipes