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morrigirlIt's been a lovely day here at work. Yes you read that correctly, I used the words "work" and "lovely" in the same sentence. Summer schedule took effect today which meant I had to be here at noon instead of two. Thought that was going to be a problem, but it wasn't. I giot enough sleep and woke up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning. Arrived at work to discover that Seb, Carol, and Charles had all taken the day off leaving only me, Jennifer, and Elisabete.
I spent most of the day helping Jennifer remove old books from the database, which was actually kinda fun. Of all library tasks I find cataloging the most enjoyable. Makes you feel like you're doing something.
At any rate, classes are all over so it was very quiet. Chit chatted with Jen and Elisabete. It was really relaxed. Not as much tension as there usually is.
I want to write in complete sentences, but fact of the matter is I'm beginning to get sleepy so I don't want to think too hard about this entry. Just want to type it. Afterall I'm only typing this to kill time anyway so who cares what I say in it?
I spent most of the weekend watching movies. I watched "Training Day" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" neither of which I'd ever seen.
Training Day: I liked it. But even though Denzel's performance was extraordinarily nuanced, I don't really think it was Oscar worthy.
Hedwig: Surprisingly good screen adaptation. Michael had been disappointed with it, said the ending was even more ambiguous than in the show and he thought that kinda killed it. After seeing it for myself I must say I have no idea what he was talking about! To me the ending of the movie made a lot more sense to me than it did in the show. Mind you the endings are exactly the same, No one changed the ending for the movie, it's the way they executed it that made it more clear.
In the musical the only people on stage are Hedwig, Yitzak, and the Angry Inch. Tommy Gnosis, Luther, Hedwig Schmidt etc. only exist as characters in Hedwig's two hour narrative of her life. Everything you know of them comes from Hedwig, and her anger taints her perceptions. In the show I never felt like I got a firm idea of how deeply Tommy cared for Hedwig, or what her feelings for Luther were.
actually putting these characters in the movie put to rest a lot of the confusion surrounding them. Being able to see Hedwig and Tommy relate to each other gave me a strong sense that, yes Tommy did love her, and it showed the audience how much of the persona Tommy Gnosis Hedwig created. Also gave me a stronger sense of why Hedwig feels so hurt and betrayed by Tommy.
And the ending....in the musical John Cameron Mitchell strips down to the Tommy Gnosis persona during "Exquisite Corpse," sings the "Wicked Little Town Reprise" as Tommy, maintains the Tommy Gnosis look while reverting back to the Hedwig persona during "Midnight Radio" and slowly walks off the stage and across the street to Tommy's arena concert at the end. This spawned months of debate in my brother's little clique of theater friends. What happened in the end? Does Hedwig literally become Tommy Gnosis? Has she always been Tommy Gnosis? Are they the same person? Does Tommy Gnosis even exist? None of us could figure it out.
But having to separate actors in the movie, a Hedwig, and a Tommy, made it all clear. When Hedwig metaphorically faces Tommy during the "Wicked Little Town" reprise, having already stripped down to her skivvies, looking much like Tommy himself, she realizes that Tommy is her. She gave him all that he is: his name, his songs, his look, his fame, his life. She realizes all the things she pereviously believed he stole from her, were freely given on her part, Tommy Gnosis WAS the "little part of herself" she gave up. And in seeing that, she realizes she can take it all back into herself. By mirroring Tommy against Hedwig the audience has a visual cue to let them know what's going on. The last shot of Hedwig walking naked down a dark alley is obviously an image of rebirth. She has re-integrated the part of herself she spent her entire life projecting onto her lovers. She no longer needs her one true love to complete her becasue she can complete herself. It's a story about integration and self-love.
The one thing I do take issue with in the movie is Hedwig's relationship with Yitzak which is much more clear in the musical, all because in the show Hedwig has a whole monologue about how she met Yitzak, how their relationship developed, why it developed that way, and why she refuses to let him live his dreams. In the movie there is no explicit mention of their relationship, the script "shows" rather than "tells" and it just doesn't work. Their relationship is way too fucked up to understand without being told a little something about how it works.
So, all in all, good film. I liked it. It made me happy.
And just in case anyone was wondering, heres what happens when you spend too much time in the Burg:
From Go-Quiz.com
I spent most of the day helping Jennifer remove old books from the database, which was actually kinda fun. Of all library tasks I find cataloging the most enjoyable. Makes you feel like you're doing something.
At any rate, classes are all over so it was very quiet. Chit chatted with Jen and Elisabete. It was really relaxed. Not as much tension as there usually is.
I want to write in complete sentences, but fact of the matter is I'm beginning to get sleepy so I don't want to think too hard about this entry. Just want to type it. Afterall I'm only typing this to kill time anyway so who cares what I say in it?
I spent most of the weekend watching movies. I watched "Training Day" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" neither of which I'd ever seen.
Training Day: I liked it. But even though Denzel's performance was extraordinarily nuanced, I don't really think it was Oscar worthy.
Hedwig: Surprisingly good screen adaptation. Michael had been disappointed with it, said the ending was even more ambiguous than in the show and he thought that kinda killed it. After seeing it for myself I must say I have no idea what he was talking about! To me the ending of the movie made a lot more sense to me than it did in the show. Mind you the endings are exactly the same, No one changed the ending for the movie, it's the way they executed it that made it more clear.
In the musical the only people on stage are Hedwig, Yitzak, and the Angry Inch. Tommy Gnosis, Luther, Hedwig Schmidt etc. only exist as characters in Hedwig's two hour narrative of her life. Everything you know of them comes from Hedwig, and her anger taints her perceptions. In the show I never felt like I got a firm idea of how deeply Tommy cared for Hedwig, or what her feelings for Luther were.
actually putting these characters in the movie put to rest a lot of the confusion surrounding them. Being able to see Hedwig and Tommy relate to each other gave me a strong sense that, yes Tommy did love her, and it showed the audience how much of the persona Tommy Gnosis Hedwig created. Also gave me a stronger sense of why Hedwig feels so hurt and betrayed by Tommy.
And the ending....in the musical John Cameron Mitchell strips down to the Tommy Gnosis persona during "Exquisite Corpse," sings the "Wicked Little Town Reprise" as Tommy, maintains the Tommy Gnosis look while reverting back to the Hedwig persona during "Midnight Radio" and slowly walks off the stage and across the street to Tommy's arena concert at the end. This spawned months of debate in my brother's little clique of theater friends. What happened in the end? Does Hedwig literally become Tommy Gnosis? Has she always been Tommy Gnosis? Are they the same person? Does Tommy Gnosis even exist? None of us could figure it out.
But having to separate actors in the movie, a Hedwig, and a Tommy, made it all clear. When Hedwig metaphorically faces Tommy during the "Wicked Little Town" reprise, having already stripped down to her skivvies, looking much like Tommy himself, she realizes that Tommy is her. She gave him all that he is: his name, his songs, his look, his fame, his life. She realizes all the things she pereviously believed he stole from her, were freely given on her part, Tommy Gnosis WAS the "little part of herself" she gave up. And in seeing that, she realizes she can take it all back into herself. By mirroring Tommy against Hedwig the audience has a visual cue to let them know what's going on. The last shot of Hedwig walking naked down a dark alley is obviously an image of rebirth. She has re-integrated the part of herself she spent her entire life projecting onto her lovers. She no longer needs her one true love to complete her becasue she can complete herself. It's a story about integration and self-love.
The one thing I do take issue with in the movie is Hedwig's relationship with Yitzak which is much more clear in the musical, all because in the show Hedwig has a whole monologue about how she met Yitzak, how their relationship developed, why it developed that way, and why she refuses to let him live his dreams. In the movie there is no explicit mention of their relationship, the script "shows" rather than "tells" and it just doesn't work. Their relationship is way too fucked up to understand without being told a little something about how it works.
So, all in all, good film. I liked it. It made me happy.
And just in case anyone was wondering, heres what happens when you spend too much time in the Burg:
| LOOK OUT! ïòð |
| morrigirl is a radioactive squirrel!! |
From Go-Quiz.com
