Hedwig and the Angry Inch: Rage and Redemption

Hedwig originated as an off-Broadway musical not many years after gay rights organizations like Act Up had shown the value of confrontational, in-your-face protests in bringing public attention to the AIDS crisis: “We’re here. We’re queer. Get used to it,” Queer Nation activists chanted at protests throughout the Nineties. Their righteous anger reverberates in Hedwig’s opening line, “Ladies and gentlemen, whether you like it or not . . . Hedwig!” As conceived by creators John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, Hedwig’s a heat-seeking missile targeted on the squeamish sensibilities of Middle America, anatomically neither male nor female, born a boy but very much a woman.

This may seem like an odd choice of movie to pair with our unit on Ancient Athenian culture and society. But Hedwig has a lot in common with Euripides’ Medea: not merely her rage but her marginalized status and her witchy power to work wonders. And what’s more the transformative capacity of love in Hedwig’s story neatly anticipates the ideas in Plato’s Symposium.

Viewing: John Cameron Mitchell’s 2001 movie, Hedwig and the Angry Inch available via the BU Library: link.

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Point out a moment where the movie calls attention to marginalization. In doing so, take note of what we see/hear, and how those details influence the audience’s emotional response.
2. The movie’s soundtrack offers a wide range of styles, from glam-rock to punk. Focusing on one song in particular, give a brief account of the song(s) it draws from—and what the movie is saying by means of that cultural reference.
3. Is Hedwig a love story? Answer with a tight focus on a particular scene or song.