The origin of Hedwig's love

Abigayle 2022-01-07 15:54:27

Hedwig

/WiTS



Evil is the vulgar lover who loves the body rather than the soul, inasmuch as he is not even stable, because he loves a thing which is in itself unstable, and therefore when the bloom of youth which he was desiring is over, he takes wing and flies away, in spite of all his words and promises; whereas the love of the noble disposition is life-long, for it becomes one with the everlasting.

——— From《Symposium》 By Plato



being confused by the color of the flesh is stupid and contemptible. The flesh is corruptible relative to the soul. Therefore, love based on beauty is instantaneous. After the fire of desire burns, the disillusionment of the flesh will be more rapid. And true love is born in the unchanging soul, and those who fall in love with the beauty of the soul fall in love with eternity.

——— From Plato's "Feast Part 2"



What is love, where is the origin of love, why do you want to love, what do you want to pursue...



Hansel (Han Su), a young boy who lived in East Berlin during the Cold War. The broken family caused by his father as an American soldier who abused his sexual abuse did not restrain Hansel from being inspiring and inspiring for the passion from American radio. Love of rock music. Obsessed with Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie and all the good music at that time made Hansel a dream of becoming a rock star in the future. As a teenager, Hansel met Luther, an American soldier in Germany. In order to realize his dream and to be with his beloved man, Hansel had sex reassignment surgery. "The pursuit of freedom comes at a price." The operation was unsuccessful-Hansel lost his penis instead of a cluster of feminine flowers-the extra inch of unqualified fat on the lower body due to the failed operation became the most important thing for Hansel. The Angry Inch (angry inch stem). The incompleteness of the flesh and the ambiguity of gender did not prevent Hansel from pursuing the love and freedom he wanted. He/she put on a golden wig, changed his name to Hedwig, and left the United States without hesitation. However, luck did not favor Hedwig. After arriving in the United States, her husband abandoned Hedwig in a trailer in Kansas in order to pursue other boys. The impoverished Hedwig endured the pain of being abandoned and went back on the road, pursuing music and searching for love. In order to make a living, Hedwig became a babysitter. The resonance of his body made the young Tommy walk into Hedwig's life. Love and the enthusiasm for music brought two pure men together. They performed together and had fun together. However, the sexual intimacy made Tommy unable to accept the fact that Hedwig is a transgender person, which is far beyond Tommy's ability to bear. Tommy's departure did not make Hedwig angry, but Tommy took the songs they collaborated with and became a famous rock star with these songs. This made Hedwig start a weak but paranoid revenge. He/she I formed the band The Angry Inch (angry inch stem) and followed Tommy's performances. Where did Tommy perform, Hedwig performed in a small bar or small venue nearby, and kept venting himself with persistent and distorted behaviors and actions. The resentment in the heart. At last there is a result, but it's nothing but wrongs.


"Hedwig and The Angry Inch" was originally a rock musical performed on Off Broadway. The main creators are John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask. This play has become One of the most successful musicals on par with the off-Broadway famous dramas "Jesus Christ Superstar", "Tommy" and "Rocky Horror Picture Show". The famous art film company Killer Films, which once produced "I Shot Andy Warhol" and "Velvet Goldmine", released "Hedwig and the Angry Inch Stem" in 2001 Put it on the screen. Whether it is from the costumes, the arrangement of the songs, or the performance of the actors, the film has reached a level worthy of extraordinary attention. Not only the original crew of the stage play are all on the battlefield, but also famous designers and rock musicians participate in the performance and production. The film has also won multiple awards at the Saint Denis Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and the San Francisco Gay Film Festival.


The overall viewing effect of the film is like a super long Music Video work, flashbacks, listening to the protagonist-the strong love-seeking Hedwig-telling his own story, sad, shocked, tears, and truthful. It is worth mentioning that in the movie, the songs of the musical are basically turned out. These songs are all composed and written by Stephen Trask (the Gothic musician in the Angry Inches Band) and written by John Cameron Mitchell ( That is, the protagonist Hedwig, who is also the director of this movie) sings, from the anger at the beginning of "Tear Me Down", questioning tradition and truth, to the quest for the origin of love, the sketch "The Origin of Love", to the piano's main role of rendering the world degenerate. "Wicked Little Town" and "Midnight Radio" pay tribute to many female rock artists, the first is thought-provoking, the first is in the heart. The music in the film also involves many old classics, such as Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" and the well-known "I Will Always Love You". During the musical period, the drama’s original soundtrack album became a must-have CD for rock music fans and musical theater fans, and the subsequent soundtrack album of the movie was even better than it was. In 2003, John Lennon (John Lennon) The widow of Yoko Ono (Yoko Ono) invited big-name singers such as Cindy Lauper, Frank Black, Rufus Wainwright and other big-name singers to reinterpret the songs from the original soundtrack of the movie, and donated the profits from the record sales to a New York special for gay teenagers. Harvey Milk Middle School.

It is worth mentioning that the eye song "The Origin of Love" runs through the theme of the whole play. This song is based on the very famous story in Plato's "The Feast", and "The Feast" is also Plato's extreme A rare philosophical work with strong storytelling and rich scene and coherence. In some places of this story, there are individual names, that is, the story of "yin and yang people": in ancient times, there were three genders in the world, men, women and yin and yang people. They all had two faces, two pairs of eyes, and two noses. Two pairs of ears, two mouths, four hands, four legs, and four feet; a man is the son of the sun, a woman is the birth of the earth, and the yin and yang are the descendants of the moon. Because of their special advantages, human beings are different from other creatures on the ground. They can do this while doing that, and they can move forward and backward with eight limbs while walking, and move quickly. Human beings continue to grow with their own advantages, forming a threat to the heavenly gods. Therefore, Zeus discussed with the gods how to deal with humans, and finally set a plan-to cut off humans and divide them into two. After the implementation, Zeus ordered the sun god Apollo to stitch the amputated people together, so the split skin formed the face and neck, as well as the belly button, the last stitching point of the extra skin, to let humans remember themselves. The price of madness. After being separated, the original two halves missed each other and tried to reunite again. They tangled together and kept squeezing, wanting to enter each other's body and merge into one (the origin of sex). Because the individual is forced to separate into two halves, the love between people is unforgettable beyond the ordinary. The former yin and yang people are now heterosexuals, but the sons of the sun and the daughters of the earth have evolved into gay and lesbian groups. This is the story about the "origin of love" in "The Banquet" ④. In the movie, Hedwig's live singing and animation methods to tell the story make this song exceptionally plump and magical. Through Hedwig's sometimes melancholy and sometimes bursting out of resentment eyes, love penetrates into the bottom of my heart, and love is tragic. Separation, sadness and joy of love, swimming back and forth in fantasy and reality with the song, people can't forget for a long time.



Foucault’s interpretation of Plato’s view of love in "The History of Sexuality" is as follows: "The basis of true love is not to reject the body, but to transcend the appearance of the object, and is the pursuit of truth." The understanding of "style love" is somewhat deviated. Plato only illustrates the nobility of spiritual love but does not deny the desire to pursue the flesh. Think about our separation. Whether you are a child of the sun, a daughter of the moon, or a descendant of a "yin and yang person" like the author, we have never stopped longing for the flesh, nor have we stopped pursuing spiritual love. Love is not an external force, but a pursuit from the roots.





At this point, I remembered Plato’s classic "love" story: Plato asked his teacher Socrates one day: "What is love?" Socrates told him to go to the wheat field for a walk, or go back. On the way, you will pick the largest and best wheat ear, but you can only pick it once. Plato found it easy and went out with confidence, who knew he hadn't returned after a long time. Finally, he bowed his head and appeared in front of the teacher to tell the reason why he came back empty-handed: “It’s rare to see a plant that looks good, but I don’t know if it’s the best. It’s a last resort, because I can only pick it once, so I have to give up and see if it’s better. Okay, when I realized that I had come to an end, I realized that there was no ear of wheat in my hand..." At this time, Socrates told him: "That's love!" Maybe the pursuit is slim, but if you don't do it, it's again. It's a pity that the original drive may be the source of love, but how to make the pursuit have a clear head...







① Off-Broadway musical: low-cost production, strong experimentation, staged in small theaters, bars and other small venues, the difference is A Broadway musical produced at a high cost, gorgeously decorated, rich in props, and beautiful like a cloud; as time goes by, it has become more and more commercialized, and the experiment is almost exhausted.

② The feast (xiang, three tones) originally meant to entertain guests with fine wine and food. In ancient Greece, the feast mostly refers to the reception after major events (such as weddings and birthdays), excluding dinner parties, where the guests and guests talked about art and philosophy.

③ In ancient Greece, the sun and the earth were the extremes of yang and yin, while the moon had the dual character of yin and yang.

④ This story can be basically confirmed to be invented by Plato to express his views on love.



PS: 1. Platonic love-Wikipedia Wikipedia's interpretation of "Platonic love" is the same as the current public understanding, but some of the articles I have read pointed out my interpretation in the text.
2. Heterosexuality/homosexuality have their homes. Regarding bisexuality, I can’t explain



the origin of love. The origin of love is



reposted on the DVD. Translation of traditional Chinese lyrics:



far away in the earth or flat era. People who appear on the ground higher than the sky are like a big bucket with two pairs of arms and two legs protruding from one big head and two faces, so they can look around, they can talk and read at the same time, they don’t know what love is, the root of love has not yet appeared at that time. Three genders, one is like two men sticking together back to back. They are called the sons of the sun. They are similar in appearance to them. They are called the daughters of the earth. They are like two women merged into one. Then there are the children of the moon like a fork and a soup. Half the sun and half the earth. Half male and half female are the root of love. The gods are becoming more and more afraid of our strength and unruly. Thor said that I will beat them to death with a hammer, like I beat a giant to death, but Zeus said that if I let me shoot, I will cut it out with a scissor-like electric light. Like cutting off the legs of a whale, like cutting a dinosaur into a lizard, and then he grabbed the electric light and smiled and said that I would split one into two from the middle, so the sky was covered with dark clouds, and the clouds became fireballs. The blade is inserted into the body of the Son of the Sun, and then the earth comes again, the moon. A certain Hindu god sewed the wound into a hole and pulled it into our belly to remind us of the price Osiris and the Nile gods used their magical power to attract the hurricane. Blow us away, call the wind and call the rain, roll up the huge waves and wash away us. If we don’t obey, we will cut us again. We only have one foot and walk with one eye to see. The last time we saw you, we just split in two. You look at me, I look at With you, you are both familiar and unfamiliar to me. You have blood on your face. I have blood in my eyes. But from your look, I am sure that the pain in the depths of your soul is also the pain in the depths of my soul. Call it love, we hug each other and try to be two together. We make love. It was a cold and dark night. It was a tragedy shaped by Cupid's strong hands.



When the earth was still flat,

And the clouds made of fire,

And mountains stretched up to the sky,

Sometimes higher

Folks roamed the earth

Like big rolling kegs.

They had two sets of arms.

They had two sets of legs.

They had two faces peering

Out of one giant head

So they could watch all around them

As they talked; while they read.

And they never knew nothing of love.

It was before the origin of love.



The origin of love



And there were three sexes then,

One that looked like two men

Glued up back to back,

Called the children of the sun.

And similar in shape and girth

Were the children of the earth.

They looked like two girls

Rolled up in one.

And the children of the moon

Were like a fork shoved on a spoon.

They were part sun, part earth

Part daughter, part son.



The origin of love



Now the gods grew quite scared

Of our strength and defiance

And Thor said,

"I'm gonna kill them all

With my hammer,

Like I killed the giants."

And Zeus said, "No,

You better let me

Use my lightening, like scissors,

Like I cut the legs off the whales

And dinosaurs into lizards."

Then he grabbed up some bolts

And he let out a laugh,

Said, "I'll split them right down the middle.

Gonna cut them right up in half."

And then storm clouds gathered above

Into great balls of fire



And then fire shot down

From the sky in bolts

Like shining blades

Of a knife.

And it ripped

Right through the flesh

Of the children of the sun

And the moon

And the earth.

And some Indian god

Sewed the wound up into a hole,

Pulled it round to our belly

To remind us of the price we pay.

And Osiris and the gods of the Nile

Gathered up a big storm

To blow a hurricane,

To scatter us away,

In a flood of wind and rain,

And a sea of ​​tidal waves,

To wash us all away,

And if we don't behave

They'll cut us down again

And we'll be hopping round on one foot

And looking through one eye.



Last time I saw you

We had just split in two.

You were looking at me.

I was looking at you.

You had a way so familiar,

But I could not recognize,

Cause you had blood on your face;

I had blood in my eyes.

But I could swear by your expression

That the pain down in your soul

Was the same as the one down in mine.

That's the pain,

Cuts a straight line

Down through the heart;

We called it love.

So we wrapped our arms around each other,

Trying to shove ourselves back together.

We were making love,

Making love.

It was a cold dark evening,

Such a long time ago,

When by the mighty hand of Jove,

It was the sad story

How we became

Lonely two-legged creatures,

It's the story of

The origin of love.

That's the origin of love.

View more about Hedwig and the Angry Inch reviews

Extended Reading
  • Juliet 2022-03-26 09:01:10

    2010.11.06 @ Home Thanks to Rick, this is the most powerful fake girl movie I've ever seen! The original sound must be downloaded, but unfortunately there are no English subtitles. Six inches forward and five inches back I got an angry inch Mark downstairs the sound is too loud

  • Reynold 2022-04-22 07:01:42

    It's weird, I like it very much, we all just need such a gorgeous love and burning

Hedwig and the Angry Inch quotes

  • Hedwig: Our apartment was so small that Mother made me play in the oven. Late at night I would listen to the voices of the American masters, Tony Tennille, Debby Boone, Anne Murray who was actually a Canadian working in the American idiom. And then there were the crypto-homo rockers: Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, David Bowie who was actually an idiom working in America and Canada. These artists, they left as deep an impression on me as that oven rack did on my face. To be an American in muskrat love, soft as an easy chair not even the chair, I am I said, have I never been mellow? And the colored girls sing... doo do doo do doo do doo... but never with the melody. How could I do it better than Tony or Lou... HEY BOY, TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE!

  • Hansel's Mom: Absolute power corrupts.

    Hansel (6 Years Old): Absolutely.

    Hansel's Mom: Better to be powerless, my son.