"If the music is harsh enough, no one will care who your unruly heart will fall in love with. Let people see what the world will become one day. If we seize the opportunity, the dream may come true. But that day will come. Before, let us dance together."
Author: Enlightening
First release: Gyro movie
Musical fans may still remember the mood when watching "Chicago" (2002) and "City of Philharmonic" (2017). These two new century musicals swept the 75th and 89th Academy Awards respectively. , The former with 13 nominations easily became the best film of the year, and the latter, although regretting Barry Jenkins’s "Moonlight Boy" (2017), still became one of the most Oscar-nominated films in film history with 14 nominations. .
Since the appearance of musicals as a genre in the 1930s, its charm has never diminished, and its audiences from all over the world have maintained their loyalty as always. Born out of early sound films and Broadway song and dance drama, Hollywood musicals launched a century-long and still extending exploration, which created a set of audiovisual language that is different from any other type of film-extremely public character movements , The ups and downs of songs throughout the film, the song and dance film seems to be generous compensation for heroes, a certain value or ability, or embody the creators' efforts to rediscover the garden of Eden lost in the dark reality.
"Songs and dances make the world a better place"-this is the declaration of the creators of musicals. The song and dance film really inspired generation after generation. Even in the mud, when looking up at the actors dancing and singing on the screen, the audience seems to be in a utopia, although it is a moment of ecstasy, for people who are struggling to run. It will also be a great comfort. Regrettably, despite the history of nearly a hundred years, we still rarely see LGBT-themed musicals, even though many people in the LGBT community have always been loyal audiences and even members of their creators.
This loss of identity will end with a terrible 2020, because we have "The Prom"-this Ryan Murphy gift to LGBT kids all over the world. Like "Rocky Horror Show" (1975), which was mixed in acclaim, this musical based on the musical of the same name released on Broadway in 2018 did not achieve outstanding results in public evaluation, but it still does not prevent me from seeing it as One of the most exciting musicals since the new century.
"Don't be gay in Indiana"
"Don't be gay in Indiana." When the protagonist Emma (played by Joe Allen Perlman) sang "Just Breath", the audience might be surprised why there is such a straightforward "regional black". Indiana’s social attitudes are conservative. In the 2020 U.S. election, 57% of Indiana voters voted for Trump. Although the original Broadway musicals and movies have been exaggerated to some extent, Indiana’s homophobia is real. .
More coincidentally, the director Ryan Murphy was born and raised in Indiana. He grew up in an Irish Catholic family and entered a Catholic school from an early age until the eighth grade, and later entered Indiana University. Murphy's native Indian identity seems to make "The Prom" more plausible for Indiana's ridicule. In fact, Murphy's childhood and adolescence experience is not unrelated to his unshukeed adaptation of the stage play.
Murphy's earliest memory of Indiana, where he was born and raised, is related to his father. Murphy's father was tall, 1.95 meters tall. He remembered that he was often woken up from his sleep in the middle of the night when he was a child. His father asked him to sit at the kitchen table, set the timer, and always asked him the same Question: "You are not like me at all. I want you to tell me why." Murphy would yell and answer at first: "I don't know. It's me, I don't know what you mean by asking this." However, as he grew up, Murphy no longer feared his father or yelled at him. Instead, he began to ridicule his father: "I don't want to become you. Me too. I don't want to live here." At the age of 15, his mother inadvertently discovered the secret of his homosexuality. She saw a stack of love letters when she looked through her son's drawer. These love letters came from a 22-year-old boy, Drew. Murphy was attending a summer camp out of town at the time. He was asked to return home immediately. His mother told him that she already knew about Drew and told Drew that she would never see him again, otherwise she would be sued for rape. Lu. What hurts Murphy even more is that his mother took him to see the therapist the next day; fortunately, the therapist did not jump to the conclusion, only saying that he had no other problems except precocious puberty.
The life of pretending to be heterosexual has never been suitable for Murphy. When he recalled his adolescence, he said: "The only way I can live through the life I have experienced is to have a tenacious spirit and firm determination. I am in When I was passing through the corridor in high school, someone called me "gay" with nasty words. This didn't stop me... I set myself a goal: I must live through high school, and at the same time I was thinking, Why is I not popular? Why can't I go to the prom? Why can't I be the chairman of a club? These have always been important to me."
After earning a bachelor's degree in journalism from Indiana University, Murphy moved to Hollywood and started his creative career. Today, he is one of Hollywood’s hottest producers and directors, having worked with "Glee" and "American Horror Story". "American Crime Story", "Rivals", "Pose" and other works that have swept the world have won 32 Emmy nominations, and "Time" called him the "King of Television." "The Prom" is his latest work in collaboration with Netflix. This ambitious film has invited many Hollywood superstars, including Aunt May, Nicole Kidman, James Corden, Kelly Washington, etc.; More importantly, it carries Murphy's extremely personal life experience, and with a flamboyant, cynical, and provocative posture, it has carried out another powerful challenge to heterosexual hegemony.
The ghost of heterosexuality
The plot of "Graduation Prom" is not complicated, but it deals with the distress that sexual minorities face in their lives, the cultural environment of heterosexual hegemony, the rejection of sexual minorities, the relationship between coming out and family, the intimate relationship of sexual minorities, and Christian fundamentalism The lies and even the cultural intersection of Hollywood and Broadway were presented one by one.
Di Di Allen (Meryl Streep) and Barry Glickman (James Corden) are Broadway stars in New York. The former has won two Tony Awards, while the latter also has Rich stage experience; however, their performance in the new stage play encountered bad reviews from the media, which put the entire troupe into crisis. At the same time, in a small town in Indiana, high school student Emma (played by Joe Allen Perlman) is being humiliated for her lesbian identity, despite being awarded the high school principal (played by Cogan Michael Kay) ), Ms. Green (Kelly Washington), the chairperson of the Parent Association, encouraged parents to veto the "prom with homosexuality", so Emma and her girlfriend Alyssa (Ariane Debos) could not At the prom, Alyssa is Green’s daughter, and she has not yet come out to her mother. Dee De Allen and Barry saw solidarity with Emma as a great opportunity to turn their reputations. They decided to work with another pair of frustrated actors Angie (Nicole Kidman) and Trent (Andrew Lang). Nath) plans to travel to Indiana together and vowed to hold an inclusive prom for Emma.
Although "Graduation Prom" received a lot of comments accusing it of being "cluttered" at the beginning of its release, we might as well put it in a deeper social environment. The film reflects the fact that there is nowhere in the trivial matter of the prom. Heterosexual ghost who is absent. Since the Stonewall riots in 1969, the gay liberation movement has swept across the United States and the world. "Politics in appearance" refers to the efforts of minorities to increase their visibility (visibility). Sexual minorities have marched in public places such as churches and streets. Protest to prove their true existence and call on the society to pay attention to the equal rights they deserve. Allen, Barry, Angie, Trent and other members of the crew who came from New York broke into the hall when the parents decided to cancel the prom, and then Aunt Mei sang a song "It's Not About Me" in person. "The Prom" uses this scene to make a vivid metaphor for the politics of appearance: in a cultural environment of heterosexual hegemony, the "appearance" of sexual minorities is destined to be an offensive intrusion, and their strange costumes, Rebellion against gender stereotypes and uninhibited lust have never been tolerated by society. Even if they are not forced to become "normal", they are expected to remain silent.
However, the new generation will no longer surrender to the specter of heterosexuality. What needs to be reminded is that my use of the term "heterosexual ghost" is by no means intended to devalue the identity of heterosexual people. It refers to a heterosexual hegemony system that rejects multiculturalism, not against heterosexual individuals; just like that; The seemingly fierce prom still maintains Hollywood’s consistent caution with regard to mainstream American family values : it sets up a myth of reconciliation between Barry and Alissa and their mothers, and in singing and dancing, we are also willing to believe Such fairy tales, but all those who have experienced it will know that Hollywood musicals have always been a reaction to reality. At least our generation, in our country, is still struggling.
"The Prom" conceives the possibility of such a good life—heterosexual ghosts will no longer be in power, and sexual minorities will no longer be discriminated against, excluded, and violent because of their identities. As the climax of the film, the song "It's Time to Dance" sung by all the actors conveys this vision: "If the music is harsh enough, no one will care who your unruly heart will fall in love with. Let people see the world. What will happen one day, if we seize the opportunity, the dream may come true. But before that day comes, let us dance together."
How important is "presentation" to the LGBT community?
"Graduation Prom" is not only a seizure of power-it declares that mainstream commercial musicals are no longer a heterosexual patent, but also reemphasizes the importance of the "representation" of the sexual minorities on the screen. In 2020, two documentaries combed the media's presentation of sexual minorities and transgender people from the perspective of video history, "From Dark to Bright: TV and Rainbow History" produced by Apple+ and "Unveiled: Hollywood" produced by Netflix "The Transgender Life", the two documentaries explored a common theme: how the media (including movies, television, newspapers and even various social software in the Internet age) present specific images of sexual minorities and shape the public’s perception of sexual minorities Cognition.
From the early days of film and television until recently, sexual minorities have been in a state of "absent presence" for a long time. Since the birth of movies and TV, sexual minorities have remained present, but in comedies they are often regarded as jokes, and in horror films they often appear as perverted killers. The subjectivity of sexual minorities has always been forced Absent, the negative screen image intensified the discrimination against them by the society that had been all kinds of stereotypes. However, as a large number of young sexual minority authors entered the creative field, these talented creators brought their own life experience as marginalized people into the story. For the first time, the sexual minorities became their own narrative centers, and the media "presented The history of "has thus been completely rewritten.
The history created by "Graduation Prom" successfully reversed the screen presentation of sexual minorities in the genre of musicals. Sexual minorities are no longer jokes, murderers, or insignificant supporting roles. They stand on the stage. Central, and appeared in a positive, positive, and inspiring posture in the song and dance film, a genre with strong emotional mobilization . At the same time, the casting of the film is almost recognized as the most skilled and influential cast of actors. When aunt May, Nick Kidman and other world superstars collectively star in such a LGBT-themed musical, the opposite sex The positive presentation of minorities and their encouragement to the young generation of sexual minorities were beyond our imagination. James Corden’s Barry is a combination of cute, witty, and kind temperament. His heterosexual identity in real life and his wonderful interpretation of gay roles in the film reflect Ryan Murphy’s casting. Concept, he once said in an interview:
"I don't think of actors as homosexual or heterosexual, and I have never chosen actors based on their sexual orientation. I will choose the actors who are most competent for the role, those who can provide the greatest contribution and convey the nuance."
Reporter Jimmy Larkin interviewed 16 American children/adolescents who had watched "Graduation Prom", and they told about the significance of this movie to them. He wrote: "Maybe this movie may not be to your taste, but I hope you can know how important it is to our younger generation. How I wish for such a musical to exist when I was young."
May we all have an inclusive ball that opens its doors to everyone.
【references】
[1] Lu Maoliang. Research on American Musical Films Since 2000 [D]. Nanjing Normal University, 2015.
[2] Yao Rui. Narrative and Spectacle: The Plot Mode and the Show of Songs and Dances in Hollywood Backstage Songs and Dances[J]. Contemporary Cinema, 2013(10): 120-124.
[3] Yan Yinsheng, Wanyue. Research on the Polyphony Phenomenon of Hollywood Musical Films' Video Narrative[J]. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China), 2019, 41(03): 99-104.
[4] Zhou Yaping. Ryan Murphy: the maverick in the American drama circle[J]. World Culture, 2016(12): 8-11.
[5] Yajiro. Interview with director Ryan Murphy: Silence is equal to death[J]. Movie World, 2014(05): 77.
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