The Verge: In the 1980s, it was full of discos! Break dance! Psychedelic Electronics! Rock!
Loud sound, pounding rhythm, in the context of the Cold War, the entertainment industry is booming.
In the spirit of entertaining to death, POSE focused on the most marginal T in the LGBTQ+ group on the fringes of society at that time - Transgender. Use marginal identities to defy social patterns and stereotypes.
Ryan Murphy, one of the giants in the American drama industry ("The Plastic Surgery Room", "Glee", "American Horror Story", etc.), personally directed the show. It connects the most marginal individuals in the marginal group with the charm and memory of that era. On the one hand, it is the extreme hardship and weakness of the bottom of the society, and on the other hand, it is the pursuit and strength of personal value.
Dream: In the United States in the 1980s, people panicked due to the emergence of AIDS. Under the economic and political predicament, the AIDS problem was ignored, and the public did not hesitate to deduct the hat of social problems on homosexuality.
The protagonist, Blanca (Mj. Rodriguez), was initially told that he had contracted AIDS, which was equivalent to death at the time. At that time, she was expelled from her family and taken in by Erica (Dominic Jackson), and became a member of the "Famous Family". Now, she is always robbed of clothing ideas by "Mother" (Erica), deliberately suppressing and belittling. . In such a burden of humiliation, the AIDS infection became her last courage. She wanted to leave something behind before she died to prove her worth.
At that time, multiple key elements of social life in New York developed in parallel, the Trump era took shape, urban society and literature became mainstream, and the underground LGBTQ subculture (or "ballroom community", "Ball culture") began to be popularized As we know, Ball, as the most important activity of the transgender community, is the focus of the whole film. It literally means a dance party, and it specifically refers to an activity in the black gay community in the United States in the 1980s. People buy clothes, put on makeup, and gather in the ballroom to hold a "competition". The competition is divided into multiple categories, covering catwalks, dances and other forms. The judges will score one by one to determine the winner of each category. If football and basketball are competitions that drive straight people crazy, then ball is a gay costume carnival. Here, they don’t have to hide their gay identity, but show themselves generously, showing beauty and coquettishness, desire and dream.
Blanca's way of proving herself is by building her own "family" to compete with the "House of Plenty" and win at the dance. As the connection point of the whole play, Blanca herself carries multiple stereotypes such as black, female, gay, transgender, AIDS, etc., and the director also allows her to discover the multiple positive auras in human nature - strong, courageous , certainty, motherhood, kindness...
Bloom: To celebrate what's left of the little world and truly make a name for yourself, in this community the honor of your name means everything. While not walking the red carpet at the Oscars, this was their moment of stardom.
Blanca used her maternal brilliance to discover Damon, a boy born in a traditional Catholic family who was kicked out of the family by his parents, but who has an extraordinary talent for dancing. If he was just an ordinary boy, then he might " Out of my world", but he's a black gay man.
When Damon conquered the "prom" audience with his unique Hands (gestures), Spin (rotation), Dips (falls), Duckwalk (duck jumps), bent legs, lower waists, and arch bridges with dynamic improvisational rhythms, His POSE (posture) is a slap in the face to that harsh and difficult society. The more marginal, vulnerable, and painful, the more he wants to shine his light on everyone, put a good pose, and change it.
At this moment, Blanca also got what she really wanted-the achievement of being a "mother"
The film is not only charming in every character, but also has a five-star perfect soundtrack and serpent-like but profound lines. The line of each person alludes to the society at that time, and each line is secretly intertwined, and finally merges into a network, allowing the audience to deeply experience the tenacity and yearning of the marginalized people of that era.
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