Hedwig, Part 3

6 Comments

Jump to comment form | comment rss [?] | trackback uri [?]

Ryan Rheingold 2.25.10 / 7pm

I personally don’t consider Hedwig either gender. For me Hedwig is simply a unique spirit on its own path. Although, mabey (s)he chose to associate with the female gender role because he no longer had a penis, which is ironic because it wasn’t much of a choice.

Reply
Logan 2.25.10 / 9pm

again, just feel the need to throw out my gender neutral pronouns comment from the previous blog entry…

:I’m going to wait to see what kind of discussion occurs in general, but I feel the need to bring up the use of pronouns on all the blog entries about hedwig. So far, I haven’t seen anyone use gender neutral pronouns – ze or hir, and instead people asking lots of questions and say s/he or she or he or “it.” I know people are using “it” to try and not say she or he, and i know gender neutral pronouns are an uncomfortable thing for people to work into discussions, but it’s driving me crazy so I just felt like I should say something. And yes, I’m sure this is part of the bigger question, how does hedwig identify etc etc…but i’m just saying.

Reply
1. Logan 2.25.10 / 9pm
  
  http://web.archive.org/web/20080125184239/www.get-hed.com/html/about/index.html
  
  as a follow up, i tracked down the official movie website, and the synopsis uses female pronouns for hedwig. just for further thought…
  
  Reply
Austin 2.27.10 / 4pm

I think it’s important that Hedwig says “It’s what I have to work with” – the statement has some ambiguity. You can understand “have” as implying ownership (“It’s mine to work with”), or “have to” as obligatory (“It’s what I must work with”). Given English as Hedwig’s second language, does she realize the lovely ambiguity in this statement?

Likely. She’s a savvy broad. And she wouldn’t be a punk rock queen if she wasn’t disenchanted with most things. But Hedwig is hardly a fatalist. When she’s down in the dumps in Junction City, just after Luther leaves her, she reimagines herself and her identity entirely. Within the course of the song “Wig in a Box” she transforms from “Miss Midwest Midnight Check-out Queen” to “Miss Punk Rock Star of Stage and Screen,” from a mousy braid to the Cher-like and fabulous. Hedwig doesn’t take adversity lying down (at least not when she doesn’t like it.) She’s always been working towards something – to get out of East Berlin, to get out of her podunk town, to get the credit she deserves for Tommy’s fame. Like someone straight from AA, she desires the serenity to accept what she can’t change, the courage to change what she can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Reply
Heather Ray 3.2.10 / 4pm

Overall I believe that Hedwig does consider herself female. As terrible as I’m sure this sounds I almost relate Hedwig to an amputee who is forced to adapt to a missing limb. Even though the decision to undergo sex reassignment surgery didn’t stem from a desire to change genders, I believe that she learns to adapt to to what she is forced to live with. I do, however, find the sex scene to be an interesting play on her female identity. Hedwig, much like an amputee, is required to go about your average daily tasks in a different way. However, she still seeks and (presumably) receives pleasure from her somewhat modified sexual practices.

Reply
Sofia 3.6.10 / 9pm

I would see Hedwig as both a male and a female, I found myself switching off often. Even before s/he had the surgery, he was already on the feminine side, I think love made him want even more to be feminine, but the surgery that was forced on him was the final push. But, at the end of the movie it is intersting because she takes off all of the clothing and makeup, and then I saw him as more of a masculine character.
I thought that it was interesting how, the whole entire movie she never seemed satisfied with her life, clearly because of the series of unfortunate events that had happened. And the feminine outfits were a temporary fix, made him feel beautiful on the outside but truly that was not the fix to his happiness.

Reply

Queer Rhetorics Blog

Hedwig, Part 3

About this entry

6 Comments

Leave a comment Cancel reply

About

Recently

Archives

Queer Rhetorics Blog

Hedwig, Part 3

Share this:

Related

About this entry

6 Comments

Leave a comment Cancel reply

About

Share this:

Related

Recently

Archives