I believe that many sisters like me have begun to understand cross-dressing culture from "Rupaul Drag Queen Show", which can be said to open the door to a new world for us. This reality show brings us not only pompous makeup and hair, shiny robes, sharp tearing X and emotional lip dance, but also the bittersweet transformation experiences and exciting growth stories of drag queens. Its organizer, Paul Rup, used the show to push cross-dressing culture into mainstream society, and all of this originated from the underground dance that prevailed in American LGBTQ circles in the 1980s and 1990s.
Born out of voguing in fashion hard photos
From the absurd "Rocky Horror Show", the glamorous "Desert Demon", the unique style of "Orange" to the diluted and peaceful "Just Charlie" are all good films about sexual minorities, "Ordinary Heart", "Dallas Buyers Club", "Angels in America", "120 Hits Per Minute" focus on the plight of the LGBTQ community when AIDS spread in the 1980s and 1990s. Now "Gesture" recreates this history of hope and darkness in a more intuitive and plain way, which is another song and dance work shot by Ryan Murphy after "Glee", the theme of "Gesture" is still inseparable from growth and inspiration, but the story is naturally not stereotyped and boring under the interpretation of queer groups flying and waves.
"Gesture" Douban homepage
The story of "Gesture" revolves around the BALL "ball", the underground dance party is the most important activity in the lives of this group of marginalized people, who wear brocade costumes to show their true selves and use Voguing to fight and dance to win the crown. The prom became the spiritual home of queers: during the day you may be homeless and the most inconspicuous migrant worker, but in the late-night underground prom you can become a rich man, become a king, win trophies for your "family", become a hot darling in the circle, and the sharp comments of the host Can Lotus are also a highlight of the prom.
The "House of Plenty" was unveiled
For the audience, each dance party is a visual feast, and the first two episodes of "Gesture" alone present many beautiful theme dances such as royal style, business elites, and rich grudges. In order to win the game, the First Episode opens with the House of Plenty stealing antique clothes from the museum's collection to dress themselves, and although in the blink of an eye they are arrested for stealing the museum, this does not dilute their joy of coming out on top at the ball, and several of them still look arrogant like real aristocrats. No wonder Blanca, the protagonist of "Pose," defines the prom as "people who are not welcome to celebrate a life that is not considered worth celebrating." ”
Angel dressed as a princess
However, the family members do not always get along with each other, and the protagonist Blanca in "Gesture" is committed to changing the status quo of the circle, and Erica, the "mother queen" of the Fertile House, excludes her at every turn. After being diagnosed with AIDS, Blanca ran away to create her own family, hoping to create a big family for the confused children who could support each other. Blanca first took in Damon, a boy with great dancing talent, and later recruited several confused young people, and established a series of family rules such as not taking drugs and not accepting sponsorship, and like a real parent, he instructed children how to fall in love and how to have safe sex, which can be described as well-intentioned.
Break up and die Blanca
When a group of transgender people gather together, the extreme spit of the poisonous tongue and the tearing of the chicken and dog jumping are inevitable, and in the first two episodes of "Pose", there have been many circus grabbing parts: Blanca Slay, who once again challenged Erica, made a name for the newly established "Evangelista House". After the game, Blanca and Erica's verbal battle was extremely sarcastic, the two ladies were young and vigorous, the other was calm and long-sleeved, and their dialogue was full of gunpowder but could best reflect the different demands of transgender people, whether they should shrink into their comfort zone to enjoy vested interests, or take the initiative to fight for the rights and interests of mainstream groups The debate is still of practical significance today.
Everyone loves to watch the tearing X drama
In the age of rock 'n' roll and disco, queers of color were still unpopular with mainstream society, and not only did the middle class, represented by white straight men, look down on them, but they were also at the bottom of the LGBTQ chain of contempt that everyone could step on. Blanca, who fought for the rights of transgender people, was imprisoned by the police for obstruction of law and order, and it was her sworn enemy Erica who finally paid her bail. Although the other party arrogantly said that this move was to reflect his own success, the ties between the two were indisputable in the face of external suppression.
A battle between ideals and reality
Stan, the white straight man played by "Quicksilver" Evan Peters in "X-Men" is undoubtedly an intruder of queer circles, and Stan, who has established a family, wants to become a business elite standing at the top of the pyramid, and he is bent on climbing upwards, taking the successful but vulgar boss as his benchmark. The transgender girl Angel has become an outlier in Stan's life, and after a night of "quilt-covered pure chat", Stan is impressed by Angel's innocence, and he has cheated his wife and deceived his boss to "raise" the other party. Angel, who lacks love and money, accepts everything according to the order, but this asymmetrical relationship full of lies may not last long, and the gift of fate will eventually come to ask for its high price.
Scumbag's favorite rescue drama
Unlike the terminally ill Blanca and the deformed love angel, the black boy Damon's experience after joining the Evangelista House can be described as smooth sailing: with Blanca's help Damon finally entered the dance school as he wished, and now he, like every peer, is only worried about school and love, there is no doubt that Damon will continue to grow up in the next plot until he becomes a shining new star, earning honor for the family and his mother. Transvestites suffering from AIDS, young people who have been kicked out of their homes, street women who are eager for a family, small drug dealers with uncertain futures... In mainstream society, there is no place for them, they still do not hesitate to show their posture, even in the gutter, there are still people looking up at the stars.
The soundtracks in "Pose" are all classics and can be left as a playlist
In addition to all kinds of marginalized people, "Gesture" also appears in a familiar name: Donald Trump. In the first episode, the big boss of the company Stan is the current president of the United States, Mr. Trump, who has not yet evolved into a Twitter maniac, and people say that he is just a real estate businessman with a golden toilet. In the real world, Trump should be the most unpopular public figure in the LGBTQ community, and the creators use the plot to attack Trump's conservatism, but I still hope that "Gesture" will focus on showing the growth and transformation of the protagonist instead of orchestrating Trump, as Sister Shu said: "We are born naked, and the rest are disguises." ”
Please a little less Trump, a little more prom