Taking Sides: "Rocky Horror Picture Show" vs "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"

Don't you mean The Gender-Bending Rock Musical Throwdown? Of course, Rocky Horror threw horror-movie stuff into the mix, which is classic. Hedwig is funnier and has better songs. Right now I'm voting for Hedwig.

Yeah, maybe I should have explicitly said "gender-bending", but I figured that the thematic link between the two would be obvious.

I don't know if I would say "Hedwig" was funnier, though, at least not based on the movie. I mean, there were a lot of humorous parts in it but they were always tempered by the unsettling bleakness of the core story. Plus, "Rocky Horror" has the whole call-and-response cult that has sprung up around it which may want to take itself seriously but is honestly one of the funniest things I've ever seen. (It didn't even occur to me that people would take the movie seriously until I saw some "Rocky Horror" documentaries. Eek.) The way that surrealism was employed along with conventional narrative made "Hedwig" a much more daring film stylistically and more satisfying to watch, but on a given Friday night I'd probably go see "Rocky Horror" first.

Has anyone seen both of the stage versions? How do they compare? Actually, how is the stage version of "Hedwig" different from the movie?

I saw the Hedwig stage musical, and it's... VERY different from the movie, and much better. One of the things that was so great about the stage version was that it was pretty much entirely site-specific--it addressed the fact that it was taking place in a cramped little theater way the hell on the west side of Manhattan--and low-budget, and real- time. It took its limitations and turned them into strengths.

So, the stage version is like watching one of the random concerts in the movie, where Hedwig spins out the details of her life story under the guise of cranking out hard-rock choons? Or is it something completely different from that?

Yeah, that's about right. The stage version ran into some trouble, I thought, when the actor/actress playing Hedwig became Tommy Gnosis at the end. Of course, this suggests a doubleness between Hedwig and Tommy, which the movie capitalizes on, though on a literal level it's kind of troublesome.

Wow, great question. Having just seen Hedwig, I may be a little biased. Hedwig presents a specific site and situation for the star's gendered confusion, whereas Rocky Horror is rootless (heh) -- camp for camp's sake. In that regard the latter might be more true to the tradition, just a wild unapologetic celebration of deviance that breaks down the stage's barriers and paradoxically involves the audience in interaction ('star'dom). But right now I'm leaning towards Hedwig ... it moves through a greater range of emotion and experience, yet it leaves little mysteries so as not to spoil -all- the fun.

The intersting thing I noticed is that when you compare the movie versions, the most compelling thing about "Rocky Horror" is the audience's completely gonzo reaction to it, while "Hedwig" has all of those trippy dream-sequences that indelibly sear images of how harsh Hedwig's life was. One generates its own power while the other feeds off of the counter-culture created around it.

How different would "Hedwig" have been if it had been made in the 70s? How about "Rocky Horror" in the 00s (particularly in a post-"Scream" climate)?

On a purely musical level, how do the songs hold up? Lyrically, I have to give the edge to "Hedwig", but I was personally surprised by how similar the music sounded to me; there were points where I felt like the music I was hearing was a logical extension of "The Time Warp", "Toucha Touch Me" and "I'm Going Home". Does the concept of gender-bending evoke a particular style of rock music or are we seeing the stage musical dynamic at work?

RHPS's idea of rock 'n' roll comes from the theater; Hedwig's idea of rock 'n' roll comes from the grotty club. Advantage: Hedwig.

I'm pretty sure Hedwig is the greatest film ever created. "Wicked Little Town" & "Midnight Radio" are good songs on any level. Rocky Horror is classic, of course, but it doesn't have the same connection.

Despite Gummi Bear hysteria I can't turn my back on the RHPS as an excuse to throw toast and rice and toliet paper.

Hmmm... for a start, I was strongly reminded of Rocky Horror by Hedwig, which leads me to think that the earlier one informs the later, and STRONGLY. There's the horror movie thing, sure, but rather than this being a difference, I'd say it's a similarity. The Frankenstein myth that RHPS uses so heavily is about a man 'creating' life without the aid of a woman - without using the 'traditional(hetrosexual)' means. This is implicit in the Frankenstein story long before RH uses it (Gods and Monsters anyone?). Now, how about this: Hedwig 'creates' Tommy - okay? It can be read as a kind of homosexual reproduction; in this case, to make a bit of a jump perhaps, an 'imperfect' character (Frankenfurter/Hedwig)creates a perfect/fantasy figure - (Tommy/Rocky), which then proceeds to rebel in some way. Very similar I feel, perhaps too similar to ignore. Not that I feel Hedwig is a 'rip-off' in any way, rather i think both these films(which both began their life as stage plays) are adressing similar issues in interestingly similar ways. Now then - the emphasis that's being given to RH's cultish status is missing the point I feel - it's a 70's film around which a very particular cult grew, because of the nature of the film itself. Hedwig could very easily create such a thing around it, given the same amount of time RH has had. What's more, RH isn't looking back at glam rock - it comes from the era of glam rock, hence it's sound. Nor is it trying to inscribe glam in a particular way as Hedwig is( I mean - no mention of Marc Bolan?). What i'm getting at here is that I think RHPS informs Hedwig. I think Hedwig could not have been made in the 70's - it's too confrontational and sophisticated. RH is played for laughs, but under that is the same questioning of identity and gender roles that Hedwig tackles so well and that's why RHPS is so enduringly popular - it's got something important to say, and I think Hedwig is saying something similar. What's more, it's something that doesn't get discussed very often at all, and the devices of creation and duality are well adressed by the devices of music and gender blurring both Films use to such excellent effect. Hmmm. I might go and write a paper about this. It had occured to me before, but now I can't stop thinking about this one. Which is better? I don't want to denigrate either of these masterpeices. The implicit suggestion that Comedy is inferior to Tragedy is just plain ridiculous. I'm having more fun looking at them together without making arbitary vaule judgements anyway.

Ok, Andrew makes some excellent point. Except the one about arbitrary value judgements!

oh alright, i know the topic was 'taking sides'. Bah humbug.

So this all begs the question:

Who's going to answer Dan's questions about the stage version of Hedwig? As a fan, I'm pretty curious, really.

To answer one of Dan's questions, I think gender-bending definitely does evoke a certain sort of music. Campy actions call for campy measures. What did we expect on the subject of transexual rock stars? A glitch musical? FUCK NO!

But cross-dressers with laptops sounds like a really good idea right now. I'm going to bed.

I haven't seen Hedwig, but really, doesn't Rocky Horror have some of the finest rock musical songs ever? I'd almost forgotten, and it's hard to see past the let's-wear-a-suspender-belt-and-drink-lots-of-cider Friday Night cheap thrill that RH has become, the same sad fate that has befallen Abba.

Rocky Horror is awesome.

uh-oh.

Calz is the Earths Official Ambassador from the Planet Transsexual in the Galaxy of Transylvania. We can't hurt him because he has diplomatic immunity.