I had a lot of thoughts while watching this movie, yet at the same time, I had no idea what I was seeing. I think I need to watch it at least three more times to understand it.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch, a musical movie, tells the story of Hedwig, who was only able to get out of Berlin with a screwed up marriage and a forced sex change surgery. The story is told through many flashbacks of Hedwig’s life in Berlin, to their time with Tommy, a young rock artist who got their start from Hedwig’s guidance. Showcasing Hedwig’s last three relationships, viewers can see just how the current Hedwig came to be.

The whole story feels like a jumble of memories, but I suppose that is what is in just about anyone’s head.

Luther

I think it is safe to say that we all hate this man, Hedwig’s first husband. The moment that Hedwig, or at that point, Hansel, met Luther was the moment that her life would turn to a mess.

Luther taught Hedwig what it felt like to have control, which is not inherently a bad thing; however, she specifically learned how it felt to have control over another person. During the song where they first met, it is even mentioned that, through Luther’s lust, Hedwig is able to control him.

It was all a facade, as Luther does end up leaving Hedwig, but it was enough to show her the feeling. I guess you could consider him a “gateway drug” into the trauma cycle that Hedwig continues to abuse throughout the movie.

Yitzhak

The relationship between Yitzhak and Hedwig is actually the first that we see throughout the movie, but as viewers, I don’t think that we see the whole picture until the end. It is clear, however, that Yitzhak isn’t happy, and it is more than clear that Hedwig is a cruel lover.

Yitzhak just wants to play Angel in a production of Rent. This is a small detail throughout the movie, but I think that it is actually really important. Until the last scene, Hedwig doesn’t allow Yitzhak to do what he wants or to express himself the way he wants to. Hedwig, because of the nonconsentual way that she was forced into a sex-change surgery, has a need to be different, and to be special, in her femininity. If she is stuck with it, she has to make it her specific “thing” and because of that, she doesn’t allow Yitzhak to express any of the femininity that he longs for.

Tommy

Meeting Tommy makes everything make a bit more sense throughout the movie.

Hedwig is definitely preying on Tommy, who is seventeen the first time they meet and get together. Hedwig has times where she is pushing him and yelling at him, and while I don’t necessarily like Tommy, Hedwig is definitely in the wrong for dating a seventeen year old.

Putting the grooming aside, Hedwig takes Tommy and creates a star… who then goes on to get famous and give her no credit for any of the songs she wrote. Really, that creates all of the movie’s plot, as Hedwig then follows Tommy to each concert venue and plays next door.

It is clear that Hedwig has taken what she learned from Luther and is perpetuating a cycle of control.

Threes and Gender

The end of the movie includes a scene where Hedwig stripps off her wig, handing it to Yitzhak, and then heading, completely undressed, to see Tommy. I think that this scene is the only way you can find a good chunk of meaning from the movie.

The movie includes two sets of threes, which reflect each other. The first being the three genders that are described in the song “Origin of Love.” The three genders consist of two men attached, two women attached, and a man and a women attached. Many viewers can see this as a representation of sexuality, but I first only saw it as a representation of gender, as well as a representation of each person that Hedwig has a relationship with.

First, the children of the sun, two men attached, represent Luther. Even though Luther first saw Hansel and thought that he was biologically female, he was even more excited to find out that Hansel was not a girl. Luther saw Hedwig as a man, and even though he was the reason that Hedwig had to get sex change surgery, that is all he ever saw Hedwig as.

Yitzhak represents the two attached women, the children of the earth. Yitzhak loved Hedwig for her femininity, while also wanting nothing more than to have that femininity for themself.

Tommy. Well, Tommy represents the children of the moon. Those who are androgynous. Hedwig is only able to act as their masculine and feminine sides when with Tommy, and because of the last scene, with Hedwig ripping her wig off, and taking out her boobs, just to walk to Tommy, and almost mirror him, there is nothing else that Tommy could represent.

The addition of the three relationships, all who represent a piece of Hedwig’s gender, is a really interesting way to show how fluid gender can be. Depending on who Hedwig is with, they feel their gender differently, even if it isn’t how they are seen.