even now after some time has passed, the greatest showman remains such a fascinating cultural object for me. a critical reading of the movie reveals it to be irresponsible and trumpian, a demented celebration of how easy it is to exploit the under-privileged for profit. and yet–as the musical genre tends to be perceived as exclusively appealing to women and homos–the movie seems to appeal specifically to liberals who love a crowd-pleaser, and as is demonstrated as a literal plot point in the movie, any critical analysis tends to be derided as elitism and missing the point.
and this is me was written specifically to be a gay anthem. i’ve now seen a drag queen perform it, i’ve seen a marching band perform it at pride, and i swear i heard it again through speakers at pride last night. this one movie–this 105 minute movie–has been labelled as a source of empowerment for so many people, even as it flagrantly rewrites and whitewashes history, degrades its subjects, and puts criminal abuse in a positive and marketable light. the dissonance is amazing.
Tagged as: this is exactly how i feel about it. rewrite the stars is a bop. but the film is filled with facinating characters but instead focuses on the white guy manipulating them for profit.
Reblogged from: thequantumqueer
Originally posted by: if-only-angels-could-prevail
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I love this take on the worst movie of all time!
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