The end of the Hedwig movie: WTF?

[JoeKv99]

Needless to say, if you haven't yet had a spare moment in the intervening nine years to see it but still hope to catch a late-night showing of the film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" this thread may contain spoilers....

So I re-watched Hedwig the other night and was reminded how frustrated I was when I saw it the first time: What the hell is that ending about?

Hedwig sees Tommy, Tommy sings his version of "Wicked Little Town" with new lyrics including the line "no Cosmic Lover preassigned" in contradiction to Hedwig's obsession that he needs to find "his other half." Then we see Hedwig working as a prostitute getting "picked up" by Tommy in a Limousine. The two reconcile and have a high time in the limo until they hit a school bus. Tommy is shown bruised and battered and denying any impropriety with "that woman." Hedwig and the band play "midnight Radio" in a strange, all white room, all dressed in white. Hedwig gives her wig to Yitzak (which really makes no sense as they cut all the stuff about Yitzak wanting to do drag but Hedwig stopping him) and he crowd surfs joyously. Hedwig is seen walking naked down an alley, her tattoo of two half faces now joined into one. Did I miss anything?

So again I ask: WTF? Is she dead? Retired? Going off to live with Tommy? Is she Tommy? help me out gang- I want to hear your interpretations.

[Jane2]

Joe, the whole thing makes sense to me but sometimes I have a hard time articulating.

The film is true to the story, with some clarifications. There are people who, from seeing the show on stage, believe that Tommy and Hedwig are one and the same. In my mind, the film proves that they are not, although the film contains lots of symbolism and can't be taken literally, such as the very last scene. You can interpret that as you wish.

I'm sure there are those who saw the film and still believe the two are the same person. Hence "the other half."

The white room, white wardrobes to me are about artistic license.

[djb]

i just watched it yesterday afternoon for the first time in a while.

it has always been my interpretation that when tommy mouths "bye" at the end of his version of "wicked little town" that he is going away, giving hedwig the glory he has originally deserved. tommy's now playing for an empty crowd, whereas hedwig now has the music world at his feet. hedwig has become the new tommy. tommy has entered hedwig and they have become one, just as the faces on the tattoo (as somewhat presented through the very last "cartoon" before the movie ends.)
the whole walking naked in the street moment confused me slightly, but i assumed it was due to the fact that he is no longer afraid to show his front half because tommy wasn't afraid of it anymore.

[Roscoe]

I always found the ending of the film confusing, too. It seems to be aiming for a sort of poetic ambiguity only winds up being clumsy. The confrontation between Tommy and Hedwig, for example, and the final "Midnight Radio" number taking place in that white club, I always took it to be part of Hedwig's final breakdown and emotional reassembly.

In the end, Hedwig does seem to have purged all of the trappings of her former life, Tommy (the silent "bye") and the music and the wigs (handing the wig and drag over to Itzak) and all, and is off to lead a new life somewhere somehow. That's always been what I've taken from it.

[Jane2]

I agree, Roscoe.

[jrb_actor]

Perhaps, Hedwig has found completion within himself. He has wasted so much energy fighting with everyone, blaming everyone for the woes in his life. I see the ending as his finally being free.

But, the ending should be what you want it to be. That's what I want it to be.

[CATSNYrevival]

Basically, John Cameron Mitchel just wanted one more opportunity to show off his rockin' ass. That's about it.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

You have the order wrong at the end, slightly. Wicked Little Town (Tommy's version) doesn't happen until AFTER the car accident. It is a little muddy, though, and perhaps you have to reach to make your own symbolism.

[TheatreFan4]

Well in the documentary (Which our own Jane2 has a little interview in) John said that the studio originally wanted him to also play Tommy. Maybe it was originally written as them being one in the same, but I don't think it carried over into the movie.

[DMsquared2]

I've always viewed it as Hedwig finally being the person she really wants to be: the Tommy Gnosis character (like Bowie putting on Ziggy Startdust) and allowing Yitzhak to do the same (be in drag).

[Jane2]

Thanks for the shoutout, TF!

[FindingNamo]

Isn't it in the audio commentary track or maybe the documentary that JCM says that in the scene where the fight breaks out in the restaurant and Hedwig appears to be flying through the scene that he felt the audience had enough background on the realities of Hedwig's life that they could now go into Hedwig's head?

[Jane2]

Something like that.

[JoeKv99]

Thanks for the insight- Jane I had no idea you were Hedwig connected!

And PS- my typical irreverent and snarky tone might have made folks think I was picking on the movie or the show- I wasn't. I'm just trying to get some folks to weigh in on the "Meaning" of it all- I'll admit it I'm baffled.

[Jane2]

Yes Joe, Hedwig holds a special place in my life. I was hooked after seeing it for the first time. I virtually never left the theater!

Having seen all the NY Hedwigs in all the shows, I've had enough time to digest it and figure it out for myself, at least.

[Mmay119]

To me I think the ending is Tommy saying goodbye and telling him he needs to stop looking for cosmic answers because they are in him. And how he goes quiet when it's "you can always follow my voice" is saying he's not going to be there anymore to follow. Then Tommy disappears behind gnosis and showing both his career is over and Hedwig has that much more knowledge. Then Hedwig appears with his cross to show that he's whole and complete with everything Tommy has passed onto him. I think he gives the wig to Yazik because he tore up her passport and with that wig, she's able to use his Hedwig passport to do the cruise. And letting her go and be herself, gives Hedwig the final peace he needs to be totally whole. The other half he was looking for had been peace with himself and what he's been through this whole time. He's his own other half. They alley is like a birth canal. He's walking down it naked and identify free but reborn as himself as a whole person finally.

[Glittergrrl]

 

Mmay119 said: "To me I think the ending is Tommy saying goodbye and telling him he needs to stop looking for cosmic answers because they are in him. And how he goes quiet when it's "you can always follow my voice" is saying he's not going to be there anymore to follow. Then Tommy disappears behind gnosis and showing both his career is over and Hedwig has that much more knowledge. Then Hedwig appears with his cross to show that he's whole and complete with everything Tommy has passed onto him. I think he gives the wig to Yazik because he tore up her passport and with that wig, she's able to use his Hedwig passport to do the cruise. And letting her go and be herself, gives Hedwig the final peace he needs to be totally whole. The other half he was looking for had been peace with himself and what he's been through this whole time. He's his own other half. They alley is like a birth canal. He's walking down it naked and identify free but reborn as himself as a whole person finally."

Yes! My take exactly. I see it as a rebirth. Hedwig has finally found wholeness as himself. 

[South Florida]

I liked the music so much that I didn't care if I got it entirely.

 

[BJR]

Reminder Hedwig's pronouns are female. She's not a drag queen but transitioned.

Definitely agree the movie is harder to follow than even the stage play, which is poetic but that is harder to transfer to the literal quality of film. 

[GavestonPS]

Mmay119 said: "To me... He's his own other half. They alley is like a birth canal. He's walking down it naked and identify free but reborn as himself as a whole person finally."

Well said. I too was confused the first time I saw the film, but, like South Florida, I didn't care because I think the movie puts more on screen for a mere million bucks than any film in history.

But after many viewings of the DVD, I've concluded--like many here--that the ending has to do with Hedwig finding "wholeness" within herself (or himself, the ending isn't entirely clear) and being born anew.

[TotallyEffed]

Hedwig is more than a woman or a man.

One of the best movie musicals ever made.

[GavestonPS]

TotallyEffed said: "Hedwig is more than a woman or a man.

One of the best movie musicals ever made."

D'accord.

The first time I saw it, I was so gobsmacked at the sheer chutzpah of setting Plato to popular music that I was hooked!

[CT2NYC]

BJR said: "Reminder Hedwig's pronouns are female. She's not a drag queen but transitioned.

Yes, throughout the film, Hedwig's pronouns are female, but there's no indication that young Hedwig would have transitioned on his own. The sex change was forced upon him. My impression is that Hedwig was a gay man, rather than a transgender female. Regardless, in the end, Hedwig is more than a woman or a man, so, in my opinion, female pronouns are unnecessary. The point is that one's genitals, or lack thereof, don't define who someone is.

[TotallyEffed]

I also think Hedwig would reject PC culture and the pronoun police.

To focus on that is kind of missing the point.

[darquegk]

I once read an argument someone made (here? on Facebook? Musicals dot Net?) that there WAS no Hedwig and there WAS no Tommy, but that applied more to the stage show than to the movie.

I think the gist of it was that the character the actor is playing is not actually Hedwig or Tommy, but is playing a drag performer working through issues of self and identity with an allegorical story, trying to reconcile two halves of the whole with tall tales about a botched sex change on one hand and rock stardom on the other. When the wig and costume come off, we are no longer seeing Hedwig or Tommy, but seeing The Cabaret Artist, no longer hiding behind fake names and exaggeration, just naked and honest and Themself.

I don't think this interpretation entirely plays, but it stuck in my mind anyway.