Best read as a continuation of Part 5; https://watchitdie.blogspot.com/2025/04/lets-all-go-to-movies-pt5.html
Emilia Pérez (2024): This is something of a difficult movie for me to cover as it features Selena Gomez. Someone who has been nudged in my direction, largely due to her well publicised health issues; Lupus, a kidney transplant as a result of Lupus and Bipolar Disorder. Although I should point out that small nudge was nothing like on the same scale of the massive, collective, shove others have received.
Selena Gomez is a Billionaire from her Rare Beauty cometic company, part of the profits of which are channelled into the Rare Impact Fund to enable to young people to gain access to mental health resources. Selena Gomez had a role in this, the most nominated movie at The Oscars 2025, a role which saw her win the Best Actress prize at The Cannes Film Festival 2024. That is alongside her role in the multi-award winning TV show; "Only Murders in the Building" (2021-Present). Selena Gomez also has a successful music career she seems able to dip in and out of as she pleases. So there is clearly a lot more to Selena Gomez than just her health issues.
I particularly don't want to focus on Selena Gomez's health issues because they are personal and private. I also appreciate that, particularly with mental health issues, there is still a lot of stigma surrounding them. The specifics of how Selena Gomez's health issues would affect anyone, along with the side-effects of the treatments used, can be quite embarrassing. Not the sort of things that people feel comfortable talking about. Recently Selena Gomez expressed concern that the medications she is taking for her health issues may prevent her from becoming a Mother. Particularly the kidney transplant requires her to be on some pretty heavy duty drugs for the rest of her life. As these drugs prevent her body from rejecting the donor kidney stopping taking them from anywhere between nine months and two years simply isn't an option. All of which is a bit much for a first date.
However Selena Gomez's health issues are really the reason why she was being nudged in my direction. For every one of Selena Gomez's health issues that I know about I also know, and am probably related to, someone who has the exact same health issue. Back in late 2017 one of my Mothers was admitted to a hospital's Intensive Care/Treatment Unit (IC/TU) with a Lupus-like autoimmune condition. Partly to protect my Mother's privacy rather than explaining to people exactly what was wrong with her I pretty much just told people to Google Selena Gomez.
As a result in my family and social circle these embarrassing discussions about the health issues Selena Gomez shares have been had so many times they've lost all power to embarrass. They've become the sort of thing we need to be reminded not to talk about loudly in public places, as they make other people uncomfortable. So if Selena Gomez has absolutely no-one else in her life to talk about her health issues with without embarrassment then I could certainly be that person. Although I would say that being united by our problems sounds like a terribly unhealthy basis for a romantic relationship. Excellent for an Alcoholics Anonymous-style support group but absolutely terrible for a couple.
Apparently since being nudged in my direction Selena Gomez is now engaged to Benny Blanco. The small faction that was nudging Selena Gomez in my direction also felt the need to murder a 10 year old girl, Sara Sharif, by pushing her down some stairs. Then have her killers flee to Pakistan to create a fully fledged international incident. None of which has made me want to get more involved. However the news that Selena Gomez is engaged to Benny Blanco has appeared in front of my eyes and gone into my brain. Forcing my brain to do something with that information. Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco seem to be united by something they both enjoy doing, making music. That seems a much healthier basis for a romantic relationship than any romantic relationship I would have had with Selena Gomez. Plus they both seem to live on the same continent, which probably helps.
Emilia Pérez centres on Rita Mora Castro, played by Zoe Saldaña, a struggling lawyer in Mexico. One day she is employed by drug cartel boss Jaun "Manitas" Del Monte, played by Karla Sofía Gascón, who wants her help to fake his death and transition to a new life as a woman. Rita Mora Castro duly obliges.
However that is really only a prelude or prologue. The story really begins four years later when Rita Mora Castro has a chance meeting with Manitas. Now identifying as a woman, Emilia Pérez. It turns out that transitioning to live as a woman has not brought Manitas the happiness they had hoped for. So they employ Rita Mora Castro's services again. This time to allow Emilia Pérez to return to Mexico to reunite with their family without the knowledge of Manitas' wife Jessica "Jessi" Del Monte, played by Selena Gomez. Back in Mexico Emilia Pérez and Rita Mora Castro unite to establish a charity organisation to campaign against Cartel Violence.
As such Emilia Pérez is a movie all about Transgenderism, that topic which is just so fashionable in America at the moment. There are only two genders; Male and Female. Those genders are determined at conception by the Father's DNA. However in a very small number of people something goes a bit wrong in how that DNA blueprint is built into the finished article. As a result those people end up being both Male and Female. They transcend both genders.
For a lot of Transgender people this isn't an issue. They're perfectly happy with the gender their public image presents to mainstream society. However some Transgender people, like Manitas, feel they would be happier if their other gender was the public image they present to mainstream society. So they undergo gender-confirmation treatment in order to present their other gender as their public image. Whatever public image Transgender people choose to present to mainstream society; the day, the light, their private, inner-self; the night, the dark, will always be a Transgender person. It's never a matter of a man changing into a woman or vice-versa. It is always a Transgender person choosing which public image they wish to present.
This is something the movie establishes early on when Rita Mora Castro travels to Tel Aviv, Israel to meet with Dr Wasserman, played by Mark Ivanir, the Doctor who ultimately performs Manita's gender-confirmation treatment. The meeting takes the form of a duet sung between the two; "Lady," in which Dr Wasserman makes clear to Rita Mora Castro that he can only fix the body, not the soul. If the soul is a he then she will be a he.
Emilia Pérez's unhappiness is Manitas' failure to reconcile with his Male gender. The return to Mexico and the establishment of the charity to combat Cartel Violence is an attempt by Emilia Pérez to reconcile with Manita's Male gender. Violence is a genetically pre-determined Male trait. Over the years I've got to know many women who have served in the military and/or are accomplished at Combat Sports. I don't know Rhonda Rousey, however she seems a famous example of the type of woman I'm talking about who is probably easy for you to Google. Despite these women being much more experienced and trained in violence than I am I've found that just by virtue of being Male I will always be that fraction of a second quicker to violence than them. So the movie's use of Cartel Violence as an expression of Emilia Pérez's Male gender also touches on the Machismo culture of Latin America which drives much violence, particularly gender-based violence.
Karla Sofía Gascón are themselves Transgender. Choosing in 2014 to undergo gender-confirmation treatment in order to present their Female gender in public rather than their Male gender, Juan Carlos Gascón, which had already had a reasonably successful acting career. The second most nominated movie at The Oscars 2025 was; "The Brutalist" (2024). During Awards Season this sort of played about with the fourth wall, the invisible divide between performance and audience, by becoming engulfed in a bit of a scandal over the help it received from Artificial Intelligence (AI). Emilia Pérez also played about with the fourth wall as we were all forced to face up to the violence of Gascón's Male gender. In the form of a number of damaging Twitter and Social Media posts from their past.
A great many Social Media posts were unearthed and they were almost all in Spanish. So I can't say I've gone through them in any level of detail. However a particularly controversial group attacked Black Lives Matter and the death of George Floyd. Keeping with the Awards Season theme that Black Lives Matter supporters need a lesson in Objective Reality, a brutal reality check. At the time of his death George Floyd had an, above average, Blood/Oxygen Saturation of 98%. He most certainly could breath. He died of a Cardio-Pulmonary Arrest as a result of his choice to take a large dose of Fentanyl. The only person who killed George Floyd was George Floyd.
Another particularly controversial group of Gascón's Social Media posts attacked Islam's attitudes towards women. There are currently around 1.9 billion Muslims in the World. With the role of Caliph unfilled there is no central leader of Islam codifying the religion's teachings. So there is quite a range of variation amongst the beliefs of those 1.9 billion people. However there are large factions of Islam which have seriously problematic attitudes towards women. The Taliban being, probably, the most high profile example. Although driven by a deep Anti-Semitic hatred of Jews rather than any specific Islamic attitude towards women The October 7th Genocide (2023-Present) was marked by gender-violence so appalling it, prima facie, constitutes Crimes Against Humanity, contrary to Article 7.1(g) of The Rome Statute (1998).
The people who support Black Lives Matter tend to be the same sort of American Liberals who deny that large sections of Islam has a real problem with women while being also big supporters of both Hamas and Transgender rights. So this group of Social Media posts seemed to offer them another brutal reality check. Likening their support for Transgender rights to the gender-based violence of Hamas and the denial of women's rights by Islamic groups such as the Taliban.
Another large group of Gascón's Social Media posts seemed to involve them being, well, bitchy. About The Oscars themselves and a wide variety of celebrities, including Selena Gomez. As far as I can tell all women absolutely hate each other. While I've been actively avoiding getting involved even I know Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber are supposed to be engaged in some great bitchy feud over Justin Bieber, who dated Selena before marrying Hailey. Gascón's Social Media posts struck me as a Male trying to copy that Female bitchiness and not getting it quite right due to it not being in their nature. Similar to how; "Challengers" (2024) seemed like an attempt to graft Male Homosexuality onto Heterosexual women.
I do not point out that people cannot change their gender, their nature, merely the public image their present of themselves in order to be hurtful or spiteful. I do it in order to explain how difficult it is to be Transgender, never being truly Male or truly Female. I would hope that amongst non-Sociopaths that would inspire feelings of patience and understanding, rather than hate.
However Awards Season is really the period of mass public engagement which America uses to renegotiate its Social Contract. That sort of unwritten balance of compromises which holds any society together. What Transgender activists seem to have forgotten is that we all experience this conflict between our private, inner-self and the public image we present to mainstream society. As explored in Richard Wagner's use of night, dark and day, light in; "Tristan Und Isolde." Something which was borrowed by Pytor Tchaikovsky's; "Swan Lake" and Lars von Trier's "Melancholia" (2011). It was explored more recently by; "Poor Things" (2023) at The Oscars 2024.
As is always the case when it comes to negotiating a Social Contract the question is how much of their private, inner-self should non-Transgender people be asked to sacrifice in order that Transgender people don't have to sacrifice their private, inner-self? A lot of women consider it to be a sacrifice of their private, inner-self to have to get undressed in front of a man. Is it acceptable to force them to make that sacrifice in order to prevent a Transgender person from having to make the sacrifice of being reminded that they'll never, truly, be a woman? I think even more women consider sexual violence to be a violation of their private, inner-self. Would it be more reasonable to force a Transgender perpetrator of sexual violence to serve their sentence in a male prison rather than force women who have abided by the Social Contract to sacrifice that part of their private, inner-self?
Arguably Humans are pretty much the same wherever you go in the World. They've also been pretty much the same for tens of thousands of years. Tellingly early on in Emilia Pérez Rita Mora Castro visits Bangkok, Thailand to research gender-confirmation treatments. Thailand is something of a global leader in this area because its culture has, really, always accepted Transgenderism as something which exists. So when it comes to negotiating a Social Contract there aren't really any new issues, just new compromises to be found on old issues.
However our understanding of these old issues has improved and expanded. That better knowledge changes the compromises we make. DNA was first identified back in 1869. Similar subsequent scientific discoveries have allowed us to establish that there are only two genders but a tiny minority of people are both genders. So we know and can prove that Transgenderism exists. So we now know that in the balance of a Social Contract there is no point giving any weight to the private, inner-selves of people who don't think Transgenderism is real and that people who claim to be Transgender are only making it up and don't deserve any rights.
Of course for both Transgender and non-Transgender people it is possible to focus far too much on that conflict between our private, inner-self and the public image of ourselves we present to mainstream society. In so much of our daily lives it just really isn't an issue. It might sound like Woke virtue signalling to tell you that I really wouldn't care if I went into a shop and the person serving me was Transgender. However the truth is that I just don't care that much about the private, inner-self of someone who is briefly serving me in a shop. Their hopes, fears, gender or sexual orientation.
Likewise if The Great American Bell Ringing of 2021 hadn't happened and Selena Gomez and I were talking to each other directly, rather than freaking each other out with this post, I certainly wouldn't greet her by saying; "Hello Kidney Transplant!" Likewise the people who watch Selena Gomez on TV shows and in movies, listen to her music, buy her cosmetics or fantasise about her with no clothes on aren't interested in her private, inner-self. It has absolutely no impact of the way they interact with her. It's not callous or uncaring to say that that the interaction between them and Selena Gomez is almost entirely governed by the almost illusionary public image that she presents to mainstream society. As is almost every interaction between all Humans, anywhere in the World, throughout history.
The caveat to that is that the majority of the thinkers on the idea of a Social Contract, starting with John Locke, have argued that it can only exist if it is enforced. So discussion over where to draw the compromises in a Social Contract have to be translated into enforceable laws. When writing laws, as with providing healthcare, you have to deal in Objective Reality rather than Expressionist Illusion. As Christian-Scientist Val Kilmer recently demonstrated.
At around 17:05 on 21/4/25 (UK date) I'm not sure when I'll be able to pick this up again.
Edited at around 17:25 on 22/4/25 (UK date) to tidy the above and copy & paste;
The question of where to strike the balance on Transgenderism in America's Social Contract is complicated by the fact the issue has become just so fashionable.
Just before the start of the 2025 Awards Season, back in January, the US Congress received a report confirming that 1 in 1000 US adolescents were undergoing gender-confirmation treatment. That works out as roughly one child at every American High School. For context only 1 in 10,000 US adolescents are undergoing treatment for Cancer. The claim that Transgenderism is 10 times more common than Cancer in America is just not believable. If one child in every American High School had Cancer then there would be national outrage. The US Department of Health would be working flat-out, under huge pressure, to find out what is causing so many American children to suffer from a medical condition which requires significant surgical interventions and lifelong drug therapies.
Probably a big part of this is that it is just Human nature to seek out the rare, the new, the exciting. Back in the time of The Weimar Republic (1918-1932), when; "Metropolis" (1927) was made everyone in Europe was similarly obsessed with Asia, the East, the Orient. The height of fashion were Art Deco designs in the shape of a Japanese folding fan featuring light and dark colours. To allow people to experience illusion of the rare heat and exotic animals of the land of the rising sun.
Another big part of the reason why Transgenderism is so fashionable is probably that a lot people's private, inner-self is a very dark place indeed. Obviously they don't what to project that public image to mainstream society. So instead they choose to signal the image of a virtuous person who really cares for marginalised groups, like the Transgender. The thinking seeming to be that it doesn't matter if they rape little children, they must be a good person because they'd never address anyone by the wrong pronoun(!)
Probably another big part of the reason why Transgenderism has become so fashionable is that life is hard. Both Transgender and non-Transgender people have this constant struggle of the conflict between their private, inner-self and the public image they project to society.
As if it were part of some sort of Authoritarian-Capitalist master-plan inspired by The Brutalist School of Urban Design we are living increasingly socially isolated lives. When we do interact with other people it is on that very superficial, transactional level where we don't really care about each other's private, inner-selves, we barely notice the public images being presented to society. In America it's become increasingly fashionable to complain about not being; "Seen." People feeling that they're barely being noticed, no-one cares about their hopes and fears. Throughout the More Economically Developed world there is said to be a loneliness epidemic.
One way to make sure that you are; "Seen," receiving the attention we all crave is to appeal that that facet of Human nature by making yourself seem rare, new, exciting. During the time of The Weimar Republic that would have involved pretending to be Asian or Oriental. As Margaretha MacLeod did, renaming herself; "Mata Hari." These days it seems to involve pretending that you're Transgender.
I've yet to be convinced there is anything new about the Human condition. However this modern sensation that not even our public images are enough to be seen by mainstream society seems to be intensifying the conflict with our private inner-selves. The question of what is so wrong with our inner-selves, our personalities, that prevents us from projecting a public image that people will see and notice?
Thailand has a culture which has, really, always accepted Transgenderism as something which exists. As with much of Asia Thailand doesn't really have religion in the way that followers of Christianity and Islam would understand it. Instead it has more of a belief system based on the Animist idea that everything in the Universe is connected. One of the most widely recognised symbols of this collection of Asian Animist belief systems is that Yin Yang Symbol from Taoism. This represents the need for balance between two conflicting forces. That can be any two conflicting forces; light and dark for example. However in the West it is most probably known to represent the two conflicting forces of Male and Female. What is notable about the Yin Yang is that the large force has a small part of the opposing force within it. So there is a black dot within the white and a white dot within the black. Showing that even conflicting forces are interconnected and contain a small part of each other.
Transgender people are both Male and Female at the same time. However it is possible to be exclusively Male in gender yet have some Female personality traits and vice-versa. There certainly isn't only one Male personality and only one Female personality. While I find that as a man I will always be quicker to violence than a woman I know plenty of men who are much quicker to violence than I am. I also know plenty of men who are much slower to violence than I am.
With the stress of conflict seemingly force us to constantly question what is wrong with our private, inner-selves it might seem like an easy solution to confuse personality traits with gender. It's more comforting to tell ourselves that our problems are the result of us being Transgender and presenting the wrong gender as the public image of ourselves rather than admitting that we've just got quite a dull personality. Something which is particularly true when Transgenderism is considered the rare, exotic, new thing that not only does everyone want to see, they want to be seen with.
There is a widely recognised and serious psychological disorder called; "Munchausen's Syndrome." The sufferer will invent a fake medical condition, the rarer and more exotic the better, in order to "Seen" by Doctors and revel in the attention that comes with being ill. It's a massively amplified version of that thing we all did when we were kids of pretending to be sick to get out of school. The disorder is probably more commonly recognised as; "Munchausen's By-Proxy." In which the sufferer inflicts the fake illness on a proxy, a person under their care. In order to be "Seen" by Doctors and revel in the attention that comes from being a virtuous person who cares from the sick.
I don't think there is a Doctor on the planet who would subject a patient to a kidney transplant simply because the patient wants a kidney transplant. They would first need to establish there is a medical need for the patient to have a kidney transplant. If they're unable to find a medical need they would subject the patient to intensive psychological screening in order to find out what has gone so wrong with their personality that they've convinced themselves they need kidney transplant.
Gender-confirmation treatment is hugely medically invasive. Early in Emilia Pérez there is the song; "La vaginoplastia" in which the Doctor in Bangkok reels off to Rita Mora Castro the surgical procedures involved. In what I thought was a missed opportunity it doesn't even begin to mention the lifetime of drug therapies involved. The medical profession is still guided by the Hippocratic Oath part of which states; "First do no harm." So as part of accepting that Transgenderism is a real medical condition and some people with the condition will benefit from gender-confirmation treatment medical ethics dictates that you have to establish there is a medical need for treatment, including intensive psychological screening. You don't perform gender-confirmation treatment just because the patient says they want it.
Obviously the people who are only pretending to be Transgender for attention and the people who are suffering from a Munchausen's like psychological disorder which has convinced them they are Transgender. They can't pass that medical scrutiny. So have started to demand that they can self-diagnose as Transgender and change the gender they wish to present in the legal sphere at will.
That makes it much harder to reach a balance of compromise on Transgender rights within the Social Contract. It certainly makes it much more difficult to convince people that Transgender people do deserve rights because Transgenderism is a real thing and they're not just making it up for attention when the overwhelming majority of people claiming to be Transgender are just making it up for attention. None of us should be asked, let alone forced, to sacrifice any part of our private, inner-self to accommodate other people's desperate need for attention and utter refusal to address their own flaws.
At around 17:55 on 22/4/25 (UK date) I'll try and pick this up tomorrow.
Edited at around 17:15 on 24/4/25 (UK date) to tidy all of the above and copy & paste;
Alongside Christianity and Islam Judaism is one of the Abrahamic religions. However it began as a polytheistic religion. Jews worshipped many different gods representing different aspects of existence. So you had Hadad - the god of Storms and Rain, Yam - the god of Seas and Water Sources along with Maloch - the god of Human Sacrifice, as depicted in; "Metropolis (1927)." As such Judaism is much closer to Asian Animist belief systems than Islam and Christianity are. They view God as something of a conceptual other, an old man with a beard living in a different dimension - Heaven. While Jews consider G0d to be the dimension Humans live in, the Universe. This tends to make Jews much more tolerant of things like Transgenderism. Taking the position that if G0d is the Universe and something exists in the Universe it must also be G0d, particularly if it is Jewish.
In recent years much of the debate over Transgenderism in America and Europe has involved trying to explain the difference between a Transgender person and a Drag Act. A Drag Act being a comedy character, rather like a Clown. Much of the comedy often comes from the fact that we're not meant to believe it is a man that has changed into a woman. We're meant to know that it's clearly a man dressed as a woman. All the way back in 1998 Israel won The Eurovision Song Contest while being represented by Sharon Cohen, a Transgender woman adopting the Drag Persona of Dana International. Obviously that was intended to provoke some debate in Israel, although nowhere near as much as you would expect. Certainly much less then the topic is provoking in America and Europe nearly thirty years later. Due to the similarities of their belief systems Israel really rivals Thailand as a World leader in gender-confirmation treatments.
Although he appeared in an episode of the very; "R.U.R: Rossimovi Univerzalni Roboti" (Rossum's Universal Robots) inspired US TV show; "Dollhouse" (2009-2010) Mark Ivanir is probably best known to US audiences for his role in; "Homeland" (2011-2020). In the show which was well connected to the actual Intelligence Community Mark Ivanir played the Russian Intelligence Officer or; "Spy" Ivan Krupin between 2015 and 2018, at the height of the Obama-Biden Regime's attempts to rig the 2016 US Election with its Russian Interference conspiracy theory.
Homeland is a remake of an Israeli TV show; "Hatufim" (Abductees) (2010-2012). Mark Ivanir is Israeli, rather than Russian. Like almost all Israelis he did compulsory military service in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) where he worked in Military Intelligence. So technically Mark Ivanir is actually a former Spy. His role in Homeland very much mocked the Obama-Regime's claim of interference from Russian spies. The Russian spy isn't real. He was actually an Israeli spy.
During his time in Israeli Military Intelligence Mark Ivanir played a role in; "Operation: Joshua" (1985) which airlifted Ethiopian Jews from Sudan to Israel. That touches on the border area between Ethiopia and Sudan being The Birthplace of Humanity, the place where the Human Race first emerged. It also touches on how when Moses led Jews from Egypt to Israel in The Exodus some Jews ended up going to Ethiopia instead, leading to the similarities between Judaism and the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church. The only Christian Church which recognises the apocalyptic Book of Enoch from the Jewish Bible.
In his song in Emilia Pérez; "Lady" Mark Ivanir likens Dr Wasserman's work to a war. Singing that in all his years of performing gender-confirmation treatment he's never been able to end the conflict, the war, between a Transgender person's two genders. However with Mark Ivanir being an Israeli who served in the IDF that can also be used to discuss Israel's long history of war and conflict with its Arab neighbours.
With Mark Ivanir having participated in (non-combat) IDF operations in Sudan that touches on the long history of Israel's conflicts being compared to Sudan's wars, going back to the Second Palestinian Intifada (2000-2005). The damaging effect that whataboutism has had on both countries, particularly Sudan which had a Two State Solution imposed on it, creating the nation of South Sudan. The current outrage at Israel over the war Hamas imposed upon it compared to the total lack of concern about the much longer, much more vicious war currently going on in Sudan. With Homeland being a show all about returning hostages and being a remake of an Israeli TV show about returning hostages Mark Ivanir's role in it goes to the heart of the war Hamas has imposed on Israel; The October 7th Genocide (2023-Present). The taking of 251 hostages, prima facie, a Crime Against Humanity contrary to Article 7.1(e)(i)(k) of The Rome Statute of 1998.
Mark Ivanir's time on Homeland overlapped with Costa Ronin. A Russia speaking Russian-Australian actor who played Oleg Igorevich Burov in; "The Americans" (2013-2018). Following the 2022 intensification of The Ukraine War (2014-Present) Costa Ronin seems to have joined the rest of the Russian speaking Russian-American cast of The Americans and Anora (2024) in becoming a marginalised community within America. One which people seem to think it's time to welcome back into the mainstream.
As you may have guessed from the key scenes taking the form of songs Emilia Pérez sees itself as an Opera. Particularly Classical European Opera is seen as very elitist high art and culture. A good way of letting people know how much more intelligent you are than them. However the plots of many Classical European Operas are utterly ridiculous. Far more ridiculous than the Telenovelas that Karla Sofía Gasćon is famous for could ever get away with. It's certainly no coincidence that in much of the English speaking world that Telenovelas are known as; "Soap Operas." Daytime TV shows with outrageously silly plots aimed at 1950's housewives and sponsored by the makers of household soaps and cleaning supplies.
What elevates Operas to high art and culture is not the stories but the way that the music is used to tell the story. It's used to convey the emotion of the story, allowing the audience to feel what the characters are feeling. A very well known piece of Classical European Opera comes from Gioachino Rossini's; "William Tell." It's often wrongly called; "The William Tell Overture" although the overture is a combination of little snippets of all the music in the Opera. The piece is actually called; "March of the Swiss Soldiers" which depicts soldiers, on Horseback, rushing to battle. Played live by a large orchestra in a concert hall with properly designed acoustics it really helps you feel as though you are galloping into battle on a Horse. Particularly if you are experienced at Horse riding, as a 19th Century audience would have been.
When the first movies were made the technology didn't exist to include a soundtrack. They were all Silent Movies. However movie makers were able to show their Silent Movies in theatres accompanied by a live orchestra. Making the storytelling of many Silent Movies similar to Operas. The first US movie to do this was; "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) about the Ku Klux Klan. It included Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" to show the Manifest Destiny of White Americans to lead the World. Within Germanic Paganism a Valkyrie is sort of like an angel which carries the souls of dead warriors from the battlefield to, essentially, Heaven. So the music very much invokes the peril of coming battle and death.
Now the technology exists to include soundtracks many filmmakers still borrow from Opera. Rossini's March of the Swiss Soldiers is famous for being used as the opening theme to the US TV show; "The Lone Ranger" (1949-1957) and the 1956, 1958 and 2013 movies. Operatic pieces will frequently be used in TV shows and movies, normally to convey that the villain is doing something particularly villainous.
By far one of the most ridiculous plots to any Classical European Opera has got to belong to Giacomo Puccini's; "Tosca" which was very much inspired by Richard Wagner's work. One scene includes a dawn execution. In Italy at the time the Opera is set dawn would be signalled by the ringing of Church bells. So the music in the scene uses bells, in order to make you feel as though you are in Italy at dawn. It's recognised as one of the first uses of theatrical sound-effects.
No doubt there has been debate over whether Emilia Pérez can be considered an Opera, rather than just a Musical. There has long been debate over whether it is possible to make an Opera movie. Even the best cinema surround sound systems can't compete with the all consuming, visceral experience of a full live orchestra performing in a properly acoustically designed concert hall. It's the difference between going to the Coachella music festival and streaming the Coachella music festival on YouTube. It turns out that without the visceral experience live versions of songs are just worse versions of songs.
When people go to see Classical European Operas, some of which are now hundreds of years old, no-one is going expecting a surprise plot twist. Instead they're going to see how the performance of the Opera is staged. So as a form of storytelling Opera is very big and very animated. Tosca doesn't mourn the death of her lover with a silent tear and a faraway expression. She wails her heart out, at the top of her vocal range for 10 minutes. Despite its elitist reputation Opera really isn't that much more sophisticated than WWE Wrestling.
Another very big, very animated form of storytelling is Japanese Kabuki Theatre. You probably think of going to the theatre as being much like going to a movie. You sit in silence in a darkened room for several hours while actors perform in front of you, behind an imaginary fourth wall.
Kabuki Theatre is completely different from that. The stage is set up in a town square and the audience crowds around it or watches from businesses surrounding the square. Kabuki stages often include a; "Hanamichi" or; "Flower Path" stage which stretches through the crowd allowing characters to make dramatic entrances. A lot of what you will recognise from big arena concerts by popstars; surprise entrances, stages stretching through the crowd, trapdoors, lifts and people being raised on wires are all things borrowed from Kabuki Theatre. Another huge element of Kabuki Theatre is; "Keren" or; "Playing to the Crowd." So when a villain or hero enters they will turn and make big gestures to the crowd who will all boo or cheer. Completely removing the fourth wall and making the crowd part of the performance. The ultimate visceral experience.
Kabuki Theatre performances traditionally begin at Sunrise and end at Sunset. It is common that a Kabuki Theatre performance will include a main play along with a series of short, hour long, plays. These serve as intermissions in the main play in order to give the actors in the main play a chance to eat, rest and do other things. Kabuki Theatre is often mistaken for Bunraku shadow puppet performances. That's because Bunraku is used in intermissions in the main play in Kabuki Theatre productions.
It is probably going too far to say that Kabuki Theatre was invented as a front for prostitution. However Kabuki Theatre is deeply intertwined with prostitution. If you liked one of the actors you saw performing on stage then during the course of the day long performance you could pay to have sex with them, during the Bunraku and other intermissions. A big theme of The Oscars 2025 has been actors as sex workers. The Japanese term; "Yujo" can be used interchangeably to mean; "Actress" or; "Common Prostitute." Japanese culture is rather famous for Geisha's who are often mistaken for prostitutes. They're really high status companions who perform social rituals rather than sexual services. Referring to someone as; "Yujo" was quite the insult.
Kabuki Theatre was originally performed by all Female casts; "Onna-kabuki." Due to the intertwining with prostitution that was banned. Given rise to; "Wakashu-kabuki" in which Female roles were played by young boys. Due to the intertwining with prostitution that was banned. That gave rise to; "Yaro-kabuki" in which all roles were played by men. Although that still didn't stop the rampant prostitution the Japanese authorities had really given up on trying to ban it by that point.
As such the history of Kabuki Theatre is part of that long storytelling tradition of Males taking on Female roles and vice-versa. A theatrical tradition of Cross-Dressing which includes Drag Acts.
Japan's main Animist belief system is; "Shinto" which translates as either; "Way of the Gods" or; "Way of the Holy Forces." There are over 300 hundred categories of these gods/forces or; "Kami." However amongst the most important are the five; "Kotomatukami" or; "Distinguished Heavenly Kami" and the; "Kamiyo-nanyo" or; "Seven Generations of the Age of Gods." The Kotomatukami and the first two generations of Kamiyo-nanyo are considered; "Hitroigami" or; "Those who exist alone." They are both Male and Female. You could describe them as; "Transgender." Male genitals; "Otongi" and Female genitals; "Otonobi" didn't emerge until the fifth generation of Kamiyo-nanyo.
So the contrast between the Hitroigami Kami within Japanese Shinto and the Cross-Dressing of Wakashu-kabuki and Yaro-kabuki is a useful way to highlight and discuss the differences between Transgenderism and Cross-Dressing.
It was used, rather impressively, for just that purpose at the Opening Ceremony of the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan. The one just before The Great American Bell Ringing of 2021. The one where we learned that, apparently, I know absolutely nothing about Horses(!)
Another movie to follow in Part 7.
18:10 on 24/4/25 (UK date).
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