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Journalism of Courage
EDNA Turnblad has a weakness for pink-sequined dresses, a passion for her husband and a triple-E bra. Edna also has a secret. Edna is a man. To be precise, her character in Hairspray has always been played by a man: drag queen Divine in the original John Waters film, gruff-voiced Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway musical and, starting this week, John Travolta in the movie musical.
Just as Peter Pan is almost always played by a woman, it8217;s impossible to imagine a Hairspray in which Edna isn8217;t hiding a stubble under her pancake makeup. The obvious reason is that more-is-more is part of the Hairspray ethos, from the hairstyles to the musical numbers. Having a man play the plus-size Edna makes her funnier, and adds a wink-wink knowingness to the depiction of an archetype of maternity.
But lots of conventions of drama don8217;t fly anymore. A white actor wouldn8217;t dare put on dark makeup to appear black today 8212; Angelina Jolie took a lot of heat for slightly darkening her complexion to play Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart. A non-Asian actor would never get away with taping his eyes and assuming a silly accent to sound Chinese, as Mickey Rooney did in Breakfast at Tiffany8217;s. So it would seem logical that drag today, especially when the man playing the part is straight, is both misogynistic notice how the 8220;women8221; in these movies are always awkward and ugly and homophobic notice how they also flutter and flounce like a stereotypical gay man. So why is it still OK for male actors to wear dresses?
The convention of men playing women dates back to ancient Greece and also has roots in Japanese Kabuki theater. Men played all the roles in Shakespeare8217;s day. Men wearing dresses have been a comedy staple in both Britain and America. As long as women have worn dresses, male actors have been borrowing them to get a laugh. .
Travolta8217;s Edna never appears on screen as a man. So why not just cast a woman in the roles in the first place 8212; Rosie O8217;Donnell would have made a great Edna.
Travolta has been called out by gay activists who claim Edna is an iconic gay role Waters and Fierstein are gay, as was Divine, and therefore should be played by a gay man. When Waters cast Divine, a gay and real-life drag queen, as a traditional loving mother, it underscored the film8217;s message of acceptance. ButTravolta8217;s Edna is as straight as they come.
-Jennie Yabroff Newsweek
