A shadow play of curious conceit, ‘Myra Breckinridge’ was a notorious box office and critical flop. I attempted to watch it during a TCM airing some time ago and tapped out quickly, its folly unbearable. Then, as now, the notion that someone as supremely feminine as Raquel Welch could have been a man strains all credulity. In 2024, sex reassignment and plastic surgery have only progressed so far in transforming men into attractive and functional women, or vice versa.
The alchemy to transmute a man to Venus, or a woman to Mars, remains elusive in earnest. Witness the metamorphosis of the former Ellen Page, a reasonably cute young lady who is now a very strange-looking, baby-faced man named Elliot. Science has simply not yet advanced to the point where any man can legitimately become as beautiful a woman as Raquel Welch, or any woman can transform into a rugged and handsome gentleman. Back in 1970, the concept was purely science fiction.
I know, everyone and their angry, MAGA hat-wearing uncles appear to be talking about transgender issues these days, and I am weary of the endless clamour. Almost never do I post on these issues, and perchance I shall rue this venture. Do what one will with one’s life and body; the world shall not crumble solely on this account (though society *is* teetering on the brink of ruin, make no mistake).
Yet, I cannot but marvel at the reasoning of those who wrought this spectacle, for who could be so beguiled as to credit such absurdity? For whatever it is worth, 77-year-old Mae West, whose star once shone resplendent, graces this unworthy film with her presence, a fleeting flicker in the twilight of her career. Gore Vidal, the wit who birthed this satirical tale in written form, recoiled in horror at its cinematic incarnation, deeming it ‘an awful joke’. Even within the realm of a ‘deliberately campy sex change comedy’, the notion of Raquel Welch, a living goddess with such proportions, having been born the opposite sex is indeed an awful joke.
Copyright 2024, Arthur Newhook. @Sunking278 and @FloydEtcetera on X, and at the same handles on FACEBOOK. MASTODON - @ArthurNewhook@mastodon.world, BLUESKY - @arthurnewhook.bsky.social. DONATIONS GRATEFULLY ACCEPTED at https://tinyurl.com/ArthurNewhook.
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