Speeches on Becoming

... just a person or on the art and skill and passion needed to become a woman. I had originally only planned on posting one of these this week but I can never make a decision and I felt I could tie them together thematically so that's what I'm going to try.
This first speech is from the very end (though it doesn't contain any real spoilers if you're fearful) of Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors and just recently I've begun to fully appreciate his work in the 80s and early 90s. What a writer. Here he sums up what it means to be human and how we all become who we do. This speech is truly tremendous.

Glenn Close is always a little psychotic seeming, always intense and in this clip from Dangerous Liaisons you get a taste of how she became who she became and the constraints and benefits that being a woman denied and allowed her. The part that I want to focus on starts about a minute in and begins with something like "when I came out at 15.."

And finally this is the clip that I was originally going to post alone this week. It is from one of my favorite movies Todo Sobre Mi Madre directed by Almodovar (who I adore.) It is the monologue of Agrado and it is not such a negative or manipulative view of women as does the preceding clip but and as seems to happen a lot it is given by a transgender woman who is trying to point out the cost of being "authentic" and the beauty of the struggle. And no matter how much it costs through money or pain it is worth it to finally become who you always were. And I don't think that makes sense. I think you'll be able to take from it what you should and will understand it better than in any words I can use. ( If you know spanish because for the life of me I can not find the version with subtitles. Let's be bilingual, shall we?

Here's the spanish text
"Por causas ajenas a su voluntad, dos de las actrices que diariamente triunfan sobre este escenario hoy no pueden estar aquí. ¡Pobrecillas!... Así que se suspendela función. A los que quieran, se les devolverá el dinero de la entrada, pero a los que no tengan nada mejor que hacer -y para una vez que venid al teatro- es una pena que os vayáis. Si os quedáis, yo prometo entreteneros contándoles la historia de mi vida. (Algunas personas se paran, especialmente unos ancianos). ¡Adiós, los siento!, eh. Si les aburro, hagan como que roncan.. ¡Así! Yo me cojo enseguida y para nada hieren mi sensibilidad, de verdad.
Me llaman La Agrado, porque toda mi vida sólo he pretendido hacerle la vida agradable a los demás. Además de agradable, soy muy auténtica. ¡Miren qué cuerpo! Todo hecho a medida... Rasgado de ojos, ochenta mil. Nariz, doscientos mil...¡tirados a la basura!, porque un año después me la pusieron así de otro palizón. Ya sé que me da mucha personalidad, pero si llego a saberlo, ni me la toco.
Continúo... ¿Tetas? Dos... porque no soy ningún monstruo. Setenta mil cada una, pero éstas ya las tengo súper amortizadas. Silicon... Labios, frente, pómulos, cadera y culo. El litro cuesta unas cien mil, así que hechan la cuenta, porque yo ya la he perdido. Limadura de mandíbula, setenta mil. Depilación definitiva láser -porque la mujer también viene del mono, bueno, tanto o más que el hombre-, sesenta mil por sessión. Depende de lo barbuda que uno sea, lo normal es de dos a cuatro sesiones... Pero si eres folclórica necesitas más, claro.

Bueno, lo que les estaba diciendo es que cuesta mucho ser auténtica, señora. Y en estas cosas no hay que ser rácana... porque una es más auténtica cuanto más se parezcaa lo que se ha soñado de sí misma".

"It cost me a lot to be authentic. But we must not be cheap in regards to the way we look. Because a woman is more authentic the more she looks like what she has dreamed for herself."
but it's true for you guys as well...

(and I'm sorry I couldn't find the video or the text in english to make it easier but I'll keep looking for it. Or if you want you can email me I guess and I can try to translate. I'm sorry ya'll. That really disappointed me:(

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