Recommendations of the Editorial team
The saga around Emilia Pérez Is over. Thank God. At the awarding of the Academy Awards On Sunday evening, the controversial film ended its turbulent price shifting season with two trophies. One went to Zoe Saldaña For the best supporting actress. The other for the best original song for “El Mal”. A song that sounds like it was written with a translation tool for French-English Spanish that is worse than chatt.
They may remember the two people who sang on stage last night when they received this price. And thus triggered collective shudder with the spectators. It was the French musical directors of Emilia PérezCamille and Clément Ducol. If you have earned a trophy, then for production and arrangements of the music. You clearly know what you are doing. And for you that you Karla Sofía Gascón’s singing could save with voice filters. But the texts and topics of their songs left a lot to be desired.
The same problems that many people had with the film-the lack of a Mexican perspective in a story that plays in Mexico, the superficial narrative about trans experiences and the limited Spanish of Selena Gomez-also affected the soundtrack. The only direct connection to Mexico City, where a large part of the plot of the film plays, is the opening song “Fierro Viejo”. This absorbs ambient noises from Mexico City, but never returns to the sounds of Mexico. What a missed opportunity to use the rise of the “Musica Mexicana”. Especially when so many artists of this genre – including local musicians – sing about the same drug culture that the film is researching. Or at least somewhere is the jingle of one Charcheta listen?
‘Chingar’ and ‘Pinche’ and ‘Bombón’. As ticked off by a checklist
“El Mal”, the song awarded with an Oscar, comes around the middle of the film. In it, Saldaña’s figure Rita Mexican Slang, who feels forced. Full of colloquial. Like ‘Chingar’ and ‘Pinche’ and ‘Bombón’. As ticked off by a checklist.
Meanwhile, Gascón’s opera voice is artificially reinforced by auto-tune. The scene with “El Mal” was perhaps the most significant in the film in which Rita moves on a gala between tables full of politicians. And she confronts one by one. When Camille accepted the Oscar on Sunday, she described “El Mal” as a song that “is intended to denounce corruption” because the song is ultimately political.
No mention of the trans people
It is all the more ironic that she missed the opportunity to address the latest terrible attacks on trans people on the stage. The marginalized group that the film deals with. Zoe Saldaña also failed to mention trans people in her acceptance speech. And later many disappointed as she saidThat she didn’t feel that the heart of the film was Mexico after a Mexican reporter asked whether the country was “injured” by the film. A reporter asked behind the scenes of the ceremony From Rolling Stone The director Jacques Audiard, why the filmmakers would not have mentioned the trans community. He replied: “Since I was not awarded the best film or the best director, I had no opportunity to speak. But if I had this opportunity, I would have spoken out. “
And then there are the songs of Selena Gomez. If Gomez ‘inability to roll her R were not so distracting, “Mi Camino” could have been a perfect pop song. Even a solid Oscar candidate. The words of the refrain “Quiero Quererme a Mí Misma/Querer, Sí, Mi Vida” are simple (like many song texts in the film). But ultimately catchy. However, Gomez prevents the Spanish a lack of mastery that the song works.
Translation errors also
There is also “Bienvenida” that is completely based on a bad translation. The expression you apparently searched for was “de Nada”. Which means “likes to happen”. Instead, they used “Bienvenida”. Which literally means “welcome”. This small but decisive translation error could easily have been remedied by a more precise understanding of the language or by the inclusion of more Mexicans.
It is particularly confusing to see that Emilia won a music award after one of her most viral clips comes from people who make fun of the song “La Vaginoplastía” that reduces gender care to an elementary explanation from “Mann to Mrs. … from penis to vagina”. Not to mention that the vocals were quite terrible in this regard.
“These are godless times”
“La Vaginoplastía” is the most obvious example of how insensitive trans-topics were treated. But the problems continued with ‘El Amor’. Camille and Ducol interpret the nuanced, intensive feelings of gender dysphoria wrongly by emilia as’ half he, half her ‘and’ half jefe‘(male) and’ half queen ‘feel. Glaad Just express it: it is simply ‘not a good trans image’. And around Katya Rupaul’s Drag Race To quote the Emilia constantly on X: “These are godless times.”
The victory of Emilia Pérez In the “Best original song” category, it was tasteless. But it is not entirely surprising when you consider that the academy does not adequately represent many groups that Emilia Pérez wanted to portray. Transmen, workers in precarious conditions and Mexicans. Since the music appeals to the same problems as the film, this Oscar win will always be given a question mark.