Inner Smile - Deconstructing the Heterosexual Matrix

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Inner Smile - Deconstructing the Heterosexual Matrix

An issue that is gaining in political and social importance is the issue of homosexuality. Reports of homosexuality and societal responses to homosexuality are brought up again and again in media coverage. These past few decades have seen a large increase in awareness of issues concerning homosexuality. Gender is intricately linked to homosexuality and numerous theorists have explored gender and sexuality under the umbrella term of Gay and Lesbian studies or Queer theory. In the music video of their song Inner Smile, the pop group Texas have seemingly adopted a radical image change when the groups front-person, Sharleen Spiteri, appears in drag as Elvis. The director of this video, Vaughan Arnell, utilizes Brechtian techniques of alienation to bring issues of gender to the forefront of a viewer's consciousness. The portrayal of a female singer in the persona of the legendary male sexual icon of Elvis, invokes an awareness of gender and sexuality issues through the subsequent alienation effect on the viewers, as the video, through editing and cinematography, makes it clear that Spiteri is actually a female in drag.

The video by Arnell features Spiteri on stage performing the song Inner Smile, she adopts the entire Elvis persona, from the dressing to the actions and movements that she does on stage. In this video, Arnell recreates the Comeback Special that Elvis himself performed in 1968 ("Elvis"). The significance of this lies in the fact that despite the blatant idolization of Elvis, there are signs indicating that the pop group Texas are still performing this video. The vocals are themselves of a female voice, that of Spiteri's, and numerous other signs are present, such as the huge backdrop of a lighted sign with the word Texas and a few shots of the feminine Spiteri interspersed within the stage performance.

This evidence of the group's identity as Texas serves as a reminder that the impersonation is not complete. This is not merely a duplication of Elvis' performance. Spiteri does not completely become Elvis, she merely adopts his persona in order to bring to the fore issues of gender. This is reminiscent of Brechtian concept of alienation. The concept of alienation was conceived by Bertolt Brecht, a politically active playwright who popularized epic theatre in the 1930s. Brecht's Epic theatre is one that aims to increase social awareness, and has Verfremdungseffekt, or alienation effect as its cornerstone.

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