Netflix’s Halston reminds us something important: There are gay geniuses too

In a scene from HalstonFrom Netflix, the character of Ewan McGregor He asks his assistant why he thinks critics are crushing his work. “I think it is a fact that you are reinventing women’s fashion again in the day. It has wrapped women in emotion. With your style. Now everything is tops and zippers.” In this short series released last Friday there are a handful of great moments of this kind (not many) that we can read in different ways.

It is above all a reflection on the confrontation between artistic creation and mass production, and what happens when a creator sells his trademark to companies, and it is precisely for this reason that it works perfectly like A reflection of what appears to be happening with Ryan Murphy on Netflix. The author of a series like Fun a American horror storyAnd the Politician a torn Already on the catwalk, is the name behind this fiction, and centered around designer Roy Halston, one of the first to become a true superstar.

And we can say, and it’s not so much either, that it’s the best series and producer-endorsed movies for Netflix (Courtesy of The boys are in the band). At the beginning of 2018 we learned that The American company protected Murphy with a contract worth $ 300 millionBut the illusion disappeared soon after when we saw that the titles he had made were worse.

We don’t believe it Halston Be a deliberate gentleman from Ryan Murphy to Netflix (Sure, this autobiographical movie idea has held his mind for a long time.) But it was more than a conscious reflection of the risk of creative star-turned and art defense in the era of multinationals. Murphy previously worked for Fox, providing nearly all of his stories and highest rated (runnerAnd the pointing toThe two seasons American Crime Shops, About OJ Simpson and Gianni Versace …), and now it looks like Netflix has freedom that might not be the best.

Halston It is a proposal to bring the experiences of an influential but infallible gay man onto the small screen. With an undoubted appeal Ewan McGregor, who bestows the protagonist with charisma and extreme flair, And is inspired by the book Simply HalstonWritten by journalist Stephen Gaines, this five-episode mini-series examines the most important moments in the life of the American designer, who collaborated with characters such as Jackie Kennedy and Lisa Minnelli.

Halston, has been on Netflix since last Friday

And this, although he may not have been well known in Spain outside of the fashion world, he was one of the first to establish himself as a great star (put his face on his own products) and entered into a partnership with a big company. Your need for approval, delusions of grandeur and your addiction They led him to an unquestionable retreat, both personally and professionally, in his vision of art and companies.

We say that Halston It’s the best movie Ryan Murphy has ever produced for Netflix Because, contrary to what we expected, it dispenses with many of the vices of previous series and films. And perhaps it is about this that Murphy himself has given up business and fame: he co-wrote with a team featuring his assistant, Ian Brennan, directed by Daniel Minahan (American crime storyAnd the Game of thrones…).

Halston Knows what he wants to say, has a point, defines his path towards it and contains himself narrative and formal; There are no plots or side characters that don’t contribute anything, and no visual gimmicks devour the story like many of their other products. And while most critics blame it for being too shallow, Halston Provides the necessary specifics (the emotional scene with the perfumer played by Vera Farmiga) So we understand why Roy’s life was a black jacket and faux red coat.

Ryan Murphy returns to clear up Halston Contribution of the LGBT + community In American society, culture and art, and the appropriation of the archetype of disgraceful genius, which is very uncommon when he leaves the cinema and starring white straight men, and so contained when he does (example Bohemian Rhapsody, Which goes beyond Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality.) The most frustrating thing is that, precisely because of his intention to interrogate the stateLet’s not find in Halston More creative and innovative ideas, especially in its final extension

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