El Tango de Roxanne

By Marina McCormick

The following analysis will investigate a small performance that took place during the film Moulin Rouge, entitled El Tango de Roxanne. The storyline follows Satine, a leading courtesan at the Moulin Rouge, a cabaret in Paris. In the film, Satine dreams of becoming an actress, leaving behind her life in nighttime entertainment. After she runs into a new and upcoming playwright named Christian, agreements are made to write a play, making her the leading role, and turning her far fetched dream into a reality. From the moment they laid eyes on each other, they fell madly in love. As they spent more and more time together, their love grew, and Satine began to only have eyes for Christian. Unfortunately however, Satine is sent to seduce the Duke, a man who is offering to fund the whole play. As a courtesan, she must convince the Duke of her love for him, in order for the play to go on. The Duke, charmed by Satine’s beauty, would remove his financial backing if he found she was charmed by another man. Christian, torn between his love for Satine, and the reality that the show cannot go on without the Duke’s money, lets her go to have dinner with the Duke. All that is left for Christian to do is to wait at the Moulin Rouge for the fate of Satine, and the theater.

As Christian begins to debate his decision, a man begins to sing to him, El Tango de Roxanne, a song that follows the love of a man for a prostitute. While some of the theater members begin to dance to the song, at the same time, Satine dines with the Duke upstairs. Two scenes simultaneously play out, the song paralleling the story of Satine’s life, as well as the dance that is being acted out by the company. The dancing and music add dramatic flair to Christian’s trouble between his jealousy and sadness, as well as the dialogue between the Duke and Satine. Objectification of women, as well as oppression and violence through imagery, and symbolism, is clearly displayed in the interactions between the dancers, as they act out Satine’s life, and the sadness of her reality.

Expressive movements used in the Tango, symbolically represent objectification of woman. Beginning the dance, with a single man; the room is dark in shadow, except for a spotlight that follows the couple. Shortly after they begin to dance, other men begin to appear around from the shadows and each take her away from the other to dance with her. The dance doesn’t follow a traditional style of Argentine Tango, however the routine symbolically describes the life of a prostitute: a life led in which a woman is passed around by men, each using her for their own gratification. The female dancer is passed roughly between each man, communicating to the viewer that the men not only do not care about her well being, but also that she is not the one in control. The woman is controlled by the desires of men, not by their own choices or desires. Towards the end of her solo routine, the woman is lifted into the air by a single man. Her head is thrown back, her body illuminated clearly. The lighting and lift both suggest the man is holding her body up in a worshipful way to the sky. This represents women’s bodies as a sort of sacrifice to the gods.

Oppression of women is also represented in movements of the Tango. Within the dance, several times there are glimpses of the male dancers grabbing the wrists of the female dancers. This happens while they are dancing together with footwork, as well as during a low dip. By the men grabbing the wrists of their dance partners, they are restricting the movements of the women, not dancing with them but dragging them around the floor forcefully. This represents the control men assume and take even when there is female resistance. They are not equal partners, the man dominant and the woman submissive to his command. Her mild resistance represents the reality and truth of the unbalanced relationship between men and women.

In the song Roxanne, the man sings of a prostitute. In the lyrics he sings, “Roxanne, you don’t have to put on that red light, walk the streets for money, you don’t care if it’s wrong or if it is right. Roxanne, you don’t have to wear that dress tonight. Roxanne, you don’t have to sell your body to the night.” From the lyrics, the listener is under the impression that the woman Roxanne is leading a lustful life, deceiving men around her, and not really being forced into being a prostitute. However, the message of the song and the social reality of women don’t match. This woman, along with other female prostitutes, must sell their body to the night in order to survive. The dancer in the scene is dragged around being used by men, symbolizing the imbalanced role of domineering men, and submissive women within society. Although she may not “have to” sell her body in order to make a living, she is placed in that position because of society.