In 2008 a gothic-glam musical titled Repo! The Genetic Opera premiered and through the gore and glitter, its message may have gotten lost among audiences everywhere. What appears to be a campy dystopian soap opera is a microscope on the horrors of capitalism -- more specifically, when mixed with healthcare. The blatant distraction from this point using eccentric characters, flashy costuming, and graphic violence was nothing short of intentional.
While slowly exposing the elaborate game within their societal system and how each person operates as a pawn to reinforce it, it simultaneously reflects how an average person in this world may view the events transpiring as entertainment. This draws a radical comparison to reality and dares you to see through The Matrix-style illusion buried just beneath the surface, along with piles of bodies, naturally. While you may have written it off as a Rocky Horror knock-off, a deep dive into the controversial points this musical makes may just convince you to look again.
In the opening scene, we get a glimpse into the creation of society as our main characters know it -- and a hefty dose of symbolism along with it. Mass industrialization has consumed everything around it, to the detriment of the entire population's health. As massive organ failure cripples the globe, those who can’t afford expensive surgeries needlessly die at an alarming rate until a wealthy “hero” emerges to offer payment plans. Now, organ financing is available to all, and a savior complex quickly consumes public opinion regarding the company and the man himself, Rotti Largo (Paul Sorvino). While everyone around him sees tragedy in this epidemic, Rotti sees an opportunity: The ability to absolve himself and his company of any fault and increase revenue along the way, all while conveniently operating under the guise of altruism.
This is a crucial plot point for the story and drawing comparisons to reality, because without mass idolization and adoration, many forms of “evil” under capitalism would be stopped in their tracks. People who generate revenue at the lowest levels for massive companies like Gene-Co are the most susceptible to illness due to limited access to healthcare, poor diet, and regular exposure to the world their labor has helped create. Massive profits wouldn’t be possible without low-paid employees, which is the only crisis Gene-Co and Rotti truly saw in those mass graves beneath the city. The perfect chain to keep workers alive yet indebted and forced to remain supporting the system which oppresses them.
However, as greed is rewarded, it is never satiated in real life or on-screen. Surgery is quickly marketed as a fashion statement, onboarding the rich to parade as success stories and walking billboards. An addictive drug to help with pain under the knife is developed, working to increase financial gain during critical surgeries and create a revolving door to elective surgeries for those hooked. Finally, we see the corruption leak into their judicial system, using heroism to justify legalized organ repossession. Now the plan comes full-circle: whether those in poverty continue to work is irrelevant, as failure to make their payments only ensures pure profit with Gene-Co able to re-sell their organs at full price.
The film urges you to see first-hand that a system designed to obtain wealth by any means requires poverty to profit and commodifies human beings, a mixture especially lethal when combined with healthcare. It shows the ease with which this structure can be exploited by those in power with the aid of passive compliance and desperation from the public. Displaying a dramatized version of our own institutions, Repo! The Genetic Opera tempts its viewers to draw comparisons that may change their mind for good -- a message we might not have been ready to receive back in 2008.
A massive reason to revisit the film alone is the unique perspective of Shilo Wallace (Alex Vega). While everyone around her has been slowly manipulated into upholding the way this world works, the daughter of the Repo Man has lived her life forcibly sheltered from the illusion and all it entails. As we watch her navigate sudden exposure to what others have been eased into, it is meant to make us question our reality and what horrors we might find lying within.
Without generations of conditioning and normalization, what traditions could you deem barbaric? If you were Shilo, pure and untouched by personal bias or obligation, would you endorse everything you do in the same way? While you very well might, the film wants to emphasize the question more so than the answer you come to. Aiming to push each viewer out of their comfort zone and into a new way of thinking, it challenges us to escape the cycle of societal learned behavior. It utilizes ostentatious visual distractions to mimic those experienced by the public, then offers several differing first-hand perspectives to further our investigation. Whether you agree with the pointed criticisms of capitalism or not, Repo! The Genetic Opera starts a conversation about humanity we could all benefit from and are maybe ready to have in today’s political climate.