'Magic Mike's Last Waddle: How a Male Stripper Movie Became a Generational Milestone

The dire state of the

industry is seen as an indicator of difficult times ahead, according to a dancer in a recent article in The

American strippers have apparently seen their incomes drop dramatically.

Coincidence or not, the publication of the text on February 13 coincided with the US premiere of

final chapter —which in Spain has gone directly to platforms— of the trilogy that Steven Soderbergh began in 2012 with

.

Something like the masculine reverse of the lap dance industry.

There are many who consider the first

with its orgy of delirious choreography, oily bodies and rain of bills, an accurate portrait of America cracked by the 2008 crisis.

For the uninitiated: Through a clever mix of comedy, melodrama and musical, Soderbergh recounted the outrages of Mike Lean, an aspiring furniture designer, who along with five other dancers are the stars of a male strip

called Xquisite.

Inspired in part by its lead actor, now-superstar Channing Tatum's own real-life experience as a dancer and model,

achieved considerable box office success.

It raised more than 167 million dollars and, considering that it cost 7 to make it, the franchise was served.

It was followed in 2015 by a sequel that Soderbergh did not direct (

), a

(

) and even a stage show (

), currently running in London.

This

is the starting point of

the final touch of the saga.

This time Soderbergh is once again in charge of directing to narrate the transition from dancer to theater director of his protagonist, thanks to the offer of a billionaire businesswoman (Salma Hayek) who proposes that he direct and take a production inspired by his dances to the British capital. .

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Early reviews have been mixed.

Most point out that it works more like a bland promotional

for the show, although for

that could perhaps be interpreted as flattery.

Critic Mark Asch noted that one of the most intense scenes occurs when Hayek is in front of a television reporting the shares of companies in which her real-life husband, billionaire François-Henri Pinault, is an investor.

Could

recover the findings of the first two parts?

The cult of the saga has not stopped growing.

Many hundred-year-old moviegoers have seen in it a way to enjoy cinema, desire and the body in motion in a perverse space for a look that doesn't have to be filtered by identity politics.

Matthew McConaughey (as Dallas) and Channing Tatum, in a still from 'Magic Mike'.

The first part hid an interesting comment about a business based on a prefabricated female fantasy and the way in which the male body expresses itself within it.

Beneath his tacky shell, he tells us about the myth of work as the backbone of identity: “I am not my job!” exclaims a Tatum in crisis.

There was also the character of Dallas, a memorable stripper played by a no less memorable Matthew McConaughey.

In

In the sequel directed by Gregory Jacobs, plot was sacrificed for an uncomplicated dose of fun: there are musical numbers that are like an anabolic-bloated version of Busby Berkeley.

The most exciting scene is starred by the dancer named Big Dick Richie.

In it, he tries to get a smile from a gas station attendant who is absorbed in her cell phone: he improvises a

to the rhythm of the

Backstreet Boys'

Special mention should be made of the number in which Tatum feels the call to meet with his colleagues, starts dancing with a welder and becomes a kind of Fred Astaire of

Perhaps Magic Mike

's great find

Be Yourself: Channing Tatum has built a career adapting to the changing understanding of male stars and how they've made their bodies part of a marketing strategy.

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