Soylent Green, Part Deux
This is a continuation of a previous post on this movie, see below.
I go to the imdb boards and read about other people's views of movies, more than I should, especially when I have just watched one for the first time and wonder how others liked it, or didn't. I have a dream of teaching an intro to film course one day, maybe. Most of the comments are inane, but some people really do know their film studies.
One recurring theme, though, is for some person on the board, sometimes being obnoxious, sometimes being sincere, to say, "Are X and Y gay?" Fill in the blank with two characters in the movie, or sometimes just one. In the case of Soylent Green, it was Roth and Thorn. I find this question curious and disturbing, not because there aren't gay characters in movies, and not because sometimes there aren't subversive messages about it in Hollywood films, but because it gets asked so often and about characters who so clearly aren't but who are of the same sex and love each other. When Roth dies, they tell each other they love each other. Conclusion: they are gay.
I find this incredibly sad at one level, that anyone portrayed as having a loving relationship with a person of the same sex is assumed to be loving them in a sexual way. Where does this come from? From homophobiaphobia, that is, that a fear that others will think one is homosexual if one loves another person dearly? (Which is probably more homophobic than homophobia). From never seeing close friends of the same sex who weren't engaged in a sexual relationship, especially men; that is, never seeing two close male friends, which was common in the past when coed education and lifestyles were less common? From not having a close relationship with one's father or mother? Clearly, Roth and Thorn are like father and son, one being quite a bit older and mentoring the younger one. Or does it come from a self definition, that ultimately all we are is genitalia that has to be stimulated sexually? I think it's a combination, and I find it very sad.
One of the fondest memories I have of my husband is of him holding hands with another man--a man forty or more years older than he. It was in a public place, and it was hot and crowded, and the man was, I fear, a tad disoriented. He cared for this man deeply, and showed it in his act of helping guide the man around. I think of friendship like that--we stabilize others, we guide them as they guide us.
This is not a screed against gay people; please don't take it that way. It's a reflection on the loss of a perspective on friendship and relationship. It works the other way, too; two people of the opposite sexes are seen to be in a secret affair if they are close friends. I have many male friends but I am sure that possibility never crossed their minds, and it didn't mine either. Of course, in both cases sex can come into it, but not as much as the gossips and gutterminds would like to think.
I go to the imdb boards and read about other people's views of movies, more than I should, especially when I have just watched one for the first time and wonder how others liked it, or didn't. I have a dream of teaching an intro to film course one day, maybe. Most of the comments are inane, but some people really do know their film studies.
One recurring theme, though, is for some person on the board, sometimes being obnoxious, sometimes being sincere, to say, "Are X and Y gay?" Fill in the blank with two characters in the movie, or sometimes just one. In the case of Soylent Green, it was Roth and Thorn. I find this question curious and disturbing, not because there aren't gay characters in movies, and not because sometimes there aren't subversive messages about it in Hollywood films, but because it gets asked so often and about characters who so clearly aren't but who are of the same sex and love each other. When Roth dies, they tell each other they love each other. Conclusion: they are gay.
I find this incredibly sad at one level, that anyone portrayed as having a loving relationship with a person of the same sex is assumed to be loving them in a sexual way. Where does this come from? From homophobiaphobia, that is, that a fear that others will think one is homosexual if one loves another person dearly? (Which is probably more homophobic than homophobia). From never seeing close friends of the same sex who weren't engaged in a sexual relationship, especially men; that is, never seeing two close male friends, which was common in the past when coed education and lifestyles were less common? From not having a close relationship with one's father or mother? Clearly, Roth and Thorn are like father and son, one being quite a bit older and mentoring the younger one. Or does it come from a self definition, that ultimately all we are is genitalia that has to be stimulated sexually? I think it's a combination, and I find it very sad.
One of the fondest memories I have of my husband is of him holding hands with another man--a man forty or more years older than he. It was in a public place, and it was hot and crowded, and the man was, I fear, a tad disoriented. He cared for this man deeply, and showed it in his act of helping guide the man around. I think of friendship like that--we stabilize others, we guide them as they guide us.
This is not a screed against gay people; please don't take it that way. It's a reflection on the loss of a perspective on friendship and relationship. It works the other way, too; two people of the opposite sexes are seen to be in a secret affair if they are close friends. I have many male friends but I am sure that possibility never crossed their minds, and it didn't mine either. Of course, in both cases sex can come into it, but not as much as the gossips and gutterminds would like to think.
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