After all the moping I've had to do recently about Hollywood's unholy obsession with straightening out originally queer characters and historical figures, I'm glad to have some good news to report. It appears that David Fincher's remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo will be retaining heroine Lisbeth Salander's bisexuality. Yes! Not only that, but the 3 1/2 minute trailer features more girl on girl action than was in the original movie.
To be fair, I'm not sure how much or how explicit the same sex activity was in Stieg Larsson's original novel, as I never read it, so I can not say that Fincher's version will be queerer than Larsson's. The gaying up I'm referring to of course just with regards to the first movie that was directed by Niels Arden Oplev.
In any case, feel free to enjoy the trailer.
September 22, 2011
September 21, 2011
Petition the Baseball Hall of Fame to Honor the Legacy of Glenn Burke
I just created a petition on Change.org for the Baseball Hall of Fame to Honor the Legacy of Glenn Burke. Please go here and sign it.
Glenn Burke, was the first, of only two Major League Baseball players, to "come out" as gay. Burke also started the tradition of high-fiving players after they had just hit home runs.
Considering the significance of Glenn Burke being the first Major League Baseball player to come out, his legacy is comparable to that of Jackie Robinson. As baseball is our National Pastime, it is incredibly important that the Baseball Hall of Fame acknowledge and promote diversity within the sport itself.
“They can't ever say now that a gay man can't play in the majors, because I'm a gay man and I made it." - Glenn Burke
Glenn Burke, was the first, of only two Major League Baseball players, to "come out" as gay. Burke also started the tradition of high-fiving players after they had just hit home runs.
Considering the significance of Glenn Burke being the first Major League Baseball player to come out, his legacy is comparable to that of Jackie Robinson. As baseball is our National Pastime, it is incredibly important that the Baseball Hall of Fame acknowledge and promote diversity within the sport itself.
“They can't ever say now that a gay man can't play in the majors, because I'm a gay man and I made it." - Glenn Burke
September 15, 2011
Queer Review: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence
Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Writers: Nagisa Ôshima and Paul Mayersberg. Based upon the novel The Seed and The Sower by Laurens Van der Post
Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryûichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson, James Malcolm, Chris Broun
Overview
A story of World War II, set in a Japanese P.O.W. camp, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence examines issues of honour, courage, desire, and sacrifice.
Synopsis
Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) is a P.O.W. at a Japanese camp under the command of Captain Yonoi (Ryûichi Sakamoto). When a new prisoner, Major Jack 'Strafer' Celliers (David Bowie) arrives, Yonoi soon finds himself becoming increasingly attracted to Celliers, naturally leading to chaos and strife. Complications come from the Group Captain Hicksley (Jack Thompson), who finds Lawrence's sympathies for the Japanese intolerable and is angry at Yonoi's plans to have Celliers appointed as the new Group Captain.
The Queering
First, I must point out the obvious parallels that are drawn between Bowie's Celliers and Jesus Christ. For example, Jack Celliers has the initials JC, which is a screenwriters convention to indicate a messiah complex. During a key scene Celliers distributes food to the prisoners during a time when Captain Yonoi had ordered a fast from a basket, much like Jesus distributed loaves and fishes to a hungry crowd. Early in the movie, Celliers is tried by a Japanese Court for war crimes and sentenced to die. When Celliers is being tied up by the Japanese, he's arms are outstretched in the classic crucifix position. Only it turns out that this execution is being done with blanks. To me this part was obviously supposed to parallel Jesus's death and resurrection on the cross.
This of course, does not even tough upon the fact that Celliers is quiet often the willing sacrifice. During one flashback, Celliers is shown taking a beating, in order to allow his brother to escape from a pack of bullies. Later, he puts his life at risk in order to prevent Captain Yonoi from killing Hicksley. Only at one critical point, did Celliers ever choose not to endure pain for another, which was a decision that clearly haunted him forever afterwards.
This is all contrasted with the Japanese notions of honour and sacrifice. It is made explicit on several occasions that the Japanese view the allied troops that surrendered, as cowardly for doing so, rather than committing seppuku. This is a point that Lawrence tries to make clear to Hicksley, but Hicksley refuses to understand it.
Furthermore, the filmmakers also draw a parallel here between Christ's love for humanity and gay love. I say this because, during one key scene, Celliers uses Captain Yonoi's attraction for him to save another man's life. A long time ago, Plato in the Symposium argued that gay love between those of the same sex, was the highest form of love of all. Taken together, I had to wonder if director Nagisa Ôshima was trying to make some sort of comparison between Jesus's sacrifice and persecution and the sacrifices and persecution of queers throughout history.
Regarding the acting, all of the major performances are strong, but Bowie's requires special mention. His work during an early scene where it appears that he has been condemned to die, is heart wrenching. Take all of this together, the thematic subtexts and the strength of the acting, and you have one great movie.
Recommendation
Highly recommended. This movie makes for a great present for film buffs on any day of the year, Christmas or not.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
Director: Nagisa Ôshima
Writers: Nagisa Ôshima and Paul Mayersberg. Based upon the novel The Seed and The Sower by Laurens Van der Post
Cast: David Bowie, Tom Conti, Ryûichi Sakamoto, Takeshi Kitano, Jack Thompson, James Malcolm, Chris Broun
Overview
A story of World War II, set in a Japanese P.O.W. camp, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence examines issues of honour, courage, desire, and sacrifice.
Synopsis
Colonel John Lawrence (Tom Conti) is a P.O.W. at a Japanese camp under the command of Captain Yonoi (Ryûichi Sakamoto). When a new prisoner, Major Jack 'Strafer' Celliers (David Bowie) arrives, Yonoi soon finds himself becoming increasingly attracted to Celliers, naturally leading to chaos and strife. Complications come from the Group Captain Hicksley (Jack Thompson), who finds Lawrence's sympathies for the Japanese intolerable and is angry at Yonoi's plans to have Celliers appointed as the new Group Captain.
The Queering
First, I must point out the obvious parallels that are drawn between Bowie's Celliers and Jesus Christ. For example, Jack Celliers has the initials JC, which is a screenwriters convention to indicate a messiah complex. During a key scene Celliers distributes food to the prisoners during a time when Captain Yonoi had ordered a fast from a basket, much like Jesus distributed loaves and fishes to a hungry crowd. Early in the movie, Celliers is tried by a Japanese Court for war crimes and sentenced to die. When Celliers is being tied up by the Japanese, he's arms are outstretched in the classic crucifix position. Only it turns out that this execution is being done with blanks. To me this part was obviously supposed to parallel Jesus's death and resurrection on the cross.
This of course, does not even tough upon the fact that Celliers is quiet often the willing sacrifice. During one flashback, Celliers is shown taking a beating, in order to allow his brother to escape from a pack of bullies. Later, he puts his life at risk in order to prevent Captain Yonoi from killing Hicksley. Only at one critical point, did Celliers ever choose not to endure pain for another, which was a decision that clearly haunted him forever afterwards.
This is all contrasted with the Japanese notions of honour and sacrifice. It is made explicit on several occasions that the Japanese view the allied troops that surrendered, as cowardly for doing so, rather than committing seppuku. This is a point that Lawrence tries to make clear to Hicksley, but Hicksley refuses to understand it.
Furthermore, the filmmakers also draw a parallel here between Christ's love for humanity and gay love. I say this because, during one key scene, Celliers uses Captain Yonoi's attraction for him to save another man's life. A long time ago, Plato in the Symposium argued that gay love between those of the same sex, was the highest form of love of all. Taken together, I had to wonder if director Nagisa Ôshima was trying to make some sort of comparison between Jesus's sacrifice and persecution and the sacrifices and persecution of queers throughout history.
Regarding the acting, all of the major performances are strong, but Bowie's requires special mention. His work during an early scene where it appears that he has been condemned to die, is heart wrenching. Take all of this together, the thematic subtexts and the strength of the acting, and you have one great movie.
Recommendation
Highly recommended. This movie makes for a great present for film buffs on any day of the year, Christmas or not.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
September 13, 2011
New Blog.
Nope, nothing's changing here, yet. But I have decided to start a new blog project, The Queerest Selections From the Library of Babel, where I plan on posting poetry and some short fiction, along with possibly other projects. Feel free to check it out!
September 12, 2011
Queer Issue: Hey Hollywood! Where are the Queer Youth?
I recently came across this excellent article I am Not a Secondary Character: Queer Kids in YA, and Why We Need to Do Better at Muse Rising, and found myself thinking, what about films? Where are the stories of queer youth in cinema? I found myself looking back over the 90+ films I had reviewed here in order to figure out how many of them featured queer youth. Let me warn my readers ahead of time, the results are not going to be pretty.
Basically, I found 6 films I had reviewed that had queer youth characters. They are: Another Gay Movie, But I'm a Cheerleader, Die, Mommie, Die!, Easy A, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and lastly, 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous, which I saw but never wrote a review of.
Really? Out of those, Another Gay Movie is just awful, But I'm a Cheerleader and 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous could hold competitions for "Most Mediocre Film Of All", and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is borderline homophobic. Only Die, Mommie, Die! and Easy A are any good. Of those last two though, the gay youth character is secondary.
But, I told myself, can that be all? Seriously? Is that it? After all the screaming by Right Wing Evangelicals about the Evils of Hollywood and their Homosexual Agenda to use radical films to recruit our youth into making America A Gay Commie Hell, I can only find 6 films that feature queer youth characters? Hollywood, really, you're not keeping up with your yearly quota! Remember the plan!
In any case, I did some searching through Netflix and the index page for Gay Celluloid and came up with the following titles as being described or appearing to have queer youth characters:
Wild Reeds
Summer Storm
Another Gay Sequel
Bowser Makes a Movie
D.E.B.S
Boy Crush
The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
Ma Vie En Rose
Beautiful Thing
Europa Europa
Saved!
You Are Not Alone
Whole New Thing
Twist
My Summer of Love
Billy Elliot
Wild Tigers I Have Known
The Curiosity of Chance
You'll Get Over It
Ma Vraie Vie à Rouen
Glue
So that makes 21 titles. Now together with the previous 6 that's a grand total of 27, which is still pathetic. Several of these are notable or I've at least heard good things about them, such as Europa Europa, My Summer of Love, Billy Elliot, and Ma Vie En Rose. But in any case, how many queer youth will have even heard of these movies or have access to them?
I mean seriously, Hollywood, you are way behind schedule.
Apparently, if you are a Hollywood, you are a well adjusted adult or never bother figuring out your sexual orientation until you are in college or middle aged. Which is sad, as we owe our queer youth better than that.
I am somewhat at a loss to explain this phenomenon. I can point fingers at the now defunct Hays Code and the hypocritical ways that the MPAA rates queer movies with much harsher standards but I think goes a little bit deeper than that. For all those who claim that that Hollywood is some sort of pusher of liberal propaganda, I think the evidence often goes the other way. In this instance, it is the almost complete lack of queer youth characters on film.
Let's be frank, all companies that make movies exist to make money. It does not matter if it is an independent company or one of the big mainstream conglomerates, they only exist for the purpose of making a profit. However, I do not see ticket sales being an issue here. Why? Because Hollywood markets and makes most of it's movies off of teens, who all things considered, are probably much less likely to shun a movie with queer content. Furthermore, if studios are worried about offending homophobic groups so much, I would like to point out that the resulting controversy and protests are probably more likely to boost ticket sales, than to drive people away. In fact, I would bet that the more authority figures that will tell a teenager not to see a movie or film, the more likely that teen will go the extra mile to seek them out. It's also worth noting the success of crap like the The Da Vinci Code, which was was widely protested by the Catholic League when it was released? (Although to be fair, I never saw it after having read the god awful Dan Brown novel it was based upon).
Nope, what I think are the driving force behind this glaring absence is simply cowardice. There is no reason, financial or otherwise, that should cause producers to shy away from
There is another matter that makes this even more distressing. In the past year, the issue of suicide among queer youth has been brought to the national spotlight. While I would not argue that the lack of queer youth characters on film or in books is the driving force behind the disproportionaly high suicide rate among LGBTQIA youth, I cannot imagine that it helps. In fact, a lack of general media portrayals will only help to further the impression that being GLBTQIA is abnormal and therefore heighten feelings of isolation amongst queer youth. This in turn, can only worsen an already serious problem. What makes this situation further depressing is that is only likely to get worse. The tepid trickle that exists now will probably come to a complete stop as the last gasps of independent cinema, which has been slowly strangled over the past decade, are breathed.
Basically, I found 6 films I had reviewed that had queer youth characters. They are: Another Gay Movie, But I'm a Cheerleader, Die, Mommie, Die!, Easy A, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, and lastly, 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous, which I saw but never wrote a review of.
Really? Out of those, Another Gay Movie is just awful, But I'm a Cheerleader and 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous could hold competitions for "Most Mediocre Film Of All", and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry is borderline homophobic. Only Die, Mommie, Die! and Easy A are any good. Of those last two though, the gay youth character is secondary.
But, I told myself, can that be all? Seriously? Is that it? After all the screaming by Right Wing Evangelicals about the Evils of Hollywood and their Homosexual Agenda to use radical films to recruit our youth into making America A Gay Commie Hell, I can only find 6 films that feature queer youth characters? Hollywood, really, you're not keeping up with your yearly quota! Remember the plan!
In any case, I did some searching through Netflix and the index page for Gay Celluloid and came up with the following titles as being described or appearing to have queer youth characters:
Wild Reeds
Summer Storm
Another Gay Sequel
Bowser Makes a Movie
D.E.B.S
Boy Crush
The Incredibly True Adventures of 2 Girls in Love
Ma Vie En Rose
Beautiful Thing
Europa Europa
Saved!
You Are Not Alone
Whole New Thing
Twist
My Summer of Love
Billy Elliot
Wild Tigers I Have Known
The Curiosity of Chance
You'll Get Over It
Ma Vraie Vie à Rouen
Glue
So that makes 21 titles. Now together with the previous 6 that's a grand total of 27, which is still pathetic. Several of these are notable or I've at least heard good things about them, such as Europa Europa, My Summer of Love, Billy Elliot, and Ma Vie En Rose. But in any case, how many queer youth will have even heard of these movies or have access to them?
I mean seriously, Hollywood, you are way behind schedule.
Apparently, if you are a Hollywood, you are a well adjusted adult or never bother figuring out your sexual orientation until you are in college or middle aged. Which is sad, as we owe our queer youth better than that.
I am somewhat at a loss to explain this phenomenon. I can point fingers at the now defunct Hays Code and the hypocritical ways that the MPAA rates queer movies with much harsher standards but I think goes a little bit deeper than that. For all those who claim that that Hollywood is some sort of pusher of liberal propaganda, I think the evidence often goes the other way. In this instance, it is the almost complete lack of queer youth characters on film.
Let's be frank, all companies that make movies exist to make money. It does not matter if it is an independent company or one of the big mainstream conglomerates, they only exist for the purpose of making a profit. However, I do not see ticket sales being an issue here. Why? Because Hollywood markets and makes most of it's movies off of teens, who all things considered, are probably much less likely to shun a movie with queer content. Furthermore, if studios are worried about offending homophobic groups so much, I would like to point out that the resulting controversy and protests are probably more likely to boost ticket sales, than to drive people away. In fact, I would bet that the more authority figures that will tell a teenager not to see a movie or film, the more likely that teen will go the extra mile to seek them out. It's also worth noting the success of crap like the The Da Vinci Code, which was was widely protested by the Catholic League when it was released? (Although to be fair, I never saw it after having read the god awful Dan Brown novel it was based upon).
Nope, what I think are the driving force behind this glaring absence is simply cowardice. There is no reason, financial or otherwise, that should cause producers to shy away from
There is another matter that makes this even more distressing. In the past year, the issue of suicide among queer youth has been brought to the national spotlight. While I would not argue that the lack of queer youth characters on film or in books is the driving force behind the disproportionaly high suicide rate among LGBTQIA youth, I cannot imagine that it helps. In fact, a lack of general media portrayals will only help to further the impression that being GLBTQIA is abnormal and therefore heighten feelings of isolation amongst queer youth. This in turn, can only worsen an already serious problem. What makes this situation further depressing is that is only likely to get worse. The tepid trickle that exists now will probably come to a complete stop as the last gasps of independent cinema, which has been slowly strangled over the past decade, are breathed.
Queer Review: 50 First Dates (2004)
50 First Dates
Director: Peter Segal
Writer: George Wing
Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Lusia Strus, Dan Aykroyd, Amy Hill, Pomaika'i Brown, Blake Clark
Overview
Among the most mature of Adam Sandler's films not involving Paul Thomas Anderson, 50 First Dates is an atypical romantic comedy that manages to straddle the line between sweet and raunchy. Fortunately, this results in one of Sandler's most enjoyable flicks, which admittedly, really isn't saying much, but I'll take it.
Synopsis
Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a Hawaiian veterinarian who targets tourists (mostly woman, but also one played by Kevin James) for romantic flings, knowing that any relationship that develops will be temporary. That changes when he meets Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore), who captures his heart. Unfortunately, Lucy has a memory problem from a car accident that occurred over a year ago. This memory issue being, that outside of the present day, Lucy does not remember anything since the accident. Ultimately, this means that Henry must woe Lucy anew each day, while trying to get around her protective father (Blake Clark) and brother (Sean Astin).
The Queering
Most so called romantic comedies be they featuring straight or gay couples, such as Latter Days or Imagine Me and You, are almost universally bland and unimaginative. On the other hand, there is the raunchy sex comedy, a genre that includes such movies such as American Pie or Another Gay Movie and are usually aimed at hormone driven male teenagers. Those in the latter category actively compete with each other to see who can go the furthest and come up with the grossest, most envelope fondling gags.
However, there are a small number of films are content to not go to either extreme and as a result, manage to hit the equivalent of a home run, rather then getting stranded at first. 50 First Dates is one such film. Sandler and Barrymore manage to generate enough heat and sparks together, while the salty gags keeps the romance from becoming too saccharine.
Unfortunately all of this does not stop Rob Schneider from being his usually annoying self. Fortunately his caricature has just a small enough amount of screen time to keep this from being a big issue. Personally, I would have preferred it if there had been more attention paid to Alexa (Lusia Strus), Henry's bisexual assistant, as I found the characters androgynous presentation unusual and therefore intriguing.
On the other hand, I must admit to having an issue with Sean Astin's character, Doug, a Mr. Hawaii contestant obsessed with working out, taking steroids, and most notably, speaks with a constant lisp. I mean, fortunately there is a possibility that Alexa was a chick, not a dude (no one in the film seems to know) as I don't think we need another gay character who speaks with a lisp, as that is a really horrible and offensive stereotype. Seriously. On the other hand, there are numerous brief references to minor characters being either gay or transgendered, even the seals get in on the act at the end. For whatever reason, I actually appreciated these little throw away bits, brief as they were.
All in all, the enjoyability quotient is up and the homophobia/transphobia index is low (although not non-existent) making this a rare diamond in the rough as far as Adam Sandler flicks go.
Recommendation
Recommended. Might not be worth seeing a total of 50 times over, but once or twice won't hurt anyone.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
Director: Peter Segal
Writer: George Wing
Cast: Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, Rob Schneider, Lusia Strus, Dan Aykroyd, Amy Hill, Pomaika'i Brown, Blake Clark
Overview
Among the most mature of Adam Sandler's films not involving Paul Thomas Anderson, 50 First Dates is an atypical romantic comedy that manages to straddle the line between sweet and raunchy. Fortunately, this results in one of Sandler's most enjoyable flicks, which admittedly, really isn't saying much, but I'll take it.
Synopsis
Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a Hawaiian veterinarian who targets tourists (mostly woman, but also one played by Kevin James) for romantic flings, knowing that any relationship that develops will be temporary. That changes when he meets Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore), who captures his heart. Unfortunately, Lucy has a memory problem from a car accident that occurred over a year ago. This memory issue being, that outside of the present day, Lucy does not remember anything since the accident. Ultimately, this means that Henry must woe Lucy anew each day, while trying to get around her protective father (Blake Clark) and brother (Sean Astin).
The Queering
Most so called romantic comedies be they featuring straight or gay couples, such as Latter Days or Imagine Me and You, are almost universally bland and unimaginative. On the other hand, there is the raunchy sex comedy, a genre that includes such movies such as American Pie or Another Gay Movie and are usually aimed at hormone driven male teenagers. Those in the latter category actively compete with each other to see who can go the furthest and come up with the grossest, most envelope fondling gags.
However, there are a small number of films are content to not go to either extreme and as a result, manage to hit the equivalent of a home run, rather then getting stranded at first. 50 First Dates is one such film. Sandler and Barrymore manage to generate enough heat and sparks together, while the salty gags keeps the romance from becoming too saccharine.
Unfortunately all of this does not stop Rob Schneider from being his usually annoying self. Fortunately his caricature has just a small enough amount of screen time to keep this from being a big issue. Personally, I would have preferred it if there had been more attention paid to Alexa (Lusia Strus), Henry's bisexual assistant, as I found the characters androgynous presentation unusual and therefore intriguing.
On the other hand, I must admit to having an issue with Sean Astin's character, Doug, a Mr. Hawaii contestant obsessed with working out, taking steroids, and most notably, speaks with a constant lisp. I mean, fortunately there is a possibility that Alexa was a chick, not a dude (no one in the film seems to know) as I don't think we need another gay character who speaks with a lisp, as that is a really horrible and offensive stereotype. Seriously. On the other hand, there are numerous brief references to minor characters being either gay or transgendered, even the seals get in on the act at the end. For whatever reason, I actually appreciated these little throw away bits, brief as they were.
All in all, the enjoyability quotient is up and the homophobia/transphobia index is low (although not non-existent) making this a rare diamond in the rough as far as Adam Sandler flicks go.
Recommendation
Recommended. Might not be worth seeing a total of 50 times over, but once or twice won't hurt anyone.
The Rating
Trailer
Want to find a review of a particular work? Check out the Title Index, the archive of all reviews posted listed alphabetically.
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