You know, one complaint that I've never been behind from the "gay intelligentsia" - or whatever you want to call the homosexual art/film critical community - is the bad reception gaying up a movie villain gets. I mean, I understand the intellectual reasoning behind the argument - that the homo-encoding serves as nothing more than a further demonization of the character. That making them seem/be gay, or queer if you will, is only there to add that extra layer of ickiness for the straight audience and to make our cheering of their downfall even more righteous, and to make sure that, when the uber-straight hero eventually betters them, it restores all that hetero-normative equilibrium nonsense, aka Mom, Pop and 2.5 kids are freed of yucky sexual deviancy yay! Think Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, think Michael Caine in Dressed to Kill and Tom Berenger in Looking For Mr. Goodbar and Jafar in Aladdin (hell yeah) and the entire running time of Cruising...But while I get the intellectual reasons, and I don't not agree with them, at the very same time I must say I love me an evil gay, and the politically-correct constant bemoaning of them and the subsequent practical evaporation of the gay villain has depressed me for some time. Perhaps it's my obvious-to-anyone-who's-read-this-site-before love of the sick 'n twisted, but I like the thought of, to put it bluntly, scaring the straights. At least before these gay villains inevitably go down in a blaze of bullets and dehumanizing puns they undercut that concept of normality by just - again, bluntly - freaking everybody the fuck out. To quote what wise woman once said, it might not be right, but it's okay. Hell it's better than okay, it's fun, and creepy, and intimidating, and... dare I say empowering? I dare.
This isn't the "any representation is good representation" argument, because that argument is bullshit. I just, being a horror buff, really get off on people getting freaked out. It's my raison d'etre, if ya will. It's the good, meaty stuff that I enjoy. Sue me.
My point - What? He has one? - this is all in reference to AfterElton's moaning about Ben Foster's character in 3:10 To Yuma being encoded as a limp-wristed psychopath who murders left and right in some sort of deranged love-cry for Russell Crowe's manly affections. They are - shocker! - unhappy about this. And meanwhile... I am even more excited to see the film now. Bring on the gay villains again, I say! We're coming for your sons and daughters!.
Posts
6 comments:
I love you and you kick ass. The same homos who complain about this are the ones who cheer on the stereotyped next door neighbor fags on network TV. I would much rather have hetros be afraid that I am going to slit their throats than have them ask my decorating advice.
When just a young boy I knew that I would never be Robin Hood, but sensed that I could be the evil thin-limbed cardinal, and that was a happy feeling. We should seek power in media where we can and being the lead girl's hairdresser pal is not power.
good point homeslayer. we are forgetting Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct" and Jennifer Jason Leigh in "SWF".
Too right, curtis, and shame on me for leaving off the ladies!
If you see a gay character in 3:10 TO YUMA, your genetic sexual disease has moved so deep into your perceptions that you see fags in everything and everyone. You see, there is a non-sexual component to heterosexual men, something that you are far too sexually deranged to consider. Frodo didn't want to shag Sam, Butch didn't crave Sundance's butthole, and Watson was genuinely just a friend to Holmes. Not everything is about analingus, barebacking, and anal fisting; get yourself to a therapist, and you might be able to see homosexuality for what it is; at best a genetic malfunction, at worst, a butthole obsessed perversion that sees itself in every innocent relationship between normal men.
lol all of the above comments are awesome
*laughs* Next he'll be telling me Batman and Robin weren't really gettin' it on in Wayne Manor. Big ol' mansion, but they still slept in the same bed ... you tell me.
Anywho, in all seriousness, what bugs me about AfterElton is that the characters he's complaining about often aren't gay. They're effeminate. Sure, you can be both, but until Scarecrow asks Batman to dinner and a movie, I'm figuring he's not gay, just mamby-pamby.
Post a Comment