I took a break from APoS because I was losing the timeline as I worked and needed some space to regain clarity. So I watched A Single Man by Tom Ford, to clear my brain. I wanted to make certain it's not too much like Dair's Window, which has a somewhat similar plot -- a man's lover dies and he's contemplating suicide during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.
This was back when it was still illegal for two men to be with each other, even in California; that state didn't decriminalize gay sex until 1975 (Texas still hasn't; sodomy laws remain on the books even though they've been nullified by the Supreme Court, they just don't enforce them...though they have threatened to do so when the cops felt like it).
Well...I haven't read the Christopher Isherwood book and now I won't...because I fucking hate this movie. And if it really follows Isherwood's plot, I will throw the fucking book across the room. So if you intend to see this thing, stop here because coming up is a spoiler.
Oh, it's a pretty film and well-acted...if a bit languorous, at times...and normally I like the more introspective type of story. And while there were moments I thought Tom Ford got a bit carried away with what he thought he was saying it was directed well-enough. Julianne Moore's fag-hag was a bit much and her London accent faded in and out. Plus the appearance of a feminine-looking college kid to rekindle the gay man's interest in life was on the obvious side. But halfway through I had a feeling this was going to be another sad dead faggot movie...and goddammit, it was.
I hate those. With a passion. Poor little gay guy not worthy of happiness. Best if he dies at the end. And that fucking pisses me off. All the times I've read it in books and seen it in movies...I want to spit. I think that's why even in my most vicious books I give the protagonist a bit of hope and something to look forward to at the end instead of just killing himself or dying of AIDS or some such shit.
Granted, in Bobby Carapisi one character commits suicide, but I'm very clear that it's brought about by society's brutal, animalistic treatment of a man who's been raped. Who's given no outlet to discuss his pain and confusion. Who finally just gives it up and jumps off a tall building to his death. And while there are hints the one rapist who did wind up in jail brings about his own murder out of guilt over what happened, that's justice being served when the legal system really refused to do so.
I think that's why I arranged for Dair's lover, Adam, to not only die in an avalanche but do so while saving two of his skiing pupils. I want him to be seen as a hero and what happens afterwards as a travesty, not merely a tragedy. Adam's not a perfect man -- he's a thief and something of a user, but he also completes Dair and, like a dog that's been abused, comes to trust the one who treats him right...which Dair does. He brings Dair out of his artistic shell and Dair gives him the safety he longed for in order to become a decent man. And Dair finds new love...all-be-it not where he expected...
I hate this shit where we need to be pitied or felt sorry for or disparaged as a danger to the world by not only religious zealots but legislators and straight assholes fearful of their own attraction and society in general just looking for another scapegoat to beat up on. There are still people out there saying we should be executed for being gay...and are, in some countries, including some of America's allies.
Fuck that -- I ain't being nice about this shit, anymore.
This was back when it was still illegal for two men to be with each other, even in California; that state didn't decriminalize gay sex until 1975 (Texas still hasn't; sodomy laws remain on the books even though they've been nullified by the Supreme Court, they just don't enforce them...though they have threatened to do so when the cops felt like it).
Well...I haven't read the Christopher Isherwood book and now I won't...because I fucking hate this movie. And if it really follows Isherwood's plot, I will throw the fucking book across the room. So if you intend to see this thing, stop here because coming up is a spoiler.
Oh, it's a pretty film and well-acted...if a bit languorous, at times...and normally I like the more introspective type of story. And while there were moments I thought Tom Ford got a bit carried away with what he thought he was saying it was directed well-enough. Julianne Moore's fag-hag was a bit much and her London accent faded in and out. Plus the appearance of a feminine-looking college kid to rekindle the gay man's interest in life was on the obvious side. But halfway through I had a feeling this was going to be another sad dead faggot movie...and goddammit, it was.
I hate those. With a passion. Poor little gay guy not worthy of happiness. Best if he dies at the end. And that fucking pisses me off. All the times I've read it in books and seen it in movies...I want to spit. I think that's why even in my most vicious books I give the protagonist a bit of hope and something to look forward to at the end instead of just killing himself or dying of AIDS or some such shit.
Granted, in Bobby Carapisi one character commits suicide, but I'm very clear that it's brought about by society's brutal, animalistic treatment of a man who's been raped. Who's given no outlet to discuss his pain and confusion. Who finally just gives it up and jumps off a tall building to his death. And while there are hints the one rapist who did wind up in jail brings about his own murder out of guilt over what happened, that's justice being served when the legal system really refused to do so.
I think that's why I arranged for Dair's lover, Adam, to not only die in an avalanche but do so while saving two of his skiing pupils. I want him to be seen as a hero and what happens afterwards as a travesty, not merely a tragedy. Adam's not a perfect man -- he's a thief and something of a user, but he also completes Dair and, like a dog that's been abused, comes to trust the one who treats him right...which Dair does. He brings Dair out of his artistic shell and Dair gives him the safety he longed for in order to become a decent man. And Dair finds new love...all-be-it not where he expected...
I hate this shit where we need to be pitied or felt sorry for or disparaged as a danger to the world by not only religious zealots but legislators and straight assholes fearful of their own attraction and society in general just looking for another scapegoat to beat up on. There are still people out there saying we should be executed for being gay...and are, in some countries, including some of America's allies.
Fuck that -- I ain't being nice about this shit, anymore.
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