There's an aspect of APoS that troubles me, but it's insistent on being part of the story. Brendan is befriended by a gay man after he and his cousin, Scott, sneak into a gay bar in Houston. They're underage and Brendan's taken aback by it all. It's not long after he's emerged from his catatonic state and he's still a virgin in all aspects of sex. The gay man, Everett, helps him after Scott gets too drunk to drive, and winds up almost treating him like a son.
Everett starts out as sympathetic and gets involved with a friend of Brendan's and Scott's, Jeremy. Overall I present them sympathetically...but when John Wayne Gacy's murders are revealed in Chicago, Everett becomes fixated on them. He's having a personal crisis and exhibiting signs of illness, plus he and Jeremy have broken up over his growing obsession with not only Gacy but Dean Corll. It's spooking everyone.
When Brendan leaves Houston to return to Derry, Everett helps him but comes close to doing something wrong and only barely holds himself back. It's like he's going through an emotional or mental breakdown...but I don't want him to be seen as emblematic of what gay men are. Yet he's damn well insisting this be his character arc. Shit.
I have Jeremy as the counterpoint -- a nice Jewish kid who's in the closet at work but out to his friends. Who's on the fast track at the oil company he works for. Who's built a relationship with a Cajun Army Sergeant thanks to Brendan being involved with the soldier's sister. So maybe that's enough to keep a balance...
But it bugs me...and this is one of those instances where I don't understand why Everett's character wants his story to play this way. Unless it's to illustrate the destructiveness of forcing people to hide who they are. At this time, it was still illegal in Texas for anyone other than a married man and woman to have sex, and then only in the Missionary position. Everything else was considered sodomy and that could get you sent to jail. The law was rarely enforced, but it was there ready and willing. It wasn't made to apply to just gay men until 1986.
I guess I'll let it play, for now, and see where it takes me...but I wish this wasn't part of the ride.
Everett starts out as sympathetic and gets involved with a friend of Brendan's and Scott's, Jeremy. Overall I present them sympathetically...but when John Wayne Gacy's murders are revealed in Chicago, Everett becomes fixated on them. He's having a personal crisis and exhibiting signs of illness, plus he and Jeremy have broken up over his growing obsession with not only Gacy but Dean Corll. It's spooking everyone.
When Brendan leaves Houston to return to Derry, Everett helps him but comes close to doing something wrong and only barely holds himself back. It's like he's going through an emotional or mental breakdown...but I don't want him to be seen as emblematic of what gay men are. Yet he's damn well insisting this be his character arc. Shit.
I have Jeremy as the counterpoint -- a nice Jewish kid who's in the closet at work but out to his friends. Who's on the fast track at the oil company he works for. Who's built a relationship with a Cajun Army Sergeant thanks to Brendan being involved with the soldier's sister. So maybe that's enough to keep a balance...
But it bugs me...and this is one of those instances where I don't understand why Everett's character wants his story to play this way. Unless it's to illustrate the destructiveness of forcing people to hide who they are. At this time, it was still illegal in Texas for anyone other than a married man and woman to have sex, and then only in the Missionary position. Everything else was considered sodomy and that could get you sent to jail. The law was rarely enforced, but it was there ready and willing. It wasn't made to apply to just gay men until 1986.
I guess I'll let it play, for now, and see where it takes me...but I wish this wasn't part of the ride.
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