Homoerotic cinema club

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I'd have to see it

but just in general I think sweaty glistening dudes isn't the right barometer, it's desire, objectification

you look at these older works where they couldn't show sweaty glistening dudes and they still found ways to code it in
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Oh and I've just remembered that there is a scene near the start where you think he's gonna have a battle for control of the cartel with the other son... but then suddenly they're kinda topless and cuddling and covered in cocaine or something.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Sure but there is something going on here where he seems fascinated by this guy's sexuality and can't really make up his mind as to what it is - one minute he's gay and the next he's forcing his wife to pretend to be his mother or something while they fuck. It's a bit of a blur to be honest so I can't really be sure.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I didn't see the most recent Terminator film but there were a lot of takes about its queer subtext between Linda Hamilton and Mackenzie Davis

this one for example
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Can't find that clip online but this is the climax of what I was talking about above SPOILER though if you plan to watch it

 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I see what you mean

the way it's intercut also reminds me of the climax of Apocalypse Now

Sheen hacking up Brando with a machete intercut with the villagers ceremonially slaughtering the water buffalo
Ah yeah it is similar.
I just read through the comments below that clip and not one of the ones I saw mentioned any gay subtext so maybe it's just me.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I think it's more the previous scenes I was thinking of where he spends ages working out and getting all shiny before he comes in and whips him.
The brutal hacking in that scene does kinda undercut most conventional forms of eroticism.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
I think it's a mistake to speak of a single "queer sensibility"

but insomuch as there is queer sensibility as a category, I think some large part of is being to recognize those more coded symbols, elements

not through inherent ability, just being in regular contact with them in daily life, acquired culture

i.e. I didn't get the perfect title of Looking (a show I've never seen, but still) until I found out what "looking" means in queer culture

a term that simply has no equivalent of any kind in straight culture
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
That's why I said "most conventional" - for any event you can find someone who will consider it erotic, but yeah you don't have to go into outliers to know that of course BDSM is an obvious link between sex and violence and historically there has always been links drawn between sex and death. I just think that in that in that scene you have him caressing him with the machete and then it turns into this huge unsubtle hacking which... well you could view it as literally climactic but to me it seems that the director is intending to change the mood from slow and sexy to crash-bang-wallop almost cartoonish violence.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
if you've ever fought consensually or sparred with someone, you'll know it's maybe the closest you can be to another person besides sex

(streetfights etc don't work the same, the element of danger is uncontrolled so the fear is much different)

there is an intense shared physicality only sex overtakes

it doesn't have to be erotic at all but even when it isn't - watch professional fighters frequently hug when the fight ends
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
To what end I don't know. Same goes for the whole series in fact.
(this is a response to my saying he wanted to change the mood).
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
if you've ever fought consensually or sparred with someone, you'll know it's maybe the closest you can be to another person besides sex

(streetfights etc don't work the same, the element of danger is uncontrolled so the fear is much different)

there is an intense shared physicality only sex overtakes

it doesn't have to be erotic at all but even when it isn't - watch professional fighters frequently hug when the fight ends
I remember a book where the first scene employed this sleight of hand where it seemed to be describing a couple having sex.. but then it sort of pulled out and changed focus and you realised that they were wrestling.
 

padraig (u.s.)

a monkey that will go ape
inflicting violence on an unattainable object of desire is a classic subtextual device

it's pretty much the entire point of Billy Budd
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Herman Melville isn't it? I think I did read it years ago but I remember the film with.... Terrence Stamp more.
 
Top