The idea of the movie is clearly to show people who are in the social majority what it is like to be in the minority. For me, that meant picturing myself, as a straight man, but in a society where my heterosexuality is not the norm, and is in fact a trait that would cause me to be ostracized, bullied, made fun of, beat up, assaulted, legislated against, and potentially even tortured and/or killed.
To put that in perspective, I thought about the great loves of my life. The Enchantress. Blondie. The Brit. Nurse Betty. Lily.* These women, and others, meant a lot to me when I was involved with them. They still do. For different reasons. From different times. And in different ways, they taught me about love, about life, and about myself. Arguably, I would not be the man I am today without them. And I treasure my memories of them individually, and of us as couples. Anyone who knew me when I was involved with any of these women would have no doubt that I loved them deeply, and cared for them with all my heart. I am, after all, not known for being subtle.
And the idea that I would have to hide my feelings for these women, that I would have to hide my relationships with them, that I might have been denied those relationships, that they would have been the object of scorn and ridicule and opposing legislation and violence....this makes me angry. Very fucking angry. Because of what these women and these relationships have meant to me. And because of the fact that I couldn't change that, even if I wanted to, even if my family and friends and society all agreed I should. Because it is who and what I am.
And when I put myself in that frame of mind, perhaps for the first time in my life I was truly able to understand, as much as I ever could, what it was like to be gay or lesbian in this world, in this society.
That was pretty much the point of the film. It was its very essence. To take you, as you are, in your life now, and put you in the shoes and--more importantly--the hearts of people you will never actually know what it's like to be.
If you choose not to watch the film, that is your right. But to do so and then attempt to comment on it, on its premise, on its themes, on its points, seems willfully ignorant. I don't debate my mechanic on issues with my truck because I don't know a damn thing about automotive repair, and he has 30 years experience in the field. Had I educated myself over the years, had I stuck my head under the hood when my stepbrother and stepfather were working on vehicles, perhaps I could have learned enough to have such a debate with my mechanic. "Roy, are you sure it's the alternator, and not the crankshaft?" Those of you with any degree of mechanical knowledge probably giggled at that hypothetical quote, and even with my limited knowledge, I know it's ridiculous, as no one with any knowledge of cars could confuse one with the other. But to have an argument with almost no knowledge of the subject matter seems silly and futile to me, and opens oneself up to fair criticism.
mjr, you have chosen not to watch the movie. You have also chosen to nitpick at various items you view as plot holes, or unrealistic. Do you watch X-Men like this? Spider-Man? Lord of the Rings? Star Wars? Or do you accept the fact that certain aspects of these movies are going to be unrealistic in our world, and that these films, and others, have bigger stories to tell?
Yes, there are unrealistic aspects to the premise. I will not disagree with you. But I ask you, so what? The premise is not "off limits," as you suggest others have made it. It just isn't the point, of the film itself or of the discussion thread herein of the film. The point of the film, as has been stated repeatedly, was not for you to imagine yourself in this other world to see if it was realistic or tenable, but for you to imagine yourself, as yourself, in this other world so that you can understand what other people in this world go through every single day of their lives.
I won't tell you your position is wrong, as I don't know what your position IS. You haven't stated it. Not on the bigger picture issue here, the idea of picturing yourself being treated as homosexuals regularly are in our society, as the ostracized outcasts and discriminated-against minority. All you've done is complain about the unrealism of the premise. This is the equivalent of watching Blazing Saddles and declaring it unrealistic, as "there were no black sheriffs in the Old West."
Originally posted by the_std
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*These are the pseudonyms I've assigned to them in CS.com. I was originally going to use their real names, but chose not to. Then I was going to use different pseudonyms, but that didn't seem right to me. As if I was somehow denying what they meant to me. I could not do that. And while that seems like a minor detail perhaps not even worth of mention, it actually is very much appropriate to the larger point of this movie and this thread, if you think about it. At least it was to me.
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