Although Latter Days presents manifold homosexual characters, all of them are highly stereotyped.
C. Jay Cox’s movie Latter Days tells the story of Aaron, a Mormon, who moves to Los Angeles as a missionary and falls in love with party boy Christian. As Aaron’s family discovers their affection for each other, Aaron is excommunicated. After a failed suicide attempt, his religious parents send him to a treatment facility in order to cure their son of his homosexuality. Only when Aaron conclusively turns away from his conventions in favor of his sexuality, the two lovers can finally reunite. Underlying the romantic love story of the film, however, is the stereotypical portrayal of homosexuality in America. According to Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s
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Hence, homosexuality is not regarded as a way of life but rather as a momentary confusion, which will come to an end. Again, this stereotype is first and foremost represented by Aaron and his family. His mother begs him to “put this horrible mistake” behind, she begs him not to think that he is homosexual and that maybe Aaron can be forgiven (01:19:20-01:20:33). Thus, she suggests that the affection between Aaron and Christian was just a single incident that will never happen again. That is to say, she thinks that homosexuality is a temporary illness that can be overcome. Therefore, his parents send Aaron to the Dyer Treatment Facility in the hope that the hospitalization will free him from his homosexual desires. Again, this scene presents the idea of homosexuality as a mental illness. His parents believe that sitting in a bath tube full of ice or being exposed to electroshocks will release Aaron from his transitory disease of having homoerotic feelings (01:31:10-01:32:06). Moreover, the African American working at the restaurant tells his friends that his ex-lover had to do a shock therapy as well (00:08:45-00:08:59). This scene implies that other people share the opinion that homosexuality is just temporary and can be cured, as Aaron is not the only one who has to undergo a therapy. Regarding these elements, it can be said that Latter Days draws a highly stereotypical image of homosexuality as a mental illness that can be
(Hartzler 16). But, as Aaron grows up, he starts to do what his parents wished he never would: question them. He questions his family, his friends, his school, his church, even himself, in search of the difference between right and wrong. The rules that he used to think were so commonplace now seem absurd, and he wants to experience the world for himself and make his own decisions. The more that he tries to get out on his own, the more his parents tighten their grip, and the more that Aaron feels strangled.
I chose to view and analyze the film The Boondock Saints. There were many different things I focused on while viewing the film. I decided to brake them down into the following categories: narrative, theatrical elements, cinematography, sound, and the overall experience. I will begin with stating my personal interpretations and understandings of the narrative.
The Alamo portrays the historical battle between Santa Anna controlling the Mexican Army and the Texan Defenders who are defending The Alamo, a mission located in San Antonio, Texas. The film is heavily concentrated on the year 1836, specifically the months February and March, and the year 1835. The film stars Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett, Jason Patric as Jim Bowie, and Patrick Wilson as William Travis. The Alamo is a historically accurate movie that involves history, war, and immense amounts of drama.
The first story centers on Gene Robinson, now the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, and the son of a loving, church-going couple from Kentucky. Next, we meet the Poteats, a Baptist family from North Carolina with a gay son and daughter. Then there are the Reitans, from Minnesota, whose son Jake comes from a long line of Lutheran pastors. When Jake came out of the closet, some of the locals threw a brick through their windshield and wrote “fag” in chalk outside the house. The mother’s description of immediately scrubbing the profanity off the driveway was very poignant. Perhaps the most heartbreaking story was that of Mary Lou Wallner, a Christian fundamentalist who rejected her lesbian daughter, which ...
“For The Bible Tells Me So” by Daniel Karslake is a documentary style film that focuses on issues about sexuality. The film focuses on the conflict between homosexuality and Christianity and the analysis of several Bible verses about homosexuality. The film attempts to alter the minds of homophobes by using facts, science and several interviews with Christians who also have gay children. The interviews are done with five American, very Christian families and “how they handle the realization of having a gay child” (Karslake, 2007.) The film looks at both the understanding of the church, that is portrayed within the film, and the suggestion that there can only be one sexuality, heterosexuality, and that all others are sins in the eye of God.
The Bad and The Beautiful (1952) and State and Main (2000) are films within films that unmask Hollywood Cinema as a dream factory and expose the grotesque, veneer hidden by the luxury of stars. The Bad and the Beautiful, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is a black and white film narrated in flashback form. The films theatrical nature requires more close-ups than wide-screen shots to capture the character’s psychological turmoil. For example, Fred and Jonathan’s car ride is captured in a close-up to signify their friendship; however their relationship deteriorates after Jonathan’s deceit. While the camera zooms out, Fred stands alone motionless. Here, Fred is captured from a distance at eye-level and he becomes ostracized by the film industry and
“For The Bible Tells Me So,” documented by Daniel Karslake, is a journey through the belief of homosexuality and its perceived conflict with Christianity, as well as various interpretations of what the Bible says about same-sex sexuality. Through the use of parallelism, pathos, and logos, the documentarian is able to communicate his creed that homosexuality and Christianity, with a lot of effort, can have a vigorous relationship. Whether or not your personal religious and political stances on homosexuality are influenced by Karslake’s film, the audience is moved by its portraits of unbreakable family love. The documentary skillfully dives beneath the constraints of its title theme to find deeper treasures that family values are still alive and well.
The entire movie is littered with anxiety. The movie makes you anxious as to what may happen next. This primary example is the scene where Skeeter ask Aibileen to tell her personal stories for the book Skeeter is writing. This rose a very serious anxiety in both women. Skeeter also found other maids to also share their personal stories. This scenario caused extreme anxiety because in that day and time if you were to publish or talk about what the maids have to endure, you could be prosecuted or maybe even killed.
Just as Arthur Miller, the writer of “The Crucible”, said, “Sex,sin, and the devil were early linked” (Miller,1125). During the AIDS hysteria, homosexual intercourse was thought to be the cause of widespread immune deficiency, so the disease was soon labeled “Gay Men’s Health Crisis” (“History of HIV and AIDS”). As time progressed AIDS, it was discovered, could also be spread through heterosexual couples(“History of HIV and AIDS”). This
The film West Side takes place in New York City where a Polish- American gang, referred to as the Jets, competes against a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks, to own the neighborhood streets. The central theme of this film is passionate love that defies friendships, family and other factors. To add to that, the dominating genre of the film is a musical involving drama and romance.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Sex, love, depression, guilt, trust, all are topics presented in this remarkably well written and performed drama. The Flick, a 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning drama by Annie Baker, serves to provide a social commentary which will leave the audience deep in thought well after the curtain closes. Emporia State Universities Production of this masterpiece was a masterpiece in itself, from the stunningly genuine portrayal of the characters of Avery and Rose, to the realism found within the set, every aspect of the production was superb.
The family unit has always been a treasured and revered dynamic on television and in movies. Dating all the way back to I Love Lucy, storylines focused on the relationship between man and woman. Ozzie and Harriet introduced us to the quintessential American family—father in a suit, mother in pearls, and two exceptional children. It wasn’t until the 1970s that gay characters and lifestyles began to emerge. In 1973, An American Family, a PBS series featured one of the family’s sons revealing his homosexuality. In 1977, the television show Soap costarred Billy Crystal as an openly gay man. In the 1980s, it became trendy to feature gay and lesbian characters in ensemble casts. If you watch reruns, you can always find the token gay, that is, the really flaming homo or the butch lesbian gym teacher. The motion picture Mannequin, starring Andrew McCarthy and Kim Catrall, featured Meshach Taylor as Hollywood, an eccentric, finger-snapping homosexual. Many stereotypes such as these continued until the early nineties.
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’
middle of paper ... ... Works Cited Adam Sharpiro, Megan Schultz, Christina Roush, Cassandra Schofar, Emily Shilling, Tawnia Simpson, Natalie Sampiller. Portrayal of Homosexuality in Media. 26 March 2014 http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom103fall2004/gp16.pdf>. Huegel, Kelly.