The subtext concerns Uncle Monty’s nephew, Withnail Montague (played by Richard E. Grant). Uncle Monty’s a flaming queen, but his nephew has been suffering from a crush on the “I” (Peter Marwood) character (played by Paul McGann) which he cannot acknowledge. The strongest hints are the card game scene (when Uncle Monty and his nephew share a titter over the queens – “There she is!”) and Withnail’s “Hamlet” soliloquy at the end ("…no, nor women neither.")
Nothing overtly gay, just the kid questioning his sexuality. The film replaced the the complicated questions Isabelle Holland wrote into the story, however, with a cheap pedophilia charge. (The movie wasn’t half-bad up until that point.)
Apparently, it’s Peter Marwood. It’s not mentioned in the movie as I recall, but it was in the original script. Plus, it’s much easier to refer to the character as “Marwood” rather than “I.”
I tend to go back and forth on this one. In addition to what you mentioned, I find Withnail’s secret “accusation” to Uncle Monty that Marwood is gay interesting. Not to mention that Marwood has to claim that he and Withnail are lovers in order to avoid being buggered by Uncle Monty. Did Withnail know (or hope) that Marwood would tell Monty this?
Sometimes, though, I just think that Withnail’s attachment to Marwood stems from his immaturity. It’s no fun being in society’s outskirts alone. He needs someone to be unsuccessful with him so that he doesn’t have to face the reality that’s his life’s a waste and it’s basically his own fault. When Marwood goes to the audition and begins to have a promising future, he has to leave Withnail behind because Withnail will never be able to pull himself together and do something with his life. Now that Marwood’s gone he’ll have to face that alone.
That’s what makes Withnail such a tragic character: either he’s harboring a secret desire/love for his best friend who’s leaving him, or he’s trapped in perpetual adolescence alone. Possibly both. I think Bruce Robinson purposely wrote Withnail’s sexuality to be ambiguous. Is there a gay subtext in the movie? Maybe, maybe not. I can see it both ways. For the time being, though, I have to say that I’m leaning toward your interpretation of it. I’ll have to watch it tonight and see; it’s one of my favorite movies.
I would call that text rather than subtext. The first time I ever saw that film I kept thinking: how did this get past the censors in its day???
What about Spartacus, and the famous oysters and clams scene between Olivier and Curtis?
That sounds like it would chafe.
Damn. I thought I read the whole thread and didn’t see a reference. My bad, and I didn’t even remember the correct mollusks, either!
Several straight female friends of mine totally missed any lesbian vibe in this movie. They had no idea what the rest of us were talking about.
Actually my brother and I thought there was something there too. Not so much with the younger brother (Corey Haim) though but with the dynamic between the older brother (Jason Patric) character Michael and the vampire played by Kiefer Sutherland. At times Michael seems more obsessed with Kiefer than with the girl.
It seems obvious that Michael is fighting being seduced by the vampire “lifestyle” as represented by Kiefer.
Cal Thomas rather famously wrote a column castigating lesbians for trying to “appropriate” the “friendship” between Idgie and Ruth. Call it missing the subtext, call it willful blindness.
I took any obsession of Michael’s toward Kiefer more as an alpha male thing at first, and later a “kill the head vampire” thing. Little Corey Haim, though, with his poster of a shirtless Rob Lowe on his closet door and his pink “Born to Shop” shirt? Total fag.
No way! Even when I was seven, I knew it was way gay when He-Man and Man-At-Arms both mounted Cringer at the same time!
I’d be interested to read Cal’s column on the subject, but my google-fu is failing me. Do you have a link handy? Thanks.
This column would’ve come out sometime in 1991. It may not be online.
Oh, barnacles. :smack:
It would have been sweet to see Cal stick his foot in that one. “Sanctimonious” will someday feature his pic in the dictionary.
Not-very-sub text, Roy Batty seemed to have something going on with Leon as well as Priss in Blade Runner. Of course, the Replicants seemed to have something more like a group marriage than people pairing off. There was also the Oedipal (is that appropriate when Oedipus wants to nail his father as well as kill him?) scene with Roy and Tyrell. Good lord that boy was a bundle of emtions in that scene.
Oh, crap, I forgot the live-action He-Man movie. There’s the BDSM scene where Skeletor whips He-Man that brings the whole thing right the hell out of the closet. Looking back, the very name of the cartoon was suggestive: He-Man.
Speaking of cartoons, The Smurfs whooshed me at about mach 2 when I was a kid.
Now, I can’t help but notice Lion-O’s confusion with relationships, though that would have a lot to do with his being a different mental age than his physical one. Can you imagine having to deal with the height of your sexual drives while having on the experiences of a 9 year old and none of the adjustment time of early puberty? It seems to me now that he was dealing with a lot of inappropriate attractions toward all of the members of the crew. Though they did skew his attractions more in favor of Cheetara instead of Panthro (with his blatant leather-man harness) the same-sex attractions were still there. The usual confusion of adolecence and the sexualizing of normally non-sexual relationships, or burgeoning bisexuality? You decide.
On the other hand, I haven’t seen Thundercats for years, so I may be reading a lot into it that wasn’t there except in my possibly biased memory.
What about the Smurfs?
Goonies
There’s nothing gayer.
Young asian guy with toys. A kid called “mouth”. A journey into the “Pirate’s Cave” marked my the lighthouse. The joy ride on “sloth’s back”. The search for One-Eyed Willie? Who’s the outcast? The tough jock.
Might I regale you with some “memorable quotes”?
Mama: The only thing we serve here is tongue! You boys like tongue?
Mikey: Yo. Hi guys. How’s it going? This is Willie… One-Eyed Willie. Say hi, Willie. Those are my friends… the Goonies.
The girl they’re friends with is named “Andy” and even she delivers this apology to them. . .“I hit the wrong note. I’m not Liberace you know!”
There is an internet term for all this gay subtext: hoyay – short for homeroticism, yay! It originated on the website Television Without Pity: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/faq.cgi?show=0&q=1766
And the other girl looks fairly androgynous.
Just for the record, I read this as “BEA Arthur,” which changed the meaning a little.