PGh-13: Pathetic Groaning homophobes who act like they're 13

The BBQ Pit
1

I went to see RENT twice over the holidays. The first time was a completely uneventful barely sold very midnight showing, and then again last night (Saturday) at 10:30 p.m…

Last night’s audience had far more people, and more mixed in terms of race and age than most movies in Alabama. I had to change seats a couple of times, once because of the Chatty Chatty Gang Bang girl behind me who wanted everybody to be sure and know that she’s seen the show in NYC, and the other time because of a Booty Mamita who wanted it clearly understood that “That boy’s gonna git hissef full blowed AIDS by the time this over I betcha anythang”. Finally I’m in cinematic exile and just hear the movie.

Until the scene when Collins, after twirling and singing “1000 Sweet Kisses”, sweetly kisses Angel. And then there are at least two dozen audible groans and the odd “That’s just sick” and “Goddamn!” in the theater.

I’ve had this happen before in movies, especially such as Object of My Affection and others that are released mainstream (I’ve never heard objections from the audience at gay kisses in Montgomery’s one arthouse theater, though a gay sex scene did once clear some seats). What bothered me about this, though, is that it’s usually white frat boys and younger who are doing the groaning, while this was adults of both genders and races. What bothered me more is that before the movie came to this scene, there had been graphic scenes of heroin use (which makes me groan, though inwardly), a violent mugging, homeless people, etc., and NOBODY had a problem with it. For that matter nobody had a problem with the lesbian couple other than a few snickers and one cheer.

While there’s not a rape scene in RENT I’ve been to movies that had graphic rape scenes and never heard one groan or “that’s sick” or other audible objection, but I’ve never been to a mainstream movie that had two guys kiss or otherwise declare love without the fuckers sitting with the empty “I’m Not a Fag” Seat between them and the nearest male (because sitting together in theaters is how most sodomites get started) making their distaste known. The fact that this time it was the females and some of them middle aged and a wider demographic just really really irritates me at the hypocrisy and ignorance and backwardness and general assholery of the offense. I’ve rarely wanted to seal the exits and release the Rottweilers quite as much. Fuckers all.

There were of course queers in the theater, but it irritates me that these fucking fundies and their ilk didn’t care, or perhaps groaned for the benefit of them. Shitheads.

No real point to this other than to reiterate my disgust at the hypocrisy of the city and state that is bending falling over itself to honor the 50th Anniversary of Rosa Parks’s arrest this coming week. I cannot believe that Southerners are just in general less intelligent than other Americans, but there are times I just don’t like them that much, and this is coming from one who’s proudly related to himself on all sides and whose first ancestors in this state wore feathers (some were Indians, then there was Uncle Lazaro [better known by his stage name of Queen Cotton, but that’s another story]).

2

Sampiro,
I am so with you. I’d like to add to the list of rottweiler-fodder all the guys who think the rape scenes in something like A Clockwork Orange are kind of cool and funny and zany, while the rape scenes in Pulp Fiction or the Shawshank Redemption are harrowing and beyond the pale and make them storm out of theaters upset (to hear groans and “that’s sick” it has to be male rape, you see). Straight boys are very uptight about their anuses, I guess.
But your tale is not just in the south. I saw Priscilla in Portland, Oregon, and could not believe the carrying-on of putative adults.
But. . . please tell us about Queen Cotton.

3

How the hell do homophobic people end up at a screening of RENT?

Are they expecting a gritty drama about a street-smart urban punk who, through hard work, determination, moxy, and a willingness to get his hands dirty, makes a fortune in real estate?

4

Maybe they’re expecting tips on how to make the next month’s rent payment?

5

I half-expected to hear the story of the assmunch behind me in line while my son and I waited to get in to see The Goblet of Fire a couple of weeks ago. He was telling his girlfriend all about how ‘that gay cowboy movie is just SICK’ and ‘I can’t believe they were allowed to make such filth’. I’m sure he went home to a stack of porn, but a love story is filth.

6

I was thinking the same thing. It’s almost funny that they didn’t realize that they were watching musical theater and run out of place screaming about how “not gay” they are. Most people should just get over themselves in that regard.

7

Caveat: Never seen the movie in question, Brokeback Mountain. Is it actually a love story?

8

And did they eat any pudding?

9

Well, from the previews it looks to be a “boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy marries girl, boy has boy come back into his life and doesn’t know what to do about it” story. So it’s certainly possible that it could fall into the definition of a love story.

10

I’ve read the story a few times. It’s definitely a love story, albeit a very tragic one.
And there is no way in hell I’m going to see it in the multiplex at a matinee, for fear that bloody eedjits in the audience will ruin it for the rest of us.

11

There was an article in Newsweek about Brokeback Mountain a week or two ago. The producer pretty much said he doesn’t give a flying fuck what any straight boy thinks, since he’s already broken even on the film before it even opens. Still, thank god for Madison art theatres; when it opens I can see it in peace.

12

Scenery Hijack:
“Brokeback Mountain,” was filmed where I (and formerly GingerOfTheNorth) live. If you’ve ever wondered what Alberta looked like, here’s an opportunity to see. (Chances are you’ve already seen it, though, since most recent westerns have been filmed here.)
/Scenery Hijack.

Sorry to hear about your experience, Sampiro. People can be stupid and mean, but I guess you already know that. Now I’m curious to go see it here in Calgary. We have a reputation as a red-neck town; I’d like to see what the response is here.

13

In all fairness, I doubt most theatre-goers have to worry about this. I went to see Rent over the weekend (not even in the Des Moines metro – elsewhere in Iowa) and I didn’t have any problems at all, despite the presence of young people.

I would hope that bad experiences wouldn’t dissuade anyone from seeing the film. I rather enjoyed it.

14

When I saw RENT I didn’t have any problem; of course here we are in the city with the gay patron saint, and the average Kinsey rating of the house was about 5.4. So there we are.

Ah yes, Sampiro, it’s just one of the long line of “we’re the big exception.” Fun, isn’t it? At least we contributed to harmony in the Middle East.

15

Sorry, that was me.

But as long as I’m here:

  • Dedee, in The Opposite of Sex
16

Well people should just be quiet in a movie theater.

But homosexual acts aren’t something most people engage in and I don’t consider it a failure of character to be disgusted by two homosexuals kissing on screen. So what? Disgust is disgust, it’s not something you can control. Personally it really disgusts me when I see a “facial” that doesn’t mean I’m some sort of fundamentalist or have something against people who enjoy that particular practice. On a primal level it’s just a big “ick” for me and I don’t think that’s a reflection of my character.

Also, did you ever consider some people don’t sit right next to each other in a movie theater because it can be a lot more comfortable to have more elbow room?

17

That’s not the point; the point is that Sampiro has seen much worse things in theatres than two guys kissing without the audience getting all bent out of shape about it.

What the heck kinds of movie are you going to see?

Yes, that’s why guys don’t sit next to each other in public. Mm-hmm.

18

Yeah, I understand his rant about the audience. I don’t like an audience that does stuff like that in theaters either. I can’t explain why some people react differently to some things than others, I was just saying that innately being disgusted by homosexual acts doesn’t make one a fundamentalist or a bad person.

I was just using that as an example, if that’s okay.

So anytime two guys don’t sit beside each other it’s because they’re rampantly homophobic? Honestly you know I’m 6’5" and weigh 225-235 lbs. (depending) I like to have room to stretch out. If the theater is crowded I’ll sit right next to a male friend, but if I’m in a theater without many people in it, I don’t see the need to not have all the leg and arm room that I want when it’s there for the taking. I don’t talk during movies so it’s not like I need to be right next to whoever I’m going with anyways (obviously we’re assuming this is a movie I’m going to just to enjoy, not a date situation.)

19

I suppose some of that is disgust and probably most of it is people exaggerating just how “heterosexual” they are. (or so they think).
And what the Hell are people with such a negative mindset doing at that movie anyway? Maybe they are the type that go to see “Kiss of the Spiderwoman” because they think it’s a horror film?

20

That’s a good question. I don’t think being disgusted by homosexual acts is an instinctive behaviour; I would say it is likely a learned behaviour, and I would go so far as to say it is likely that it was learned in a religious household.

Sure. I just thought it was funny, because as far as I know, the only way you’ll see a facial (and by that I assume we’re talking about someone ejaculating on someone else’s face) is in a porn movie.

Well, that makes sense for you. Not every guy leaving a seat between himself and his guy friend is that large, however. I can’t speak for the motivations of every guy who does this, but I would guess that there are a few at least who do it for the reasons Sampiro mentioned in his OP.