…the new Brad Pitt one. (FTR, I really enjoyed it.)
The movie is set in England during WW2 and Brad Pitt’s character Max’s sister is openly lesbian. She and her girlfriend would make out in pubs, etc. My question is: did that really happen back then? I thought people who were gay before, say the 1980’s, kept it pretty much under wraps in public. Were gay people really that open during the war?
I wouldn’t think so. I’d ask Alan Turing his opinion.
Interestingly enough, the laws at the time did not include a prohibition against homosexual acts between women only men.
I have not seen the movie but depending on the context it is possible that some might flaunt social norms or try to get a rise out of people by making out in public but I doubt it would have been a common occurrence in England at that time.
Were those definitely ordinary pubs, or might they have been gay bars, where homosexuals would feel more free to be themselves?
Nope, in the movie this was just a regular pub. They also made their relationship obvious at a house party.
Yeah, those scenes jumped out at me, too…took me out of the movie and had me wondering what was normal back then. Especially since the sister, at least (can’t remember about her girlfriend) was in the military and was wearing her uniform, which to me seems like it would have made that kind of behavior even more taboo in that place and time.
I enjoyed the movie, though…the acting and the relationship between the two leads fell a little flat for me, but the cinematography and costuming and historical details were so good I didn’t even care.
Good to know I’m not the only one who had that reaction.
I know eh. My Nana was in the Women’s Royal Navy in London back then so I felt like I was seeing what she saw.