Movie Boys In The Band

[chocchub]

Misery. Train wreck. May not finish the movie. Is there a gay movie like this that is the direct opposite?

Discuss if you want.

 

[SgtGirth]

You have to make a few allowances for something that was written in 1968. It’s important to know your history, and one thing to know is what homophobia and living in the closet did to us.

If your life is better than what you see portrayed there, be grateful. That is only possible because of things like this play being written.

 

[chocchub]

Finished the movie. Online comment I agree with.
This dialogue going around is what so many at that time had to go through. They were the true pioneers on and off screen. This is what’s real about what so many of us went through and still go through. The self loathing, the alcoholism, drugs and being hated by society. That’s what makes this play/film so realistic and so dramatic.

 

[SgtGirth]

Finished the movie. Online comment I agree with.
This dialogue going around is what so many at that time had to go through. They were the true pioneers on and off screen. This is what’s real about what so many of us went through and still go through. The self loathing, the alcoholism, drugs and being hated by society. That’s what makes this play/film so realistic and so dramatic.

So one thing to bear in mind is that just because things get better doesn't mean that all the harm of the past magically disappears. In my case, I had many formative experiences in Catholic elementary school in the 19-fucking-70s. So I've absorbed a lot of the stuff, good and bad, that was in the culture at that time.

Case in point: I distinctly remember being a bit confused about the meaning of the words "gay" and "homo" in the second grade. I had only a very fuzzy idea of what sex was at that age, and I remember the dictionary entries on homosexual were pretty unhelpful given my utter lack of background knowledge. But I already knew damn well that to be called such a thing on the playground was bad, a challenge that could not be allowed to stand. And to actually be such a thing was far, far worse.

Those early lessons do not simply vanish because marriage is legal or whatever. They're deeply ingrained and will be with me in some form to the end of my life. I don't know what elementary school playgrounds are like today, 43 years after those memories of mine, but if the kid in second grade now who is going to turn out to be gay never internalizes, never even hears those words used as mortal insults, that's an adult who might escape what I and others of my generation and earlier have gone through and are going through.

But note well: the entire process, which has no guarantee of success even now, takes nearly a century to get to where we (hopefully) have happy, well adjusted gay adults. I sometimes catch glimpses of that with younger people, a bit of a foretelling of a time I likely will not live to see myself.

 

[chocchub]

Realized after watching clips from the original movie that the main character suffered from anxiety attacks and was a mean drunk. Mean drunk isn’t just for gays. Or for men.

 

[LICNYCgay]

While I understand and acknowledge the importance of this play/film, I’m kind of over watching stories of self-loathing gay men. It does nothing for me.

 

[HotThroatLA]

Finished the movie. Online comment I agree with.
This dialogue going around is what so many at that time had to go through. They were the true pioneers on and off screen. This is what’s real about what so many of us went through and still go through. The self loathing, the alcoholism, drugs and being hated by society. That’s what makes this play/film so realistic and so dramatic.

I agree with what's been stated by others, that you have to view this movie in the context of the time it was written. And I mean: people forget you could be ARRESTED just for BEING GAY or perceived to be gay, or just being inside a damn gay bar (which were purposely raided solely to harass our community) and THEN purposely have your life ruined, when the information on your arrest got published in the newspapers.

And this was NOT that long ago. Basically 50-60 years ago.

For anyone born before like 1990, we grew up with ONLY negative, hate-filled, and most times false messaging about what a gay person was. Wrap that up with just about every religion telling us we're all dirty, perverted sinners and will burn in hell, and you can only imagine why so many of us ended up as self-loathing alcoholics or drug addicts. You know, for our "chosen lifestyle" (that term still makes my fucking blood boil when I hear it).

And I would wager that 90% of us were bullied and/or physically harmed on some level from the 1st grade on. I know I was! And as for me, my ENTIRE sexual awakening and activity in my 20's was in the shadow of HIV and AIDS killing us all by the 1000's. And no one in the government giving a shit about it.

We have survived SO MUCH. And even now, we are STILL the go-to "boogeyman" for all the fake "family values" and fake "Christians" in places like Texas, Florida, Tennessee and other ass-backward states.

And we all stand on the shoulders of things like "Boys In The Band" and so many activists and fearless pioneers who paved the way. This is why LGBTQ history is SO damn important!