sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (11/11/83)
I'm glad Robert has presented other interesting questions along with
Anne Wolf's item on teachers.
I guess I'm pretty much a wonk, because when I hear the initials, "PC", I
immediately think of IBM. "Political correctness" is an enormous
abstraction, and I don't know really what it means. I would hate to think
that "gay liberation" means political orthodoxy within the rank and file.
When I meet someone, I like to think that I'm talking to someone with real
reactions and opinions, and not one necessarily conforming to some external
standards of behavior and opinion.
With regard to the presentation of gays by the media--this is a very broad
topic with many facets, depending on which medium you examine. One
recurring theme that I have noticed in the last 10 years or so is "gay as
neuter". That is, there have been several dishes served up to the straight
community, like an old Hal Holbrook TV movie ("That Certain Summer" ??), the
TV show, "Love, Sidney", and, most recently, the Broadway musical, "La Cage
aux Folles", in which, in order to make the subject palatable to the widest
possible audience, they present their characters as desexed, well-meaning
people who just happen to have this "affliction" known as
ho-mo-sex-u-al-i-ty. God knows what it entails here, excepts that it's
much worse than the heartbreak of psoriasis. Even though I KNOW it's a
device to win the hearts of straights without totally alienating them, it
really alienates me, because it presents an artificial view of what life is
all about.
/Steve Dyer
decvax!bbncca!sdyermsimpson@bbncca.ARPA (Mike Simpson) (11/14/83)
***
In references to gays and the media -- I would like
people's opinions on three recent movies: *Making Love*,
*Personal Best* and *Lianna*. ( *Lianna* is showing on cable
now, so it might not have made it to the large screen. ) Some
personal opinions follow, so flame away.
MAKING LOVE -- Well, Hollywood had to start SOMEWHERE,
but the movie was so sugar-coated in approaching the love
triangle that I wanted an insulin shot afterwards.
PERSONAL BEST -- Pretty well handled, but the competive
aspect of the relationship is all-encompassing. If one didn't
know it, you could close your eyes and almost miss the lesbian
relationship.
LIANNA -- A real tear-jerker. Possibly the most 'honest'
of the three in terms of emotions.
-- cheers,
Mike Simpson
Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
Ten Moulton Street,
Cambridge, MA 02238 (USnail)
msimpson@bbn-unix (ARPA)
decvax!bbncca!msimpson (Usenet)
msimpson.bbn-unix@udel-relay (CSNET)
617-497-2819 (Ma Bell)