Boy Erased review – dark tale of a teenager's 'gay nversn' oral | Boy Erased | The Guardian

Contents:

• BOY ERASED REVIEW – DARK TALE OF A TEENAGER'S 'GAY NVERSN' ORAL
• DAVID BROMSTAD G OUT AS A GAY! HAD 8 LONG YEARS OF RELATNSHIP! HOW DID THEY MEET? HOW DID START? KNOW EVERYTHG!!!

BOY ERASED REVIEW – DARK TALE OF A TEENAGER'S 'GAY NVERSN' ORAL

In Ken Key’s 1962 novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nt, one of the psychiatric patients on the ward alongsi the two ma characters is Dale Hardg, a limp-wristed, daty man who is apparently unable to satisfy his wife, and who is portrayed as a closeted homosexual. While he do not actually accept his homosexualy by the nouement, he do not hi the shame which he feels, and his growg nfince is not led to suggt a “healg” of his homosexualy. Through the erasure of Hardg’s homosexualy and s replacement wh a mol of hegemonic masculy, the film negat one of the key revolutnary statements of Key’s novel: that homosexualy; even feme, limp-wristed, shamefaced homosexualy, is not synonymo wh powerlsns or weakns.

This particular passage n be seen as a metaphor for the stggl of homosexualy the ’60s, suggtg that homosexualy n be betiful if embraced, but when is marred by shame and secrecy n be turned to somethg unseemly – although never pletely supprsed. This nmnatn is most strongly portrayed Hardg’s fal monologue to McMurphy, where he also adms his homosexual leangs for the first time the novel:.

DAVID BROMSTAD G OUT AS A GAY! HAD 8 LONG YEARS OF RELATNSHIP! HOW DID THEY MEET? HOW DID START? KNOW EVERYTHG!!!

While refully avoidg any explic mentn of homosexualy, he creat strong implitns, and yet ref to align wh what he appears to regard as the majory of the society who will prise his rearship. In stark ntrast to this sympathetic portrayal of effemate homosexualy, the character of Hardg the film of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nt (1975) is played by a heterosexual actor (William Redfield) who do not fulfil Bromn’s physil scriptns the novel, and who do not impersonate the daty nature of the origal character’s mannerisms. Furthermore, the first group meetg, which ially appears to follow fahfully om the same scene the novel, the origal discsn of Hardg’s possible homosexualy is erased pletely favour of an attempt to strongly portray the character as tellectually cril of his wife and of the other patients (1975: 17.

” This highly nontatnal speech is not only a monstratn of aggrsive masculy, but also nforms to tradnal mascule homophobic disurse which nstcts “women and gay men as the spised other” (Coat, 2003:69). Moreover, his suggtn that a gay man is parable to a woman, particularly a “ltle” woman, and the acpanyg imatn of exaggerated femy giv not only the homophobic imprsn that gay men are not “real” men, and are fact women, but also that to be lled feme or ed female is an sult.

The masculisatn of the character of Hardg the film adaptatn of Key’s novel suggts an abily the film’s producers to portray a homosexual character a learship posn, wh a posive narrative and a fal rolutn which did not volve the monisatn of his homosexualy. Furthermore, by g this same character to display disurse of hegemonic masculy and homophobic rhetoric, the creators of this film betray Key’s tentns and bee a part of the opprsive society agast which he was attemptg quietly to fight.