For gay men, humor has played a central role their riliency and helped get them through tough tim. However, one form of humor, self-pretg, n bee a problem and may actually signify eper this episo, we’re discsg the role self-teem and humor play as a pg mechanism for strsful emotns, signs that our self-pretg jok may be negatively impactg how we view ourselv, and how we n break this cycle.Addnal Rourc: Self-Depretg Defn Self-Depretg Humor Self-Depreciatn: Why Do We Do It? Makg Sense of Self-Esteem Humor as a Copg Mechanism How Camp and Gallows Humor Keep Us Alive and Rilient The Gay Humorist as Public Man Beg Humoro & Seekg Diversn: Promotg Healthy Copg Skills Among LGBTQ+ Youth Is the Use of Humor Associated wh Anger Management? The Asssment of Individual Differenc Humor Styl Spa When Do Self-Depretg Humor Bee Detrimental? Support the show
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‘BROS’ REVIEW: BILLY EICHNER’S SELF-DEPRETG GAY ROM-COM LETS EVERYONE IN ON THE JOKE
Sure, ’s a well-budgeted, wi-release, R-rated gay rom-, and that’s historic (if you put enough qualifyg adjectiv ont of ), but one of those had to e along sooner or later. Oddly, feels like there already have been others, and there’s no qutn more are g, nsirg how hard Hollywood has been workg to clu gay characters. The difference what we’ll ll “Billy Eichner’s Hollywood Screen Kiss” is that centers a gay character, stead of jt g him as sassy ic support.
Eichner plays podster Bobby Leiber, who, the send scene, accepts somethg lled the Cis Whe Gay Man of the Year Award, an acknowledgement that even the realm of mori, he’s somethg of a privileged class. That uncertaty is perhaps the most thentic thg about “Bros” (gay or straight, men are famoly mment-averse); ed, this element uld be what -wrer and director Nicholas Stoller brgs to the equatn, nsirg how astutely he examed that aspect of morn datg “The Five-Year Engagement.
This is the terrory where “Bros” breaks new ground, sce the “l” of gay rom-s have yet to be dified: like whether havg someone’s undivid attentn is a turn-off or a good thg, and what each character needs to feel appreciated and adored. There, surround by a sea of shirtls men, the two bond over their mutual belief that “gay guys are so stupid, ” which feels like a b om Eichner’s “Difficult People” seri.
SELF-PRETG-GAY
But what do such a judgment mean to Bobby and Aaron, who aren’t shown readg books or discsg polics — unls you unt talkg about the gay experience, which is pretty much all Bobby do.
But we get what Aaron’s sayg: Eichner is a lot to al wh, and not bee he’s gay. There are plenty of dienc out there who’ve been wag their entire liv for Hollywood to greenlight a mastream gay movie (and sure, we’ll pretend that all the queer-iendly ntent on HBO and Netflix don’t unt, that “The Birdge” and “In & Out” never happened, that John Waters is too cult and “Moonlight” too margal). “Straight people love seeg miserable, ” Bobby observ at one pot, and though Eichner giv the gays a happy endg and lots of lghs along the way, damned if he don’t seem miserable for most of the movie.