» Farley Granger on Gay Subtext ‘Rope’: ‘It Was Never Discsed’ |
Contents:
- WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’
- GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
- FARLEY GRANGER ON GAY SUBTEXT ‘ROPE’: ‘IT WAS NEVER DISCSED’
WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’
In typil Hchck-ian fashn, the "Master of Spense" often employed his films subtle referenc to gay culture, fyg nservative attus of the late '50s. * rope gay *
Miller his say “Anal Rope” ppots how the transns erotilly reveal the homosexual relatnship between Philip between David, but more importantly the hidn inty of the gay male. ’ One is the populary privileged se of gay male sex, the orifice whose sexual e general opn nsirs (whatever happens to be the state of sexual practic among gay men and however may very acrdg to time and place) the least dispensable element fg the te homosexual. In this sense, Rope is the gaze of society to a mirror whose post war disillned reflectn star back at self self-nscly, ambiguoly unr the veil of homophobia.
In the mask of nnotatn, the existence of homosexualy is portrayed like a Hegelian dialect: where the possibily of homosexualy is opposed by the possibily heterosexualy and the mutual ntradictn rencil to a higher tth that only the viewer n discern. Miller argu that “Every disurse that speaks, every reprentatn that shows homosexualy by nnotative means alone will th be implicly hnted by he phantasm of the thg self, not jt the form of the name but also, more basilly, as what the name njur up: the spectacle of “gay sex” (Miller, 123). While Ripley‘s homosexual unrton are certaly more blatant, there’s somethg fely there Bno’s tert Guy — part of may be social climbg, but part of may very well be sexual.
What’s so fascatg about the queer subtext Hchck’s films is that he knew, as a director and a provotr, that makg the simple suggtn of homosexualy was enough to create unease, to raise the stak for both his characters and his dience. Beards are so sexually charged and erotilly ialized among today’s scffier populatns of gay men that one might fet the fact that beards are still, technilly, fetish objects.
GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
Coprophilia is sexual stimulatn om fec, and while the general populatn’s rponse to is bound to be pretty strong, this fetish is more mon than you might spect, particularly among gay pig players, fistg enthiasts, and kky leather men.
Dpe s populary wh a more niche sectn of the gay male populatn, is generally nsired an unhygienic fetish to explore, sce handlg and nsumg human fel matter rri wh certa health risks. Proment gay clothg brands like Nasty Pig and Cellblock 13 draw their sign spiratn om tried-and-te sports wear, and standard gay circu attire will always feature a pair of football pants wh the ont lacg beckongly open.
Rope's pictn of whe upper-class Manhattan gays displays that Old Hollywood knack of turng a popular dience to sirs and took a mischievo geni to make a post-WWII movie wh subtle queer characters. Brandon, Philip, and Rupert take turns as leads Hchck's dance; they play hi-and-seek wh a homosexualy that the middle of the 20th century was still forbidn.
FARLEY GRANGER ON GAY SUBTEXT ‘ROPE’: ‘IT WAS NEVER DISCSED’
Their crime repeats that of the famo gay duo Loeb and Leopold, whose actual 1920s Chigo "thrill killg" beme the basis of such later movi as Compulsn (1959), wh Dean Stockwell's great gay performance, and the 1992 die film Swoon.
It is a pet mort the middle of a murro afternoon threome, but the gayt moment Rope may be when Rupert nonts the all-but-out Philip: "I wish I uld e straight wh what I want to know.
The scene's most gay flectn surpass the trigue Neil LaBute brgs to ntemporary theater, where gayns and sex are always dirty and certaly treats murr a ghoulish way (the weapon self be a fiendish joke), but s story of one-upmanship and tellectual warfare among a particular class of gay men is ultimately universal; shows extraordary sight, subtly observg mid-20th-century gay behavr. The specific ntext and the moment of time which he was livg, terms of secrecy and when rmatn uld be shared about homosexualy, are very important to unrstandg the characters.