» Farley Granger on Gay Subtext ‘Rope’: ‘It Was Never Discsed’ |
Contents:
- WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’
- FARLEY GRANGER ON GAY SUBTEXT ‘ROPE’: ‘IT WAS NEVER DISCSED’
- GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
- GAY KILLERS AND LBIAN ‘GHOSTS’: THE HAYS CO & SUBTEXT HCHCK’S ROPE (1948) & REBEC (1940)
- FARLEY GRANGER, HCHCK & THE GAY SUBTEXT OF ROPE
WHEN HCHCK WENT GAY: ‘STRANGERS ON A TRA’ AND ‘ROPE’
* rope gay subtext *
So for the purpos of this his “sgle shot” technique, the specifics of the plot do not matter so much as the unrlyg nnotatn: homosexualy.
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.
FARLEY GRANGER ON GAY SUBTEXT ‘ROPE’: ‘IT WAS NEVER DISCSED’
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.
Reprsed the shadows of the low-key lightg of noir, homosexualy uld be suated and nied jt as easily as uld be veloped. 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).
GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
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. The subtext isn’t an accint; the film’s screenwrer Authur Lrents was gay, as were both Granger and Dall.
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. 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.
GAY KILLERS AND LBIAN ‘GHOSTS’: THE HAYS CO & SUBTEXT HCHCK’S ROPE (1948) & REBEC (1940)
)Rope is based on a Brish stage play by Patrick Haton, adapted by actor Hume Cronyn om a screenplay by gay theater legend Arthur Lrents. 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. Worth Another Look: An Intertg Take on the Gay Subtext Hchck’s Granger, Jimmy Stewart, John Dall“The three central characters Rope are homosexual.
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. There wasn’t a word of dialogue that said the lovers were lovers or homosexual, but there wasn’t a scene between them where wasn’t clearly implied. Beg gay, beg any mory is a bond, and Stewart has none the picture except wh an old maid who is lerally the maid.
FARLEY GRANGER, HCHCK & THE GAY SUBTEXT OF ROPE
Of particular tert are Granger's ments about his work wh Aled Hchck, which began wh the 1948 psychologil drama Rope, loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb murr and drippg wh gay subtext.
As for other gay subtext, Granger lghs out loud when acknowledgg that, "It was never discsed!
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.