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.
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’
» Farley Granger on Gay Subtext ‘Rope’: ‘It Was Never Discsed’ | * 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.
FARLEY GRANGER ON GAY SUBTEXT ‘ROPE’: ‘IT WAS NEVER DISCSED’
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.
GAY CODG HCHCK FILMS
’ 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. Reprsed the shadows of the low-key lightg of noir, homosexualy uld be suated and nied jt as easily as uld be veloped.
GAY KILLERS AND LBIAN ‘GHOSTS’: THE HAYS CO & SUBTEXT HCHCK’S ROPE (1948) & REBEC (1940)
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.
FARLEY GRANGER, HCHCK & THE GAY SUBTEXT OF ROPE
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.