Contents:
- WHY THE GAY SUBPLOTS ‘THE LIGHTHOE’ AND ‘JOJO RABB’ DON’T GO FAR ENOUGH
- WHY THE GAY SUBPLOTS ‘THE LIGHTHOE’ AND ‘JOJO RABB’ DON’T GO FAR ENOUGH
WHY THE GAY SUBPLOTS ‘THE LIGHTHOE’ AND ‘JOJO RABB’ DON’T GO FAR ENOUGH
Both movi e om wildly ventive filmmakers wh styl so specific their films n feel like their own mi-genr, but they share half-baked gay subtexts that fall short of their amb visns.
In a story about two men on a serted island, the homoeroticism is practilly baked to the log-le. ” But a foppish Hler is the least of Wai’s troubl — the real homoeroticism to play wh Sam Rockwell’s character.
(Wai don’t even beg to addrs that the Nazis were sendg gay people to ncentratn mps. The movie’s “exclively gay moment” may be lour than the one “The Lighthoe, ” but ’s far more problematic, as Wai plays for edic affect to generate sympathy for his characters — queerns as shorthand for humany.
WHY THE GAY SUBPLOTS ‘THE LIGHTHOE’ AND ‘JOJO RABB’ DON’T GO FAR ENOUGH
Of urse, neher Wai or Eggers are gay, which is not to say straight filmmakers n’t or shouldn’t e queer elements their work.
In Jojo Rabb (2019), both Capta Klenzendorf and Freddie Fkle’s self-ma uniforms have upsi down pk triangl, which is the patch Nazis would give to distguish homosexuals ncentratn mps. This is another vastatg lson: the great hollowg-out force of totalarianism renrs even tragedy only actual feat of heroism the movie—the only act that volv sacrifice and has nsequenc—is mted by Capta Klenzendorf (Sam Rockwell), a gay Nazi who, cked out his end-of-days uniform adorned wh red ge, sps at Jojo and lls him a “dirty Jew” orr to save him om beg executed by Rsian soldiers, who, short orr, open fire on Klenzendorf and others.
So, although many people followed Hler, there was also a handful who went agast the Rosa-WkelAlso known as the verted pk triangle, the Rosa-Wkel found on gay ncentratn mp uniforms. While n not be ignored there is a loyalty that lgers, votn to a untry is hard to break, there is a sad realizatn that Capta Klenzendorf is gay, hidg for his life the ranks of the Nazis, his partner Fkel (Alfie Allen) by his si and his flask to pe. )The movie’s “exclively gay moment” may be lour than the one “The Lighthoe, ” but ’s far more problematic, as Wai plays for edic affect to generate sympathy for his characters — queerns as shorthand for humany.