Male Bisexuality in Current Cinema: Images of Growth, Rebellion and Survival

256 Pages·2011·1.559 MB·English

by  Justin Vicari

Male Bisexuality
in Current Cinema
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Male Bisexuality
in Current Cinema
Images of Growth,
Rebellion and Survival
J V
USTIN ICARI
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Vicari, Justin, 1968–
Male bisexuality in current cinema : images of growth,
rebellion and survival / Justin Vicari.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-6160-8
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Bisexuality in motion pictures. 2. Homosexuality in
motion pictures. 3. Men in motion pictures. I. Title.
PN1995.9.B57V53 2011
791.43'6352663—dc22 2010044516
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2011Justin Vicari. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the publisher.
On the cover: A scene from the 2004 film A Home at the End of the
World with Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts and Robin Wright Penn
(Warner Bros./Photofest)
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
To the memory of
PARKER TYLER
(1904–1974)
and
JACK SMITH
(1932–1989)
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Table of Contents
Preface 1
Introduction: Searching for Bob Elkin 7
Part 1. Personal Visions
1. Fifteen Minutes of the Future: François Ozon’s A Summer
Dress 31
2. To Bend Without Breaking: Bisexuality and Adaptation in
the Films of André Téchiné 39
3. Tentative, Tender ... and Trendy? Gregg Araki’s Teen Trilogy 51
4. Rock Star Bisexuality in Todd Haynes’ Velvet Goldmine 64
5. For Whom the Bi Tolls: Craig Lucas’ The Dying Gaul and
Ozon’s Water Drops on Burning Rocks 72
Part 2. Alone and with Others
6. Making the Man: The Bisexual Hero 91
7. Illegible Patriarchies: Bisexualizing the Family 108
8. Fazes and Mazes: Inside the Triangle 142
Part 3. Matters of Love and Death
9. The Schoolboy Crush and Its Ambiguous Object 161
10. Turning It On and Off: “Bi for Pay” 174
11. Allegories of AIDS 186
12. In His Wake: The Strange Power of the Dead Bisexual 204
13. At the Limits of Heterosexuality: The Woman’s Viewpoint
in Anatomy of Hell 219
vii
viii Table of Contents
Conclusion: “It’s All Good” 232
Chapter Notes 235
Works Cited 239
Index 243
Preface
This book analyzes a variety of films about bisexual males. In all of these
films, bisexuality is treated both as an actual practice and as a complex
metaphor for a number of things: the human need to adapt to changing envi-
ronments, the questioning of rigidly traditional male roles and identities, the
breakdown and regeneration of family structures, the limitations of monog-
amy, and the stubborn affirmation of romantic love.
I wrote this book because I wanted to explore the subject of male bisex-
uality in cinema and found very little serious scholarly research on it. In film
theory, as in so many other areas of life, bisexuality (particularly for males)
seemed unseen and unrepresented. Wherever a film gave evidence of male
bisexuality, critics often re-categorized it and explained it away as a more
familiar and “comfortable” scenario. Either a heterosexual male was dabbling,
or a gay male was having trouble coming out. The idea that something serious,
real, complicated, and enthralling might be taking place in the space between
the two primary identities of gay and straight was overlooked (or the films
themselves were).
In an ongoing David and Goliath battle, homosexuality and heterosex-
uality have been squaring off for socio- sexual territory since the late 19th cen-
tury. They are the two main categories we have for sexual behavior, even as
we sometimes acknowledge that sexuality itself is hard to define, nebulous, a
“gray area” subject to nuance, mood, fantasy and opportunity. Nonetheless,
we cling to the gay and straight labels even, or perhaps especially, where the
labels seem to be in question.
Bisexuality has been most controversial where it seems to be a rejection
of the two primary labels and of the ongoing power struggle between them.
Culturally, we seem to have a vested interest in reducing human behavior to
obvious dualisms (male/female; gay/straight; and so on)—and also, needless
to say, in perpetuating the idea of struggle at the heart of identity, e.g., that
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