As well as counting down the top twelve films, I’m also going to count down my top twelve movie related “moments” of 2012. The term “moment” is elastic, so expect some crazy nonsense here. And, as usual, I accept that my taste is completely absurd, so I fully expect you to disagree. With that in mind, this is #7…
I’m normally hesitant to involve politics in this blog. It is, after all, a blog about popular culture. Indeed, I am the first to complain about obnoxious celebrities standing on their soapbox espousing their political beliefs. It’s not that I disagree with them, or that they aren’t entitled to their opinion, I’m just uncomfortable with the idea that being famous makes you an expert to speak on a particular cause or issue. Still, in the spirit of Christmas, allow me one small digression.
That said, I couldn’t help but smile at the climax to ParaNorman, a solidly entertaining family adventure that took its own message to heart. Embracing the idea that there’s nothing scary about something just because it’s different than you, it earned the wrath of the extreme right because it dared to suggest that one of its character might be in a loving and stable homosexual relationship. It’s great to see a family film actual acknowledge that sort of diversity, particularly in a way that doesn’t sensationalise the matter in hand. It’s a damn funny one-liner to boot, and the fact that it’s willing to call the audience on their assumptions is particularly endearing.
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Sort of way that a child might feel different than their peer group. In this instance, he can see dead people. Everyone in town thinks that he’s weird, and even his own father is uncomfortable with Norman’s unique talents. Inevitably, Norman uses his gifts to save the town and the people learn that they don’t need to fear those that are different from them.
It’s a fairly conventional moral, especially for a film aimed at kids. After all, tolerance is something that you can never really have enough of. However, what distinguishes
Is the way that it dares to put its money where its mouth is, and to actually explore what tolerance means. In one particularly inspired subplot, the movie turns expectations on their head by portraying a bunch of innocent zombies victimised by terrified town folk. It’s a delightful sequence that turns the zombie genre on its head.
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And then there’s a superb final twist. Norman’s sister, Courtney, has a crush on one of their merry gang, Mitch. Mitch is a stereotypical jock. He’s not the brightest bulb in the… er… wherever one chooses to keep bulbs… and he has some pretty mean muscle mass. He’s a good soul, though, and – like everybody else – he does his bit to help the group through the worst of it. And, having saved the world, Courtney finally asks him if he’d like to go to see a romantic comedy with her.
It’s a great moment for several reasons. First, as mentioned above, it turns our expectations on their head. It’s a joke at Courtney’s expense, but probably at the expense of most of the audience as well. Like Courtney, most movie-goers probably jumped to conclusions about Mitch based on his physical appearance his characterisation, making us somewhat complicit in Courtney’s misreading of the situation. It gets us to second-guess our preconceived notions, which is something that very few family films are willing to commit to, and it deserves credit for that.
Is a great word to throw around if you want to make a film seem deep, but it’s easy to dilute the word by keeping the film abstract. Sure, it’s fun to learn not to pre-judge a zombie or a kid who can see dead people, but that’s not something most of us do on a daily basis. While it’s not a bad idea in theory, I’m not sure exactly sure the world would be a much better place if only more people tolerated zombies. It is always good to suggest a practical application of an abstract idea like
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Explaining that tolerance might have some more practical application. Politics is a thorny issue for blockbusters, and the right-wing is always prone to bouts of moral outrage. That doesn’t justify the studios’ unwillingness to tackle homophobia straight-on, but it does explain why they are reluctant to do so. It’s nice to see that
Actually has the courage of its conviction. If you want to teach kids not to hate people who are different than them, it’s always good to actually show people who are outside the
Simply doesn’t make a big deal of it, which I think is important for kids. Mitch is gay. That’s it. It isn’t the only aspect of the character, and it doesn’t define him. He just happens to like guys instead of girls. The whole scene is over in less time than it takes to read this paragraph. Mitch’s sexuality isn’t some strange quirk or something that needs a lot of explanation. It’s part of who he is, but it’s easy enough to understand, and it isn’t
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That he is. I really fail to see how that concept is so difficult to explain to children. Instead of a girlfriend, he has a boyfriend. Instead of a wife, he has a husband. It’s that simple.
Mitch’s sexuality is obvious a big deal to him, and a big part of who he is, but it’s not something that really concerns anybody else. I think that’s the best thing about
, and it’s something I’d like to see a bit more of in cinema. It is worth noting, this year also gave us another nice gay moment in Jeff Who Lives at Home where the revelation of a character’s sexuality was a similar non-issue. You love who you love, and that’s that.
Sorry, I'm Gay
Filed under: Movies | Tagged: Anna Kendrick, art, avengers, Blu-ray Disc, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Courtney, Dark Knight Rises, Family film, film, joss whedon, Kodi Smit-McPhee, loki, Mitch, Moonrise Kingdom, Movie, nick fury, Norman, ParaNorman, Sam Fell, Tucker Albrizzi |You know the moment: Norman’s cheerleader sister Courtney (voiced by Anna Kendrick), having spent half the film cooing over Neil’s jock brother Mitch (Casey Affleck), wraps up the evening by asking the football hero for a date. Nothing fancy, just a movie. Mitch, aloof as ever, misreads the invite and reveals that his boyfriend loves “chick flicks.” Cue rimshot.
It’s a tired joke, a zinger that was already creaky when it was recycled earlier this summer, when it served as a punchline in the music video for Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe.” But here’s the thing: it’s a joke that appears in a heavily marketed family film. Kids across the country are dragging their parents to see a strange animated horror-adventure yarn, and they’re winding up watching the first openly gay character in a kiddie flick.
Is too good to be reduced to merely “a kiddie flick.” Its appeal is wide; anyone of any age with a hunger for knockout visuals and terrific storytelling will find much to love here. Butler and co-director Sam Fell keep the subversion going elsewhere, twisting the story into places we don’t expect, while crafting a story that’s
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The throwaway nature of the joke is key, not because the filmmakers are trying to slide something past us, but because the quick punchline is played with such flippancy it renders the character’s sexual orientation otherwise irrelevant. In the world of
, Mitch is gay and everyone’s fine with it. This ties in with the movie’s lessons about bullying and fear of those who are different, but it does so subtly, quietly. Maybe it’ll plant a seed in the minds of some younger viewers, who might begin pondering,
This alone is a very, very cool thing. But here’s even something cooler: the nature of the joke suggests Mitch is out. He’s completely casual about talking in public about his boyfriend. How’s
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Gay. That’s a hell of a role model to toss to teens lurking in the closet, and could very well help lead to a generation which has no use for the closet.
I’d like to think we’re on our way to that generation. Some of their parents might object (as this depressing IMDB message board suggests), but at the screening I attended, not one kid seemed to mind. After ninety minutes of watching a study in intolerance and fear, that’s the perfect way to react.It’s easy to be underwhelmed by representation in children’s media today. Still, we should appreciate what we have, as it can pave the way for more definitive representation in the future. In fact, sexuality plot twists in shows and movies have enabled us to reevaluate our perceptions of what constitutes a “normal relationship.”
“ParaNorman, ” a 2012 film about a young boy who speaks to the dead, became the first mainstream animated film to feature an openly gay character. At the end of the film, as everyone reunites and looks to the future, the character Courtney asks her crush, Mitch, if he’d like to catch
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