On Characters' Sexualities; Representation and Phobias. The Case of Queer Representation in Strange Way of Life (and other films)
I was hesitant to do this essay for a long time.
On one level, we live in a very polarized world and my essay is going to be diplomatic. Unfortunately, in polarized times like this, this means that I am going to be perceived as siding with the opposite side of your position rather than analyzing the whole thing from a neutral angle.
It also has to do with a queer (and the first draft seems to present them as gay. Let's see if that changes as the story evolves, which will be impacted by now seeing the movie and interpretations) fanfiction where I pair Silva with another cowboy I have interpreted as queer through the years (Slow West's Silas Selleck. More on him later).
OK, As you probably saw from the second paragraph, you probably know where I am headed with this. There was one recent Tumblr entry that was posted as I was starting to write that nailed the same thesis of here. Like the author, I do think Almodovar left the specifics of Silva and Jake's queer sexualities purposefully ambiguous and open to interpretation. He never defined Strange Way of Life as a gay Western but a queer Western, and I do think that it is equally valid interpreting Jake and Silva as either gay or bisexual.
That unless one believes people can only be straight or gay and sexuality is that clear cut.
(I may argue that Almodovar has left some ambiguity in the nature of the queerness of some characters all along his, with many of his characters left free to identify as bisexual. This is nothing new for him)
I also get that the gay fans of Pedro want a representation with his character that they hadn't been able to have before. My bisexual bias make me think of Oberyn as possible queer representation, but I am not a gay man. So I get they finally getting Pedro to have a character that represents them. And based on historical facts, it is true that many gay men did get married to women and have children, and some had affairs with women to repress their desire for people of the same gender. In fact, this is an argument I have made for Slow West's Silas Selleck, a character I read as gay. (*SPOILER ALERT*) I have had counterargued that Silas is "straight" because it was implied that he married Rose at the end and adopted the Swedish Children. I made an analysis of it being a convenience arrangement and possibly the adoption of Children making Silas not obligated to sleep with Rose. A similar argument could be said about Silva (except with him having a son).
However... My problem is that some of these gay people asking for gay representation, use biphobic language. Let me get out of the way that I am not talking about people saying it is not biphobic to interpret Silva as gay (and just leave it at that). I also get the not liking Silva with a female character if can't relate to that. BUT saying that interpreting Silva as bisexual "cheapens" the queerness of his (and for that matter, Jake's) characters or "corrupts" their story, ignores bisexual men as queer people simply because bisexual men can also desire women. It's as if the possibility of desire women taints them and negates their queerness. As a bisexual woman, I have gone through that crap from Lesbians for years.
(There is also the issue of gay people not believing that bisexual men exist, but to be fair, I have not seen Silva's sexuality critiqued from this angle. It would be also a case of bi erasure if it is).
GENERAL BI MEN REPRESENTATION
There is another fact. This is not a matter of "homophobic heterosexual women against gay representation." Let's face it, there is a lot less bisexual male representation than gay men representation in media. Only now we have more with Alex Claremont-Diaz in Red White and Royal Blue and Nick Nelson in Heartstopper. They are more unambiguous and the representation comes with more casual mentions of being bi (either by the characters or the narrative). But even with these characters, I have seen tjings like "Nick Nelson was just an adolescent, too young to figure out his sexuality. He has not shown interest in women during the story."
As points of reference: We have Brokeback Mountain. There is strong evidence (even stronger as SWOL) that both Ennis and Jack could very well be bisexual. You could argue that in their time they were married to women because they should, but even in the movie (I haven't read the book) they look very much attracted to their wives and Ennis to the girlfriend he had after his wife. Counterarguments have included Ennis preference for anal sex in the book (plenty of heterosexuals and bisexuals like anal) and the book written by a woman. Call me by Your Name has this same dilemma of men showing attraction to women in the movie (again, I haven't had the chance to get the book). Their relations with women are more on screen and there has been an argument that they were gay and just experimenting, particularly Elio. And that's valid. But I also wonder if referring to these characters as bi, gay people feel they are being "corrupted" and "straightwashed" and "cheapened." I know some say that it's not valid because Call Me By Your Name was written by a straight(-identified?) man anyway.
In conclusion: the interpretation of Silva and Jake as any sexuality other than straight is pretty much valid. That being said, it is also true that there are not as much bi male representation as gay representation, and there is no need to incur in biphobic language when you want to make the (again valid) point of seeing Silva as gay. Having heteronormative attractions doesn't make a bisexual/pansexual man any less queer (especially when they have queer attractions as well) and similar arguments can be done for a plethora of characters showing multiple gender attractions, whether on-screen or casually mentioning them.
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you are my sunshine !!!
*ੈ✩‧₊˚ in which she's their sunshine and it's sunshine's birthday.
or
for when you find the people you can call home. ˚ ༘♡ ⋆。˚
social media au // lando norris x fem!reader
warnings - language
author's note - hello!!! i really hope u like this one!!! also, i have more than 20+ requests in my inbox at the moment so if you've requested something, it may take some time for me to post them, so sorry about that ://// thank u so much for reading, i love you <3
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