Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody
That Freddie Mercury biopic.
Too gay?
Or not gay enough?
Via The Irish Times:
The man in this fiction is crippled by remorse for acknowledging his homosexuality and discarding his heterosexual facade with the woman he always described as being the love of his life…
Queen’s musical journey and the worldwide conquest are now slaves to a heteronormative vision that has been made fit, retroactively, to the lifestyles and sensibilities of the other three members of Queen.
Early on it becomes a “confession” film, following a model the French philosopher Michel Foucault recognised as participating in the creation of “an abusive guilt, something alienating and offering control over the confessed by a normative culture”.
In the movie Freddie Mercury almost appears as someone asking for forgiveness for being what he is. Like the real singer, screen Freddie also desires men but, in doing so, he “sins”.
He does not understand, as a sequence in the film shows, that another member of the band (Taylor) does not have enough time for carousing because he has a family, a woman and children for whom he feels responsible.
Screen Freddie lived out a sexuality that his time still considered mostly as deviant. This homosexuality, in the movie, leads him to make wrong choices, to damn his soul and come under evil influences.
By moving away from his “mother house,” portrayed here as a self-inflicted exile or banishment, the film shows an impressionable, almost weak-kneed Freddie Mercury sinking into the gay underworld of London, New York or Munich, eventually contracting an unknown virus – a stigmatising “gay cancer” – that will eventually kill him, as it killed over 30 million people since 1981…
The soundtrack’s not bad though.
FIGHT!
Pic: 20th Century Fox
Thanks Biddy Bitcoin
Christ, what an absolute head melt, say he’s fun at parties
There is no way you can please people who see the world through the lens of identitarian obsession.
No minority characters in the movie? “Its heteronormative, straight white, etc”.
Movie has minority characters that are less than perfect (i.e. human)? “Its a built on hate and stereotyping.”
It has minority characters in it who are great fantastic people? Its sanitised.
There is no way you can please people who see the world through the lens of identitarian obsession.
No minority characters in the movie? “Its heteronormative, straight white, etc”.
Movie has minority characters that are less than perfect (i.e. human)? “Its a built on hate and stereotyping.”
It has minority characters in it who are great fantastic people? Its sanitised.
“Patriarchal”
“Heteronormative” x 2
“Neocolonial”
Quoting that utter charlatan Michel Foucalt (Now theres a guy Id like to see get #MeTooed)
I got bingo.
you are willfully dim, I fear, old chum.
I thought it was quite good all the same.
the straights are at it again
Fat bottom girls you make the rockin world go round.
And that ‘tache eh? Fooling no one
I enjoyed the movie. Thought Malik’s performance was brilliant and the Live Aid finale is spectacular. It did seem airbrushed and sanitised at times – obviously May and Taylor were editorialising. But it was only a tiny bit annoying. Took nothing from the film or Freddy’s memory. A closer exploration of his sexuality wouldn’t have got a 12A cert anyway
Totally airbrushed the reality, and such a bore because of it. Mind you, Cu will always have those happy memories from a stay at Pikes, luckily for me that’s all I have..
Fair play Cu. You mean Pikes Hotel where Freddy had his 41st birthday a few months after discovering he had AIDS?
A certain hotel in Ibiza.. Mr. Mercury liked to let his hair (among other things) down there. Found myself there quite by accident. Changed my life.
How did you edit that..?
He had many parties there. Lots of other people did as well. The party in question is noted because of the AIDS diagnosis. A kinda of high and low point at the same moment.
Look, it may be the most irrelevant posting ever but it needs to be said that the only cool one of the band was John Deacon.
Here’s why
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/may/06/newmedia.comment
and Ctrl F for Deacon.
HA!
+4 strings.
Good man John! Deacon rocked those Hot Space hits too.
https://youtu.be/jyuYysrCiYs
I grew up in the late 70’s early 80’s , I like queen, especially when coupled with the Highlander movie, I didnt really know what Gay was, but I do remember in secondary school when I found out his sexuality , still didnt understand fully what it meant , but after that I pretended I didnt like the band …
Im glad I dont think like that anymore and Im a tiny bit ashamed of myself, especially because I found out years later my best friend, who I hung out with a lot was Gay and he couldnt tell me ….
Typical Irish Times identity politics rehash.
Fat bottomed girls must go down a ton with Una and co.
Lad who played Geldof was far too clean. Malik rocked it (no pun intended).
True on the Geldof portrayal :)
That review is…. bad words, bad thoughts, bad reads.
.
.
.
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie myself, I laughed a few times, I reminisced of the era, I empathised, I weeped a bit, and was delighted with the reminder of the day in the extended Live Aid ending.
And at no point did I feel, or think, Freddie was asking for forgiveness for being gay. I call bullpoo on the reviewer reading that into the movie.
As for quoting Foucault… ah, me hoop! :0)
Here’s a review worth reading….
https://areomagazine.com/2018/11/11/a-persian-popinjay-a-review-of-the-film-bohemian-rhapsody/
Why was my comment on this thread deleted please?
All I was doing was making a humorous point that the reason it appears to have been sanitised was because a decision was made to make it a PG and I very much doubt if that was by the other band members.
Of course little about Freddie could be portrayed in a PG because he was of his time. Hedonism, sex and politics was gay culture back then and some might say it is still the same but there are other options nowadays.
+1 Hard to put Freddie’s story of that era in a PG movie, and they did a good job, if you ask me.
Tnx Clamps, as deleted comment, I said was that I hadn’t seen it and that lesbians tend to be over protective of their children which in this case, is fair enough.
Apart from the anti smoking zealotry.
The Live Aid piece lasted even longer than their actual performance. Painful!