The release”Bros“Welcome to commemorative articles and evaluatepromoted as the first “gay rom-com” by a major studio (Universal).
The protagonist is Bobby (Billy Eichner), the outspoken, outspoken director of a fledgling LGBTQ+ history museum, who struggles with commitment issues in a culture that seems to emphasize conflicts. casual sexual encounters instead of close relationships.
He soon meets Aaron (Luke Macfarlane), a tough lawyer with his own commitment issues. The film chronicles their difficult courtships in a crude, broad comic style.
Despite critical acclaim, many gay men, my self and otherNot only was he captivated by the film, but he also found it to be fundamentally horrifying.
Written by Eichner and directed by Nicholas Stoller, the film sets forth an ideology that represents a very narrow section of the community, a group that is not gay but “LGBTQ+” or more specifically is “homosexual”.
The story demonizes ordinary gay men and rewrites gay history in the process.
Let’s mention historical revisionism in the movie.
As part of his effort to bring the Museum of LGBT+ History to life, Bobby wanted to emphasize the idea that Abraham Lincoln was gay, based on the fact that Lincoln shared a bed with his friend Joshua Speedman. The president also wrote affectionate letters to him.
Other characters correctly counter Bobby’s interpretation, pointing out that there is no evidence of an erotic relationship between the two men and that, most likely, they are just close friends, in a way. 19th century is different from the way Men frankly express their feelings right now.
But when it comes to actual gay history, the film embraces a one-sided understanding of the past that is more in line with the “odd” revisionism of recent times than what actually happened.
The Stonewall Riots are mentioned a few times, and while the film’s credits, it turns out that we don’t know who threw the first brick (if even there were any). “The First Brick”), when reviewers Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were raised, Bobby told Aaron something along the lines of “we owe our rights to women of color.”
It’s an often-repeated myth about the history of the gay rights movement, often telling stories of Johnson and Rivera being at the opening of Stonewall and starting out. Pride.
However, as recent interviews with Jim Fouratt and Fred Sargeant – veterans of the gay rights movement from the 1960s and earlier and both were present at the Stonewall Riots from the start – points out, neither Johnson nor Rivera were present in action begin. They were active in gay organizations in the early 1970s, but that involvement was limited in scope.
It should be noted that Sargeant actually co-created Gay Paradewith his boyfriend at the time, Craig Rodwell, along with Lesbians Ellen Broidy and Linda Rhodes.
Johnson’s role as a transgender icon is masked by the fact that he is a gay man who declares to be transgender, meaning he only expresses himself through manipulation without actually claims to be a woman.
Not mentioned are pre-Stonewall characters like Karl Heinrich Ulrichs (first man to come out as a political act, in 1867) or Frank Kameny (the first gay man to file a citizenship claim based on sexual orientation, in 1958), or later numbers like Leonard Matlovich (first gay service member to oppose the ban on gay men serving in the US military, in 1975).
This is a work with the film’s ideological bias, completely positioned from the LGBTQ+ or gay philosophy, which rejects the larger mainstream culture as “superstition” and oppressive.
Anger and resentment towards the larger culture runs through the film. Consider a revealing moment when Bobby bitterly recounts events from his youth when authority figures in the form of acting teachers point out to him that his pomp, camp he will probably limit the type of roles he will be able to play.
The script allows this outrage to spill over into the rest of the film, as Bobby not only expresses his disdain for Aaron and Aaron’s high school friend Josh (Ryan Faucett) for being people gay men, but they’re also basically dismissed for not being the right type of gay man.
They are not “odd.”
This is an increasingly common feature in the real world, where gay men who do not follow the TQ+ ideology are demeaned, often as in a very obnoxious way. To see it play out in a “gay rom-com” is underwhelming today and even insulting.
Artistically, “Bros” isn’t particularly impressive: there’s only a few bursts of laughs, most of it at gags rather than the wit and humor rooted in the dimensional characters. true depth. Stoller’s direction is bland and tedious.
Despite critical acclaim and rampant advertising, the film flopped in its opening weekend, earning just $4.8 million against a $22 million budget – and that’s 40 less. % compare to Universal was expecting.
Eichner responded to the disappointing numbers by blame homophobiabut many gay men also stay away.
Unfortunately, that’s just the world we live in. Even with brilliant reviews, excellent Rotten Tomatoes scores, A CinemaScore scores, etc., outspoken people, especially in certain parts of the country, still don’t show up for Bros. And that’s disappointing but that’s what happens.
– billy eichner (@billyeichner) October 2, 2022
Maybe if he made a movie that wasn’t plagued by angry, resentful ideologies, and instead focused on creating a witty film with likeable, authentic characters, and especially the audience homosexuality, may have responded more warmly.
Joseph Jones holds a degree in History from the University of South Florida and has been a film buff his entire life. He lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
