Boys n the band
Screening Paper: Boys in the Band
Foremost, the film Boys in the Band, is the first major-studio production to deal frankly with homosexuality; a breakthrough film in the gay film genre. This film centers around a birthday party at an apartment in the city, where a group of closely knit friends are invited but a straight man surprisingly arrives, making the already unbearable tension even worse. What starts out as an entertaining evening plummets into a rollercoaster ride of emotion, infused with wit, and self-loathing, where there is humor one minute, and then it nosedives into a few gay friends ripping each other to pieces. At moments I cringed at the screen, then I laughed and I even felt awful. I felt as if the entire time I viewed this film I was doing so as an outsider, out of pure curiosity of the lives homosexual men lead and the awkward situations they encompass. Boys in the Band is directed to the 1970’s society, which at the time was blind to the homosexuality that had been going on around them for decades. It focuses on the ability to place a few dysfunctional people in a room together and force out great and awkward dialogue, and ultimately some characters' "evil" sides. While watching the movie I was astonished by how these men treated each other. For example Harold says, “beware of the hostile fag, when he’s sober he’s dangerous, when he drinks he’s lethal”, to Michael, who organized Harold’s party at his apartment. However, Michael was the bluntest character in the movie, he always spoke his mind (mainly because he was drinking) and at times he would brutally degrade the other men at the party. Even worse, violence is ignited throughout the movie from colliding homosexual personalities and the presence of a straight man at the party. At moments the cruelty of this film, whether physical or verbal abuse, makes you wonder how these men could of been friends before and how could they still be friends after this party. I believe the point of this
Foremost, the film Boys in the Band, is the first major-studio production to deal frankly with homosexuality; a breakthrough film in the gay film genre. This film centers around a birthday party at an apartment in the city, where a group of closely knit friends are invited but a straight man surprisingly arrives, making the already unbearable tension even worse. What starts out as an entertaining evening plummets into a rollercoaster ride of emotion, infused with wit, and self-loathing, where there is humor one minute, and then it nosedives into a few gay friends ripping each other to pieces. At moments I cringed at the screen, then I laughed and I even felt awful. I felt as if the entire time I viewed this film I was doing so as an outsider, out of pure curiosity of the lives homosexual men lead and the awkward situations they encompass. Boys in the Band is directed to the 1970’s society, which at the time was blind to the homosexuality that had been going on around them for decades. It focuses on the ability to place a few dysfunctional people in a room together and force out great and awkward dialogue, and ultimately some characters' "evil" sides. While watching the movie I was astonished by how these men treated each other. For example Harold says, “beware of the hostile fag, when he’s sober he’s dangerous, when he drinks he’s lethal”, to Michael, who organized Harold’s party at his apartment. However, Michael was the bluntest character in the movie, he always spoke his mind (mainly because he was drinking) and at times he would brutally degrade the other men at the party. Even worse, violence is ignited throughout the movie from colliding homosexual personalities and the presence of a straight man at the party. At moments the cruelty of this film, whether physical or verbal abuse, makes you wonder how these men could of been friends before and how could they still be friends after this party. I believe the point of this