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SCREENING THE SEXES-A REVIEW

By Tim Tavcar

It took me a long time to decipher just where Mr. Tyler was coming from in this book, even though he states his perspective quite clearly in the apologia. "I have not meant to present this repertory here in any solemn, academic way, a way lacking in humor. If I introduce conceits, if I go for fun and strategies and innuendo, it is because that is what sex does, in life as in the movies."

If he could have only contented himself with that basic philosophy! Instead, in his

somewhat labored efforts to introduce his conceits, fun, etc., he resorts to a self-conscious arch-bitchy style reminiscent of rehashed Rex Reed--without the charm. But here I go, falling into the same trap.

Actually, from an academic standpoint, the book is a welldocumented dissertation on the subject of cinematic treatment of homosexuality from the silent screen era to 1972, the date of the initial printing. But to illustrate his catalogue, Mr. Tyler has created a god of homosexuality--Homeros by name--and through this artifice proceeds to muck up what could

have been a useful reference source.

Homeros plays any and all roles: male, female, passive, ac-. tive, sadist, masochist, etc., and he acts, according to liner notes, with. "mischievous fun and grim mischief." He capers constantly and with little taste or discrimination throughout Mr. Tyler's treatise and we see him all too often as the sole catalyst for many a turn of plot or character development. Indeed, this nebulous concept is often offered as proof or justification for homosexual orientation.

This exploration of "hidden homosexual motifs" is stretched

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to a point of incredibility. While a case may be advanced for those films made before the "enlightenment" of the sixties, it is very difficult for me to believe that the creative minds behind films made during the past two decades would feel constrained to cloak gay themes in murky symbolism.

Finally, we are asked to see this book in the light of social reform. We are asked to see Parker Tyler as a man who has

written a work which illustrates the need for re-definition of sexuality in general and a reevaluation of the moral attitudes of society towards sexual expression. This bit of pretentiousness is presented in the introduction and is never really touched upon again until the final chapter. The critical commentary in between does not really serve as a sound body for

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which to expand or even expound upon the idealogy of sexuality he forwards in the introduction. Why not write a book dealing specifically with that topic? Why introduce that facet into a book whose primary function is encyclopedic? It seems to me that Mr. Tyler is trying to cover too much ground here and by spreading himself so thin, neither aspect of his book gets well-buttered.

Nonetheless, from the standpoint of sheer literary craft, the book succeeds, as it sparks a great deal of controversy (or at least ambivalence, as evidenced by this review.) Actual critical commentary on the movies themselves is clear and concise and only makes one wish that Mr. Tyler could have narrowed his scope a bit to produce a much needed supplement to the catalogue of gay-oriented artistic output.

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