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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

April 23, 2010

www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com

Masculinity, in all its forms

by Anthony Glassman

William Shakespeare wrote in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The course of true love never did run smooth," and truer words have seldom been committed to paper.

Of course, there is also the problem of determining whether it really is true love, whether one has found Mr. Right-or Mr. Right Now.

That immediately brings to mind one of Wolfe Video's latest offerings, the British film Mr. Right, by brother-andsister team Jacqui and David Morris. He wrote it, they co-directed, and you can watch it alone or with friends, or just one special loved one.

The film introduces itself by showing Louise going to a video dating service; apparently, the man they fixed her up with is actually quite gay. But while she is a central figure in the film, it is not about her at all. Rather, it is about her gay friends and their boyfriends and the ups and downs of their relationships.

There is aspiring actor Alex, who lives with his television-producer boyfriend Harry. Alex just cannot seem to get a break in the business, but is a fantastic chef, while Harry is miserable with the home-improvement shows he makes.

There is kept boy Lars and his pretentious artist lover Tom, who is so afraid of losing him that he is blind to Lars' infidelities.

Finally, the ensemble is completed by William, a rugby-playing antiques dealer who fathered a daughter before realizing he was gay, going through an acrimonious divorce and losing his exwife in a car accident. His young daughter seems intent on sabotaging his budding relationship with soap opera actor

Lawrence, who is barely more mature than the nine-year-old girl.

While Louise's side-plot lends some structure to the story, it does not really add anything to it, and probably could have been left out. However, the film as a whole is a witty romp through generally pretty boys living in nice apartments or houses in London. It's not necessarily representative of the real lives of most gay men in England, but it's a fun film.

Speaking of rugby and gay men (and, for that matter, Wolfe Video), there is also the new documentary The Butch Factor, examining the role masculinity plays in the lives of gay men, how it is expressed and how society responds to it (or the lack of it) in various people.

From participants in gay rodeos, football, baseball, softball and rugby leagues, the leather community and the gym to drag queens and sissies, the movie really covers its bases. In a culture where personal ads are likely to include the phrase "no fats or fems," what does it mean to be a gay man? How does one express masculinity when society at large believes your existence is antithetical to "traditional" forms of masculinity?

Director Christopher Hines does a good job of covering his bases, interviewing men across the spectrum of male expression. There is the couple who are relatively "butch," but dress in drag for rodeos and other events to raise money for charity. There is the gay boy from rural Pennsylvania who, while now living in San Francisco, has still had beer bottles thrown at him as he walked down the street with his boyfriend. There is the transman who has difficulty crying now that he is on

testosterone, but finds himself often in a rage for no apparent reason.

What is perhaps the most gratifying about The Butch Factor are the men who acknowledge that the sissies and drag queens are, to a great extent, tougher than the "manly" men, because they cannot hide their sexual orientation behind a façade of butchness— they are constant targets, and develop the armor and weapons to protect themselves.

Of course, there are also one or two men in the film who express opinions that would seem to reflect internalized homophobia, how just because he's gay, that shouldn't define him, or just because he's gay, that doesn't mean he has to be flaming. It's a form of cerebral recidivism that is disturbing, to say the least.

Those men don't seem to realize that, by its very definition, masculinity is what a man does. There is a range of behaviors and expressions for masculinity, and one of the academics interviewed in the film points out that it is cultural, not genetic. In some cultures, heterosexual men walk down the street holding hands, or kiss each other when greeting. It is only in the United States that there is quite so much of a hang-up about the John Wayne/Marlboro Man desperado who would shoot you as soon as look at you.

If there is one drawback to the film, it is the narration, which sounds disturbingly like Joe Slattery, the narrator from Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, only slightly sedated. A little more excitement might have added a little to what is otherwise a solid, thoughtful documentary.

“Engaging!" “Romantic!”

LA Minally

“Terrific!"

-WestCoal.com

Mr. Right

CH

Wolfe

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