Why do so many gay people love this film?
Curious to know why you think so many gay men love this film.
Let's hear your comments.
I read that the author of the book was gay. Or at least he was bisexual. But that probably has little to do with why gay men love this film. My husband is happy (bless his heart!) to watch football for hours and wear a beige jumper everyday. To me, this is very uninspiring and...boring. I think that a gay man could understand this just as well as any straight woman. If I utter Doris Day's name, my husband just rolls his eyes. About 2 years ago, I brought 'Pillow Talk' to work. My gay co-worker was thrilled and we watched it together during our downtime. My point is that gay men tend to like what we like. My husband wouldn't even consider watching 'Auntie Mame'! His reasons are:
1)It was made in the 1950's. Any film made in the 1950's or any decade before must be rubbish.
2)If it's an old film, it must be incredibly slow. Old films are never worth watching because they don't age well.
3)No killings!
Do gay men dismiss films for these reasons? Do they judge classic films this way? Maybe some do. But none that I have met.
*I know that there are straight men who like this and other classics. It's just that I have yet to meet one. My dad and grandpa don't really count.*
Well, that's my two cents. I hope that I haven't offended anyone. I hate to say too much on these boards. The last time I made a perfectly honest assumption, I got flamed.
Anybody wants me can come in and get me. This ain't a drive-in.
Perhaps it's Mame's flamboyant "Life is a banquet" attitude, perhaps it's her clothes, perhaps it's her perseverance in the face of adversity . . . perhaps it's the exagerrated gestures and brittle wit, or her big heart and her intolerance of intolerance. . .perhaps, as Pauline Kael observed, Auntie Mame is the ultimate drag queen, which appeals to some, but certainly not all, gay men.
It didn't occur to me for the longest time that there is anything "gay sensible" about AUNTIE MAME, and it certainly never occurred to me that my affection for AUNTIE MAME might tap into anything about myself (she's been a presence in my life for almost 40 years, and I have two walls covered with AUNTIE MAME-orabilia). And though well along in awareness of myself, I remember being quite surprised when details of Patrick Dennis's 'double-life' came out, because it simply wasn't something that it even occurred to me to speculate about. But there certainly are clues: in the novel there's an interesting exchange between Mame and Patrick, when she's pushing him towards marriage and he's not moving along fast enough to suit her: She asks him, "You don't like the boys, do you?" "Only to shoot craps with," Patrick responds. Hindsight makes me wonder if Patrick Dennis was still trying to convince himself that this was true.
Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!
I have never had the opportunity to read the book, but thank you for that wonderful tidbit about Mame and Patrick and her inquiry into his sexual preference. I was quite bowled over.
I tend to agree with Pauline Kael, that Mame was the ultimate drag queen. Her flamboyance, her with and her style are all things that appeal to a big part of the gay community.
Interestingly if you watch the beginning of the movie, during the first party scene, there are two women who bear a striking resemblence to Alice B. Toklas and Gertrude Stein. Only reinforces, if subtlely for the time, Mame's tolerance/acceptance of all lifestyles.
I may as well have property of M.G.M. tattooed on my backside!
You mean Warners'. Hee hee. By '58 the individual studios' distinctive looks had gone, and RR made a lot of films at both, but Auntie Mame was made at Warners'.
shareHere are my observations on why I love Auntie Mame....
She redecorates her apartment (fabulously!) every two weeks. I'm sure that I am not the only one who would have loved to have accompanied her to Yul Uhlu's showroom when she picked out the furniture with hydraulic lifts...
She thumbs her nose at convention by holding illegal hooch parties with guest that include obvious lesbians (in 1928!) and keeps a very obvious gay man as her trusted servant and confidant.
As is the case with Tennessee Williams' stories where you can generally read the female lead as Tennessee himself, Patrick Dennis projected a lot of his thoughts and feelings onto Mame Dennis.
She detests "restricted" communities and prefers co-educational schools.
Four words: Plain old pickled rattlesnake!
Libido, inferiority complex, stinko, blotto, free love, bathtub gin, monkey glands, Karl Marx, narcississitic, lysissistrata, cubism, squiffed, neurotic, heterosexual...
Child, how can you see with all that light?... Oh that moon's bright!
What the hell have you got back there, reindeer??!!!!
I could go on and on but I am now in the mood to grab my vintage cigarette holder and watch the film.... again...
___________________________________________________________________________________________________
I'm scared to death that Jensy is going to drop her [fire] baton and fry like a Buddhist monk! - Wayne Wayne Wayne, Jr.
"Libido, inferiority complex, stinko, blotto, free love, bathtub gin, monkey glands, Karl Marx, narcississitic, lysissistrata, cubism, squiffed, neurotic, heterosexual..."
Oh, you don't need those words for weeks and weeks.
I love this movie, yet I am most definitely heterosexual.
Kinda blows the stereotype.
Well, I suppose I must don a breastplate once more to play opposite Miss Tits.
Another interesting tid bit is when young Patrick is reading off the list of words he doesn't understand, Mame snatches the list from him when he reads off 'heterosexual'. It sort of implies that the next word would be 'homosexual', and Hollywood wasn't able to deal with homosexuality openly at that time.
shareugh...
AKIronside...
I would be extremely offended by your statements
if they weren't true.
It's sickening
that more gay men have taste
than straight men.
Heterosexuals of the world unite!
1)It was made in the 1950's. Any film made in the 1950's or any decade before must be rubbish.
2)If it's an old film, it must be incredibly slow. Old films are never worth watching because they don't age well.
This film was released the year I was born, but I absolutely love it and don't think it's slow at all. I was actually surprised the first time I saw the running time because the film doesn't feel that long at all to me. As for the film's appeal to gay men, I'm not sure.
Mr. Isaac5855;
Very good comment. We checked out your film comment/reviews, MOST IMPRESSIVE!
How long did it take you to have so many entries? In three (3) years we have only a little more then three (3) pages and we find your reviews for the most part very well thought out. Unlike many contributers to the message boards who are to spineless to stick their necks out and contribute no comment/reviews or duck the issue without any rating at all. We would like you to look at our comment/reviews and state wether they were usefull or not.
Thank you for reading my comments and for the compliment. Actually, I have a job where I have minimal supervision and an unusual amount of down time and once I discovered this website, I became totally addicted to it. Your knowledge of classic films is impressive. I think the average age of posters on this site is around 17. I read a thread one day from someone titled their thread "My Favorite Old Movies". I opened it up and there wasn't a single movie on the list made before 1989. My knowledge of classic films gets a little fuzzy beyond about 1935 and I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with a lot of the films you reviewed, but you seem to have an appreciation for the classics and the whole studio system of the 30's and 40's. Especially enjoyed your reviews of GIRLS IN CHAINS and DILLINGER.
share
It seems that you didn't read everything I wrote in that post; just the bits you didn't like. I hope you realise that I was giving my husband's opinions about the classics, not mine!
[deleted]
Patrick Dennis was the pen name of Edward Everett Tanner III, who was married with two children. Auntie Mame was based loosely on his eccentric aunt who lived to be nearly 100.
shareDear God your husband sounds like a typical shallow, unimaginative, obstinate (pigheaded) and obtuse mouthbreather lacking culture, no offense to you please. I honestly cannot understand, let alone stand, people who always think new is better and older is dull and staid. In regard to your husband's point of view, it is my opinion modern film is created for the intellectually challenged. Thanks for "listening" to my diatribe.
share