MovieChat Forums > Suddenly, Last Summer Discussion > References to sugar

References to sugar

posted 11 years ago by RigbyEleanor
4 replies | jump to latest

I saw this film for the first time as a teenager and didn't have a clue about what I was watching. But I found it intriguing then and now--the acting and dialogue, I suppose. I saw it again for the 3rd time recently and each time I see it, I notice something new. More clues to Sebastian's homosexuality.

Is it intentional or incidental that Dr. Cukrowicz' last name in Polish translates to sugar and that in one scene Dr. Hockstader refers to a sugar plantation or some other reference to sugar and the hospital grounds? (And/or maybe it was Violet or Katherine referring to sugar, I can't remember.)

"Sugar" is often a euphenism for homosexual, isn't it? That's why I'm curious to know if Williams referred to sugar purposely. Experts, am I reading too much into it?

[–] smdpi-mail-com 10 years ago

I'm not an expert, but I always thought sugar meant sex. I'm thinking of the Nina Simone song 'I want a little sugar in my bowl'.

[–] michaeljcummings 10 years ago

I never heard 'Sugar' connected to homosexuality. Didn't violet refer to him as Dr. Sugar? I alway saw it as a haughty dismissive attitude towards 'europeans'-'oh your name is too complicated, you'll be Dr. Sugar," mirrored by Sebastian's haughty attitude towards 'europeans' 'oh, you're a poor Spanish peasant boy, bend over.' Plus, it was likely Williams being perverse: someone with a name like Sugar performs lobotomies.

[–] mwlindsey2000 9 years ago

According to the book "Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh" which I just read, "Dr. Sugar" was an homage to Williams' own psychiatrist who had that nickname.

[–] singjohn 8 years ago

I have heard of homosexual men referred to as "sweet".