Okay, I watched this movie on CMT on Saturday and I really loved it, but i'm alittle confused about the end. Was Billie Joe gay or was he raped by his boss? Everyone seems to have a different opinion about this and I was wondering if someone could clear it up for me. Thanks.
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I totally agree. Nowadays, if and when this type of thing happens, we live in a time where most people are able to put it into perspective and chalk it up to "just something that happened" or experimentation. But Ode to Billy Joe takes place in a time before rock and roll had come along and glamorized sexual excess and debauchery, and in a place that was rural and God-fearing in the extreme. What comes accross so profoundly in the movie, thanks to the incredible score and cinematography, is the sense of innocence lost, that nothing can ever be the same again for these two individuals (Billy Joe and Bobby Lee...and to a lesser extent, Billy Joe's boss, Dewy Barksdale). I think what transpired that night after the jamboree called into question Billy Joe's sense of self. He had lost his swagger, his former confidence that at any time he could be Bobby Lee's knight in shining armour. That night had shattered his conception of where he fit into what it meant to be 'a man.' I don't think Billy Joe was gay, but I think that Dewy Barksdale was; there are hints at other times in the film that he desired Billy Joe.
shareit has been so long since i have seen this move, what were some of those other references?
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Do everything in Love. I Corinthians 16:14 NIV
CMT did not cut out the scene (most networks do, by the way!!) where Billy Joe admits to his teenage girlfriend that he willingly went with the man. He answers her comment "you were drunk..." with "No, I knew what I was doing.." Cheer up sweet2me1123, homosexuality is'nt the big bad boogeyman in this world today, intolerance and hatred is!!
shareI REALLY DON'T THINK THAT BILLY WAS GAY IN THE BEGINNING. I THINK THAT CURIOSITY GOT THE BEST OF HIM WHEN LUSTY DEWEY CAME ALONG AND HE WENT WITH THE FLOW, THEN HE WAS UNABLE TO LIVE WITH HIMSELF. IN MY OPINION, I DON'T BELIEVE THAT A PERSON CAN BECOME SO PISSY DRUNK THAT THEY CAN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!! I THINK THAT IS AN EXCUSE. NOW IN DEWEYS CASE, HE WAS ALREADY AN EXPERIENCED DOWN LOW HOMOSEXUAL WITH A WIFE AND KIDS. THAT WAS HIS FRONT! DURING THOSE TIMES A MAN WOULD NOT DARE COME OUT THE CLOSET IN SMALL TOWN MISSISSIPPI. I DON'T THINK THAT BILLY HAD ANY OTHER "EXPERIENCES" MAYBE HE HAD FEELINGS AND NEVER ACTED ON THEM. I CAN'T REMEMBER ANY SCENES IN THE MOVIE THAT REFERRED TO ANY OTHER INCIDENCES BEFORE HE MET THE GIRL.
shareSweetme wasn't saying anything bad about homosexuality. Just asking a question. Relax.
shareNo way she was pregnant... did TRY to have sex with her but could "rise to the occasion". Therefore, unless it was an immaculate conception, it couldn't be a baby. It was the doll (and should have also been the romance novel she had been reading). They both realized that they were trying to live out a fantasy...like she did with that doll, talkng to it and he trying to court and like her.
Although he was drunk and the boss used it to his advantage since why would a hottie like Billy break down and after the dude had been hinting at it through out the movie. There is a line in the movie that gets to the core of his pain and which many selectively ignore. Even though he was drunk, he say he knew what was happening and HE LIKED IT. Now, this is a huge thing to blurt out, particularly being a young man, in Mississippi in that era--hell, it's not easy today, so I can't even imagine what kids like him went through. I won't get into Billy Joe's intricate psychology, but from the moment I saw the movie years (and I mean years!) ago, it was obvious to me that the movie observes Billy Joe taking this journey where he attempts to be something he's not and enacts his ideal of what a perfect heterosexual might be, only to come to the inescapable realization that that was not a life for him to lead. It's devastating.
As noted elsewhere, he seemed to genuinely like BL, though.
BJ did seem at least somewhat Bi, and to enjoy the encounter with the guy, but I don't know if he could love the guy the way he loved BL.
Guess it's open to interpretation.
I believe Bill Joe was just curious and later regreted his decision, perhaps stretching the truth by trying to believe he was to drunk to remember, however his guilt and shame overcame him. I admired James Best's subdued performance as Dewey. He didn't capitalize on the role and underplayed him so that he was believable.
shareHe was drunk and taken advantage of which caused confusion in him. As someone said here living at the time he did having sex with a man was just wrong, an abomination. It's still wrong just more accepted in todays world. Billy Joe lived in a world where their was black and white. If you have sex with the same sex then you are gay. Today he would have just chalked it up to a really really bad and disgusting decision made while he was drunk.
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