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Why is this movie so politically incorrect?


I just read a review on this movie and said it was a big waste of time and suggested some real Gay movies like: The Naked Civil Servant" or "The Boys In The Band."

Right now there are a lot of movie about straight guys experimenting with Gay sex. But for some reason it's not okay for a gay man to experiment the other way around.

Theirs was a marriage of convenience and they learned to love each other in the end. They were able to accept each other on some new level and find a place that was great for both of them.

I'm a gay man who has fallen for a woman or two in his life and I almost went down this road. In the end, I'm glad I didn't but who's to say a gay man and a lesbian can't be happy together.

How limited is the mind of the modern homosexual. I'd like to think we love people ... not genitalia

Macklin Crew

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I think the reason it was disliked at the time by the gay community was because back then there were no (non-porn) movies with positive depictions of gay relationships (a couple "social problem" TV treatments and barely-released indie films like "A Very Natural Thing" don't count), so it seemed galling that somebody finally made a nice little movie about two nice gay people...who "turn straight" for each other. Straight audiences didn't take to it because they just didn't want to see anything about gay people, unless they were comedy relief stereotypes or such.

It's easier to see the movie on its own terms now, it was just a little ahead of its time. It probably still is...most gay and straight people want their movie characters to be demonstrably one thing or the other (or bi, on rare occasions, and how often have we had a well-rounded bi character in a movie?). I certainly know people who were tooling along at one end of the Kinsey Scale or another, then met somebody and got happily married or partnered or whatever in a gender direction one wouldn't have anticipated from past relationships. (I remember one woman's parents being deliriously happy, barely suppressing the urge to shout "It's a man! Thank god it's a man!" Not that she "went straight" to please them--it just turned out that way.) Maybe one of these centuries people (and movies) can just accept that some people's sexualities are fluid.

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I've seen a couple of the movies the reviewer had suggested as well-rounded, gay-themed films, and I didn't really care for either film. They weren't keepers. "A Different Story" has a lot of charm, and it's a great flashback to the late 1970's. It's a keeper! I wish I could inform that reviewer that I've actually known a married couple who were a gay man, and a gay woman. It can happen. I'm sure the odds of this happening are small, but there is a certain reality behind "A Different Story." That reviewer said "A Different Story" is bound to "infuriate any self-respecting gay people." Well, I have a lot of self-respect, and I'm not even slightly infuriated. In fact, I've always found "A Different Story" to be high-spirited and charming. He also claims the movie is, "a prime example of the pathetic misinformation offered up by the film industry for way too many decades regarding issues of sexual orientation," but he doesn't state why he claims this! I would guess this claim is based on the plot involving a gay man and a gay woman falling in love, but as I said I've actually seen it happen. The guy was truly gay, and the woman was a true lesbian. However, they somehow connected and eventually got married. They even started a business together. I'm a sucker for a good, interesting love story; no matter who (or should I say "what") the main characters may be. I've enjoyed "A Different Story" ever since I saw it in the late 70's, and today it's a lot of fun seeing all of the things that were very common back then...the styles and fashions, the furniture, the cars, the rotary-dial telephones, etc. The movie is hardly dull! It's warm-hearted, and it takes its time to let us get to know the characters. It's also well acted.

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Are there actually movies about straight men experimenting or are they mostly about guys who pretend they are straight accepting their sexuality. I'm not trying to be a smartass I can only think of one example of the former and the others are usually the later.

"The only time politicians are telling the truth is when they are calling each other liars."

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I found my way back to this post by accident. I was looking up Guerin Barry. He played the part of the computer (ALEX 7000) in an episode of the Bionic Woman entitled "Doomsday is Tomorrow". In "A different Sory" he played the part of Ned but I don't remember him.

Anyway, while I was here I re-read all the posts and realized how advanced this movie really is. It is the first movie (that I ever heard of) where the leading actors are both established homosexuals.

That's pretty radical when you think about it. Also I believe there were a few scenes that depicted their gay lifestyles.

In closing, I think the rule about the bird and the fish needs to be rethought:

A Gay Man and a Lesbian can fall in love but what bars would they go to.

Happy New Year. I'm heading to the village.

BTW - The movie: A Home at the end of the world comes to mind in straight people experementing. In real life: John Lennon had a one night with Brian Epstein which was very similar to the movie Home at the end of the world. There's also Threesome. And finally, we would not really get anywhere as a spieces unless there were a few smartasses in the world to push us into doing something stupid. Which brings both points together.

1. Straights experimenting with Gay themes
2. Smart Asses making us do silly things

Jackass ... the movie.

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[ How limited is the mind of the modern homosexual. I'd like to think we love people ... not genitalia ]

yeah, but what fun would it be if you loved someone but their genitals grossed you out?

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Sex and Love rarely come in the same package. To answer your question ... then they are not really in love.

Macklin Crew

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It was very daring for the time period, and I think it is fairly common for gay people to become emotionally attached to their friends of the oppostie sex. I think at the time it was the idea that they were bi was what was so shocking. You had to be one thing or the other. That alas, has not changed in all circles.

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The reason why so many dislike this film is that for ages, homosexuals have been told that they can be "cured" and "turned straight". Therefor it's stupid and offensive, in my opinion, to make a movie about two homosexuals turning straight for each other, especially in a time when there were hardly any gay role-models in movies. It's like all these religious people who say being gay is just a phase and that it can be cured. It sends out the wrong message and I find it disgusting.

And the reason movies with straight guys experimenting with gay sex is more acceptable is simply because straight, white men are the "norm" in our society, and straight guys do not have a history of being told that they aren't normal and that they can be "turned".

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