When you watch the scene where Dave watchs the video his son made about his "current state of mind", theres no hints of being homosexual, hence the naked woman, etc.
It makes me think he just liked to wear ladies clothes and hang out with girls and crossdressers. What do others think?
I believe it is the case in the actual world that the majority of cross-dressers are not gay, but we do not know if that's what the writer, director, actor, etc. had in mind for the character (and they might not all have the same thing in mind).
There's also a common belief that someone who likes to cross-dress is necessarily gay. That's definitely incorrect.
http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies
Hi, well CassyJane, i don't know how old you are, however, in the 80's there was a great deal of androgyny going on, especially in the music industry.
Many male bands were dressing up like women, it was popular at the time.
Influences like David Bowie, Duran Duran, Prince and Boy George (he was gay though) were running rampant in the 80's.
I guess it was a way of breaking out and rebelling from conformity of society to dress a particular way.
That's my guess anyway. Still see it these days too with bands like Placebo and even Marilyn Manson to a degree.
In Down and Out In Beverly Hills, just after the son presents his dad with what he likes to dress like, with his band, his sister steps up to their dad and says "don't worry about Max, okay? this androgynous thing he's doing is just part of growing up".
So, i don't think he was gay at all, he just wanted to express himself in a more feminine manner with his style.
Reminds me of Dave Chappelle's impersonation skit of Prince, Charlie Murphy recollects going to a club and mentions "all this androgyny was going on, what was wild was the guy that was dressed more like a b1tch was getting all the women!"
Checkout that comedy sketch on youtube if you haven't seen it :)
See ya.
Leon.
I don't think he's gay at all, he's desperately trying to get his parents attention and is ultimately a bored rich kid who doesn't want to feel ignored or oridinary. He wants his father's acceptance. The likelyhood is that when Dave accepted his son for he was proclaiming to be he would have felt satisfied and moved on to something else.
Hello, I did like reading everyone's point of view, however what made me think he was gay or trying to come out of the closest was the conversation Max had with Jerry before the party happened. "You gotta be what you gotta be Max". I felt that whole convo was related to sexual orientation. Also other bits, like dancing in the tutu, his adamant filming of Jerry naked in the beginning, and him saying he realized what he wanted to be to his dad at the party. Hmmmm, just a thought ;)
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the sister said it was an androgynous phase and i always got the feeling he was really close with her and she understood him so i guess he was, and i know if nick nolte got naked infront of me like he did in one scene i would be lookin at his bits, the son never looked at all...
sharelol I don't think being gay means you have to look at everybodys "bits" at all, I thought that was the whole point of the scene. Nick Nolte was completely naked in front of him because he was totally accepting of the son and not affraid at all, and that "talk" they had was about the kid's homosexuality...
Most of the androgenous phase of the 80's WAS about homosexuality and a step towards the world accepting it, the world was just not aware what they were accepting... most of those bands were gay or bisexual but not "Out of the closet", to the world anyway, people just thought they were being trendy
WHY AM I THE ONLY PERSON ON THIS BUS???
I think the point of the movie, regarding the son's confusion, is that there is so little that is "real" in their lives. They are all caught up in this La La Land whirl of art and insanity (what's the next big thing to trend?) The son is trying to shape his personality and is getting very little feedback or good example from his family on how to anchor yourself in life.
This positively infantile preoccupation with bosoms!Terry-Thomas about US 1963.Hasnt changed much!
The implication in the film is that he's a spoiled rich kid and in his boredom, he has begun to experiment with crossdressing and homosexuality. The same hints are made about the daughter's anorexia. These are things the children are doing because they're rich and bored. The other implication is that he's confused about his sexuality because his parents, and his father in particular, don't pay attention to him and treat him poorly.
It's an older film, so the fact that they portrayed this at all is surprising, even though they do it for comedic effect and treat it as if it's a choice. They portray homosexuality as if it's not just a choice, but a "first-world problem" type of choice where if he were poor and had a job, he wouldn't be "experimenting" with things.
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