That's the secret. To a young boy in today's society, being gay is comparable to killing a man in half.
I mean, what is the purpose of the whole man being cut in half scene? How can anyone relate to it or feel for the kid? Not to mention, how obviously grotesque and unreal the death scene was.
Also at the sex scene with his gf hints at this strongly.
Is this common knowledge or some random b.s.?
I saw this movie for the first time when I was fifteen, knowing only that the director Gus Van Sant was gay, and I felt that this movie was made for me, a deeply closeted gay teenaged boy who felt that if he told anyone he was gay, it would cost him the love and trust of his friends and family and ruin his life as he knows it.
Which is very similar to the situation in which Alex finds himself in this film. I recognized the paranoia of his experience, and while I would never say that my being gay was the same experience as that of a sixteen- year old who committed manslaughter, I think the mind of someone that age has to be taken into account. Everything is made out to be bigger, and scarier, than it actually is. Just like Alex, I felt that the whole world was out to get me, that everything was a trap (from "Do you have a girlfriend?" to "What did you do today after school?" to "What are you thinking about?"). I found myself in Paranoid Park, in circumstances far more demanding than I was ready for; no one's ever really ready for Paranoid Park, but eventually you find yourself there anyway.
Did Gus Van Sant make this movie about what he experienced as a closeted gay teenager? I think so, yeah. But that doesn't mean it's not just as true for anyone who has ever kept a secret inside of him or herself bigger than ever should have been able to fit. I think the sex scene in which Alex is nothing more than an idle witness to his own deflowering is revealing (another instance I can relate to), as is all of his disinterest in women (watch as Macy's anxious hand squirms next to Alex's as his own rests unaware). All of Jake's intense gazing at Alex suggests to me that maybe it's not his girlfriend he actually wants to screw, and the same is true of Scratch. That doesn't explain the scene with Macy's friend at the mall catching Alex's gaze, but sexuality isn't black and white, and perhaps she just recognizes the kindred spirit of an outsider in him.
We won't even touch on Gus Van Sant's worshipful shots of Alex's cherubic face and body, which are at once predatory and intimate.
I'm not alone in this theory. Manohla Dhargis' review in the New York Times notes that "the critic Amy Taubin has provocatively suggested to Mr. Van Sant that the film’s subtext is that of a gay initiation," to which "he didn’t disagree" (http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/movies/07para.html).
Loved this movie for years. It saved me back when I was a teenager because it told me my experience wasn't specific to me. Whether Van Sant anyone agrees with me or not, I'm grateful he made it.
Well argued. Definitely gives me a new perspective on the film.
shareThis is ridiculous. There are so many holes in your argument, temeculasunrise. Firstly, you say that the sex scene is when Alex is 'deflowered.' At no point in the film does he say that he is a virgin. He mentions that his girlfriend is, but as he never says that he is, it is implied that he is not. Also, his 'idle witness' to the sex is not 'revealing' in regards to his sexuality. He is detached from the moment because ever since he inadvertently killed that man, he has felt detached from all aspects of life.
Furthermore, far from being 'disinterested' in women, in the diner scene, the camera pans over the two girls (showing Alex's POV) for several seconds, in the same kind of manner in which you claim that Van Sant's 'worshipful (sic) shots' of Alex are 'predatory and intimate.'
Also, Jake's 'intense gazing' at Alex- you must be referring to that moment when they are in the car. Rather than being sexual, surely they can be read more as Alex's paranoia. This is after he has killed the man with his skateboard, and as Jake is asking him questions about what happened to his skateboard, Alex is obviously going to feel nervous. So Jake's gazing, which is from Alex's POV, represents Alex's fears that he is going to be found out.
Would you think this film had a gay subtext if Van Sant wasn't gay?
Also, in the book which the film is based on, it is clear that Alex likes Macy sexually and there is no gay subtext. The book, apart from being chronologically different, is very similar to the film, and most of the lines from the film are taken word-for-word from the book.
I agree with you Mitzishark....I was confused by people coming to that conclusion that it was about Alex being gay. Never got that feeling.
shareWhat? That is not even hinted at. spoiler:
The entire movie is about him being traumatized by accidentally killing someone and feeling guilty and stressed out wondering if he will be caught or should confess. He was walking around like a zombie not even caring about his normal life. Stress and anxiety kills libido that is what the girl friend plot is about. He didn't care about school, his parents, the war in Iraq, sex, or anything else. All he could think and talk about was the trauma of the person he killed, what he should do with that secret, and the status of the police investigation -For the entire move.
No, I completely disagree. His girlfriend was a horrible bitch. Her ugly personality was enough to turn off any sensible person.
shareMaybe I'll have to give the film another viewing...but I never made that correlation at all. But then again, Gus Van Sant is gay, so that really wouldn't surprise me if that were the case. Interesting interpretation by the way.
I always viewed Paranoid Park as being a film about a teenager who struggled with experiencing emotions. I viewed it as a story about emotional detachment and emptiness.