Billy Elliot - market research on the name
The building I bought on Main Street, my office building, was built in 1836 and apparently one of the first people to use it was an abolitionist member of the Free Soil Society, an insurance agent/fiduciary/financial trustee named "Billy Elliot". That's sort of cool since two hundred years later it has a similar use.
Forty years ago or so there was a brochure made up with a tour of "underground railroad" stops in Our Small Town. This is plausible on several levels: Sojourner Truth lived [close to] here, we're on a navigatable river that ends pretty much in Canada, etc etc. So I sort of believe the pamphlet when it shows a picture of my building and calls it the "Billy Elliot House".
I want to raise the prestige of the building, so I've decided to put a sign on the front, maybe even two. Smack in the middle of the second floor I want a sign naming it, and maybe a plaque at the door saying "Circa 1836". (Personally, as a building owner, I see this as just a reminder that horrors lurk in the wiring, foundation and chimneys. I may not put up that sign.)
At issue is what I call it on the sign. The brochure calls it "Billy Elliot House", but its primary purpose is as professional offices, even though there are two residential apartments upstairs. Plus, googling "Billy Elliot" tells me that it's a movie about a boy who wanted to switch from boxing to dancing.
I watched the movie last night - market research, you know - and it's actually sort of a lovely story. A very conservative friend had sounded careful about telling me about it, murmered it had a lot of swearing in it. It does indeed. But I think what's more at issue is the fairly kind treatment of repressed homosexuality. The boy doesn't actually appear to be gay - it's not clear one way or another - but his best friend pretty clearly is. The boxer-turned-dancer is having a hard enough time with sexual stereotypes just by wanting to do ballet. He is buoyed by a letter from his dead mother telling him "always be yourself" and he extends that courtesy to his cross-dressing, make-up wearing best buddy. His first instinct when his friend makes a pass at him is kindness (although later when another boy gets familiar with him he responds with a punch to the face.) I think the story about "be yourself even if that's a poof" is, um, not a problem, but not exactly the message I'm trying to send with my building.
So, instead, I'm thinking of calling it, on the sign, "Elliot Building". That's nice and prestigious, right, without the confusing subtext?
I think I talked myself into it. Any reason I should rethink this?
Forty years ago or so there was a brochure made up with a tour of "underground railroad" stops in Our Small Town. This is plausible on several levels: Sojourner Truth lived [close to] here, we're on a navigatable river that ends pretty much in Canada, etc etc. So I sort of believe the pamphlet when it shows a picture of my building and calls it the "Billy Elliot House".
I want to raise the prestige of the building, so I've decided to put a sign on the front, maybe even two. Smack in the middle of the second floor I want a sign naming it, and maybe a plaque at the door saying "Circa 1836". (Personally, as a building owner, I see this as just a reminder that horrors lurk in the wiring, foundation and chimneys. I may not put up that sign.)
At issue is what I call it on the sign. The brochure calls it "Billy Elliot House", but its primary purpose is as professional offices, even though there are two residential apartments upstairs. Plus, googling "Billy Elliot" tells me that it's a movie about a boy who wanted to switch from boxing to dancing.
I watched the movie last night - market research, you know - and it's actually sort of a lovely story. A very conservative friend had sounded careful about telling me about it, murmered it had a lot of swearing in it. It does indeed. But I think what's more at issue is the fairly kind treatment of repressed homosexuality. The boy doesn't actually appear to be gay - it's not clear one way or another - but his best friend pretty clearly is. The boxer-turned-dancer is having a hard enough time with sexual stereotypes just by wanting to do ballet. He is buoyed by a letter from his dead mother telling him "always be yourself" and he extends that courtesy to his cross-dressing, make-up wearing best buddy. His first instinct when his friend makes a pass at him is kindness (although later when another boy gets familiar with him he responds with a punch to the face.) I think the story about "be yourself even if that's a poof" is, um, not a problem, but not exactly the message I'm trying to send with my building.
So, instead, I'm thinking of calling it, on the sign, "Elliot Building". That's nice and prestigious, right, without the confusing subtext?
I think I talked myself into it. Any reason I should rethink this?