(no subject)
So I've been on a gay romantic movie kick - and yes, I do mean that they are homosexual romantic movies. The three so far are Rent (though that may not count), Maurice (which certainly does) and Wilde (ditto). It was Maurice that got me thinking...
Maurice is a Merchant Ivory producation of the first widely published homosexually romantic novel in England. It tells the story of two boys who meet at Oxford and fall in love. Though attempting to continue a romance for a while, the pressures of Victorian England come to bare as one of their school friends gets picked up for "crimes of immorality" and sentenced to six months hard labor. One of the pair, Clive (Hugh Grant) gets frightened by this turn of events and resolves to straighten out, pun intended. The scene that struck me the most was when Clive informs Maurice that he can no longer be in love with him and that they both must turn their attention to women...
What struck me about the scene had a lot to do with the character of Maurice. Before meeting Clive, Maurice was unaware of himself - and I use that word specifically. As the boys relationship grows and Clive eventually declares his love for Maurice, Maurice begins to examine himself quite frankly and within a couple of days has rectified himself to what he deemed the "worst crime in the calander." He excepts himself.
And when Clive tells him he must change, he replies "Can a leopard change its spots?" What a conclusion for this young man to come to and at such a time! It makes one rexamine the lack of homosexual characters in literature and history - if one can truly know what one is, then where did they hide?
Maurice is a Merchant Ivory producation of the first widely published homosexually romantic novel in England. It tells the story of two boys who meet at Oxford and fall in love. Though attempting to continue a romance for a while, the pressures of Victorian England come to bare as one of their school friends gets picked up for "crimes of immorality" and sentenced to six months hard labor. One of the pair, Clive (Hugh Grant) gets frightened by this turn of events and resolves to straighten out, pun intended. The scene that struck me the most was when Clive informs Maurice that he can no longer be in love with him and that they both must turn their attention to women...
What struck me about the scene had a lot to do with the character of Maurice. Before meeting Clive, Maurice was unaware of himself - and I use that word specifically. As the boys relationship grows and Clive eventually declares his love for Maurice, Maurice begins to examine himself quite frankly and within a couple of days has rectified himself to what he deemed the "worst crime in the calander." He excepts himself.
And when Clive tells him he must change, he replies "Can a leopard change its spots?" What a conclusion for this young man to come to and at such a time! It makes one rexamine the lack of homosexual characters in literature and history - if one can truly know what one is, then where did they hide?