#anyway... creates Queer Character out of non-normative narrative functions is the tl;dr

[variousqueerthings]

today will ramble about why I hc Sidney Freedman as queer (leaning on gay and aro) (as of a third of the way through s6)

1. first of all there was this fic (sidenote: I do not know if all these mentions of Leavensworth are actually spoilers or not, but I am become 99% sure that Hawkeye will actually lose it at some point and briefly get hospitalised, don’t tell me though), which I read about 4ish seasons into the show and made me go... “huh, yeah, I could buy that” and has since continued to marinate in my brain, both because Hawkeye and Sid have a very particular relationship that Hawkeye doesn’t have with anyone else (which comes from Sid’s professional and narrative role), and because Sid has... a vibe

2. so then I thought about Sid’s role in the Narrative (covered here), and how that makes him an inherent outsider. He comes in to this established Place and disrupts the status quo. The interesting thing is of course that “disrupting the status quo as queercoding” is usually framed as villainous, whereas he does so for the betterment of his peers, whom he respects a great deal

3. and of course the status quo is already not particularly Straight by virtue of other characters and the general non-normative construction of gendered roles in these sorts of environments (in real life, as well as narratively) -- not just Klinger and Margaret, although they’re the two most obvious ones, but voiced generally through the idea of what women’s roles are in the home/the workforce + nurses speaking openly about sex in what feels like deliberate reversals of how the men talk about sex, Radar’s and Potter’s working relationship, and of course Hawkeye with everyone, but especially with BJ (and Charles may be new to me, but I hazard there’s a lot there too, not least the foppishness...) -- so the question is how does he disrupt the space?

4. Sid is most of an enigma of a person (and not in the caricatured way that Flagg Who Represents The Military In All Its Ridiculousness is), who comes in and allows all these characters’ vulnerabilities to come to the front, without having to share his own (because he’s a psychiatrist, that’s his Narrative Role as well as his military role) -- we don’t know much about him (yet, this may change), which means there’s a lot of easy projecting that can be done, but he is someone one can feel for. And what we do know is that there is... something... about the 4077 that draws him back. For whatever reason, what he needs is to be around a bunch of misfits like these on occasion, for his own health... misfits whom we’ve already covered exist in an incredibly non-normative set of relationship structures + of course the anti-military and anti-conformist sentiment (sidenote: something that Margaret’s tension centers around -- we did just have the episode with the dog....)

5. which, speaking of -- some characters beyond Hawkeye with whom I really like his interactions: Klinger and Margaret. Their frustrations and vulnerabilities in various ways center on being misfits amongst misfits in interesting gendered ways, and he talks with them about it better than anyone else, although Margaret is slowly opening up to others (especially Hawkeye, but it was always Sid who understood her first). He seems to feel deep compassion for people who live as contradictions, and he allows those contradictions to shine, if just for a moment

6. simply put: he queers the space around him, simply by letting them be even more them. The other characters’ feel no inhibitions or shame around him. His status as an outsider, his demeanour around them (sincerity, soft-spokeness, interest, lack of judgement) brings out whatever element of Them that they usually try to tamper down on. That’s, again, because it’s his Role, but it means his Character contains something hard to pin down (and that hard-to-pin-downness I choose to read as queer too)

7. he’s also got some interesting Gender -- his role is to listen, and especially to bring those ugly, terrified, “unmanly” emotions to the forefront and to work through them -- again without any shame attached to those emotions... unfortunately that’s still kind of a wild place for a guy to inhabit in a story (never mind in real life...) He exists to listen, to have compassion, to let others be vulnerable, and he’s very very good at it

8. also, purely technical and less “feelings” analysis, because of how he’s used in the story, his interactions have a habit of feeling very chemistry-laden, especially the ones he has with Hawkeye (whom I will not go into “why is queercoded” because there’s about a million gifsets and analyses on him and one little text-post could never do all that justice -- but also just “Hawk’s Nightmare”) + he hasn’t had a straight love story written for him. Apart from his desire to be present at the 4077 and to help others, he’s not really someone who’s written with wants so traditionally (it may or may not happen, shows like these tend to give everyone at least one romance arc, but so far he hasn’t, so he’s also got that distinction amongst the rest of the cast)

9. (the TL;DR of the first bit of that last point is that his interactions with Hawkeye are kinda sexy by the way, in case that wasn’t clear)

10. I could read him as ace, but I do take a lot from how he is around Hawkeye, not in a necessarily sexual way (lest you be fooled by point the ninth), but as an unspoken kinship that floats in the air between them. Their ease around each other is very particular in comparison to how they are around everyone else -- the aromanticism read comes from his desire to be at the 4077th, simply because it makes him feel better. An untraditional preference when searching for companionship/rest/support/family, even in narratives ostensibly about found families. To project, it’s not so far off from how I engage with my own particular aroness. I like to enter in and out of others’ lives, not disparate from them, so much as checking in on my families and spending quality time with them in R&R -- his place in the story feels familiar to me

11. what can I say, me and everyone in the story every time Sid’s around: 😍

[variousqueerthings]

The Outsiders First Feelings

So I’ve watched the extended movie, but not the theatrical version or read the book (plan on doing both)

spoilers:

Just want to be clear that there is critique of specifically the extended/director’s cut, but overall I am heartbroken at how powerful this story is. So that’s the TL;DR of it.

1.

First thoughts: Man they did well on this casting. Apparently they did group casting to make sure the ensemble worked (also Ralph Macchio remembers how they had to read for all the parts, but he was very insistent that he was auditioning for Johnny and tbh, if I’d been Coppola I’d’ve taken one look at him and gone “yes”)

Anyway this movie works on the strength of the cast more than anything for me. I care about the greasers (have to confess “Sherri” ended up being a non-entity, but that’s not Diane Lane’s fault, the character doesn’t have depth or connection to the others, since her life isn’t explored) because every one of them cares so much about each other.

2.

Second, I don’t know the context behind Hinton’s dislike of a queer reading of the text, but queer reads exist because queer canon has historically been rare/deliberately pushed into allegory and metaphor. All this to say that - however unknowing - she wrote a text that was absolutely filled with that queer subtext that a queer reader would immediately notice (and from the sounds of it a lot of non-queer readers too). Not knowing you did it doesn’t mean it’s not there. And the movie just adds the visuals that belong to that queer-coding.

And wow was this a story about the closeness and homosocial relationships between boys on the cusp of growing up. That shit is queer even before you get to the found family, the loneliness of being shunned just for existing, and the non-normativity of their status in society (class-based, but depicted through their finicky approach to their appearances, also interesting).

And of course. Ponyboy. And Dally. All of them to be honest. So very queercoded. And Johnny… I would be biased about Johnny even if he wasn’t being played by Ralph Macchio – smaller and more delicate in stature, abused at home, unable to form an identity because of how traumatized he is until he runs away for a week with his best friend and creates a domestic house inside a church with him, where they play poker, cut each other’s hair, read gone with the wind, and quote poetry? Okay. Okay alright. 

(sidenote: think director’s should’ve been knocking down the door trying to get Macchio after this and Karate Kid - crafted two wonderfully different characters that’re both considered iconic performances a year after one another)

I initially wasn’t sure who Dally was as a character to Johnny - wasn’t sure if he’d be the one to fuck things up for him for whatever reason, but actually he genuinely wants what’s best for him and functions as that after-image of what Johnny might*ve become if he goes away for the crime, making his motivation that much clearer. He really needed Johnny to live, to pull through, because Johnny was someone to fight for, to be better for...

Johnny had so many people who loved him....... ...................

3.

ANYWAY without having read the book yet, some critique on the movie: 

I think straight book-to-film adaptations are a bad idea 99% of the time and IMO this movie suffered for it. The pacing was just straight-up weird at times. I had a feeling that someone would die and that it’d likely be Johnny or Dally (oh sweet summer child), but while I could see the beats which likely work very well in the book, they didn’t always (sometimes they did) land at the right moments for a film. When Johnny died I went – oh, okay, that happens now, like this? If it hadn’t been for the acting I’d’ve been really annoyed, because of how it was built up and placed, it felt like it didn’t do the characters’ journeys justice.

Also in the extended edition – I was very confused about the music and read afterwards that Coppola straight up yanked out the original score and replaced it with generic 60s bops and why? Do? That? Whole scenes that would’ve been miles better with something else or entirely without music were disrupted (two big ones that stick with me: when they save the kids in the church and when they meet with Sherri before the rumble, but there were more).

That’s two of the main reasons I’m interested in watching the theatrical cut – third is that apparently he took out three scenes from the church for the extended edition and doubly why??? the church sequence depicts Johnny’s first (and only) taste at life. It’s vital to understanding his tragedy!!! whyyy??? cut it????

4.

I wonder how much of this movie acted as a precursor to Stand By Me (probably lots of people talk about this, but idk), just because of the obvious similarities, but Stand By Me did so much better at keeping it on-point and pushing the narrative forward in the right direction. Easier to adapt a short story (also Brokeback Mountain springs to mind) than a whole book, but that’s why I’m interested in the theatrical cut. Also… the music… (whispers, why).

That sounds really critical, but my feeling is mostly positive (well, sad, because everything hurts) – I get frustrated with movies where I can see how they would work with some more focus, because all the pieces are there: Arguably perfect cast, perfect story already provided, some strong cinematography (and maybe also a good score, can’t say until the theatrical), but then it isn’t brought together properly for whatever reason.

5.

Ponyboy and Johnny sure do stand outside and watch the dawn while quoting poetry and Johnny was gold even if he never saw it himself, he really was, urgh that hit my heart. The acting and images are gonna sit with me for awhile – and the tragedy of it all lingered because of the strength of the story and the acting, even if the handling of it onscreen was ultimately a bit clumsy.

Final thoughts:

There’s a deleted scene/rehearsal scene idk, but Ponyboy reads the letter Johnny wrote before he died and it’s just the VO, no visuals other than Ponyboy reading, no music. Just the stillness of that moment. 

So. Much. More. Powerful. I cried watching that. I’m very sad thinking about it.

Johnny is a gender.