Brian Pierce
The Limits of the Privacy Protection
The Supreme Court today refused to hear a case challenging the Pentagon’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. There’s been an enormous amount of frustration in the gay community over the White House dragging its feet on this issue, and it certainly doesn’t help that the Obama administration was urging SCOTUS not to hear this case, arguing that DADT is “rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion.”
I share the growing fear that the Obama administration has decided to distance itself as much as possible from gay rights issues, and that it has no plans to act on behalf of the gay community unless it is absolutely forced to. It’s hurtful and disappointing and, for a president who has been fairly gutsy on national security and foreign policy, genuinely surprising to me.
Homosexuality & Hollywood
It’s being reported that Sacha Baron Cohen’s highly anticipated “Bruno” movie – his follow-up to Borat centering around Cohen’s flamboyantly gay Austrian fashionista – has been slapped with an “NC-17″ rating after its first submission to the Motion Picture Association of America. Because Hollywood studios almost never release NC-17 rated movies, it’s a near certainty that cuts to the movie will be made removing the more objectionable parts of the film (and that those parts will later be put back in for a director’s cut DVD). Why the NC-17 rating? According to the report:
Among the objectionable scenes is one in which Bruno — a gay Austrian fashionista played by Baron Cohen — appears to have anal sex with a man on camera. In another, the actor goes on a hunting trip and sneaks naked into the tent of one of the fellow hunters, an unsuspecting non-actor.
Admittedly I don’t know how graphic these scenes get, but I’m willing to bet that an equally graphic scene involving heterosexual sex would not provoke the NC-17 rating. I’m reminded of the cuts made to Stanley Kubrick’s underrated classic Eyes Wide Shut, in which his shots were digitally altered in the famous orgy scene so as to block out a couple instances of lesbian sex, thereby reducing the rating from NC-17 to R.
This story comes on the heels of an even more bizarre story: Times Online reported a couple weeks ago that I Love You Phillip Morris, a new comedy starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor as incarcerated gay lovers, from the guys who brought you Bad Santa, may go straight to DVD in the United States for lack of an American distributor:
Film industry insiders said the movie, which features a graphic sex scene and frequent references to gay sex, had fallen foul of anti-gay prejudice in America.
I’m skeptical that this movie won’t eventually find a distributor, but the fact that it’s even having trouble is a little startling. In the wake of Brokeback Mountain and Milk – both profitable films that portray gay sex and deal explicitly with gay subject matter – it seems a bit bizarre that Hollywood would conclude that American audiences wouldn’t be open to this movie.
It shouldn’t be that startling, however. Homosexuality in film tends to fall into a few limited categories:
- Tragedy: gay characters ultimately meet with a tragic fate, usually death. See, e.g., Brokeback Mountain, Milk, Philadelphia.
- Comic relief: gay characters or homosexuality in general is used as a gag. See, e.g., I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, any movie with a hilariously flamboyant gay dude.
- Female companions: gay characters exist solely as the fun-loving, sassy friend of the lead heterosexual female, esp. common in romantic comedies. See, e.g., My Best Friend’s Wedding.
- Murderers: gay characters are psychotic killers. See, e.g., Monster, Rope.
I Love You Phillip Morris doesn’t appear to fall into any of these categories. The gay characters here are not mere comic relief, they’re the center of the story. And while homosexuality was also at the center of I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the joke there was OMG THOSE STRAIGHT GUYS HAVE TO PRETEND TO BE GAY, THAT’S TOTALLY ZANY, and while I haven’t seen it, I’m told that at one point in the film the characters are told to kiss to prove their homosexuality lest they face some severe consequence I can’t remember, and the joke is that that would be just too gay so they don’t do it. I Love You Phillip Morris doesn’t appear to be going for that kind of humor.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, incidentally, made over $120 million domestically. You hear that, and you hear that I Love You Phillip Morris is struggling to find an American distributor, and you basically want to shoot yourself in the fucking head.
Trailer for I Love You Phillip Morris after the jump (no trailer out yet for the Bruno movie).
Turning Inward?
The economic crisis is pushing nations in two directions: first, inward toward protectionist or isolationist policies; second, toward developing an international system that can respond to and prevent these crises. How we handle these pressures will affect our economy, our security, and the way we think about the world.
Greatest Active Film Directors
Entertainment Weekly recently came out with a list of its “25 Greatest Active Film Directors.” It’s a horrible list. The ordering, the omissions – it’s borderline offensive. As a public service, I have both corrected EW’s list and expanded it to the top 50. Seriously, no need to thank me.
Troop Increases In Afghanistan
In my previous post on Afghanistan I argued in support of lowering our expectations there and focusing our strategy on eliminating the safe haven for Al Qaeda on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, rather than turning Afghanistan into a prosperous democracy. I also suggested – and there seems to be a general consensus on this point – that the support of the Afghan people is central to winning this war.
It’s been widely reported that President Obama has ordered the sending 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. I support that decision, as long as it is made in the context of the strategy I just indicated (we’ll find out if that’s the case when we find out the results of the 60-day Af-Pak strategy review). It’s not at first glance clear how more troops are consistent with such a strategy – it might seem that more troops are necessary only if we’re pursuing a more ambitious strategy, and that a greater, more intrusive American presence is more likely to inflame Afghan popular opinion. That’s definitely the risk that comes with more troops, but this UN report is enough to persuade me that more troops is better than what we’re doing now.
The level of civilian deaths last year was at its highest since the war began. A small majority – 55% – of those deaths were caused by the Taliban, which is good news in the sense that it’s better than if we were causing the most civilian deaths there. But the trouble is that of the civilian deaths caused by us, 65% are a result of airstrikes. Airstrikes are an important tool, but if they’re going to result in large numbers of civilian deaths, they need to be avoided if possible. An increased ground presence will, presumably, at least partially alleviate the need for airstrikes. Our presence will be more pervasive, but the tradeoff is (hopefully) fewer civilian deaths, which is hugely beneficial to our goals there. It also, of course, puts American troops at greater risk, which is why if we’re going to fight this war at all, we need to have clear and realistic objectives so we’re not sending these troops into a quagmire. It’s not yet clear if that’s the case, but hopefully Obama or Gates gives us some indication sometime soon.
Obama Delivers the Awesome
In a discussion of the political impact of Tracy Flick and the movie Election, the New Republic reports:
Alexander Payne, the film’s director, said that President Obama has told him on two separate occasions that it’s his favorite political movie.
I just got a thrill up my leg.
Best Valentine’s Day Movies
Second only perhaps to Halloween, Valentine’s Day is a great day for watching movies. Whether you’re in a relationship or not, who wants to brave the crowds of couples paying for expensive dinners when you can stay in, have a home-cooked meal, and pop in a movie? Here now, two V-Day movie lists – one for those who have found real love, and one for the loveless (but not at all bitter about it).
The Israeli Elections & the US (UPDATED)
The final tally of Israel’s elections are not in yet, but the basic outline looks clear. Either the center-left Kadima will peel off an ultra-right-wing party to form a weak majority incapable of credibly negotiating for peace, or Kadima will fail and a right-wing government will form and be unwilling to negotiate for peace. It would be nice if Kadima and Likud were willing to seal themselves off from the insane and neo-fascist Yisrael Beiteinu party by forming their own majority, thereby demonstrating to the world that Israel rejects extremism, but that’s not going to happen. Instead, Israel will, one way or another, foreclose the possibility of a peace settlement for at least a year. What this means for American foreign policy is unclear, but it’s an enormous problem.
Winning Afghanistan
The Obama administration has begun a 60-day review of Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy, and the outlines of a debate over how to win there are beginning to emerge. At its heart is a familiar question: how do we define success?
The Filibuster Continues to Ruin America
The Washington Post reports that the Senate lacks the votes to pass the stimulus bill. And by that, they mean they don’t have 60 votes, the necessary number to defeat a filibuster. This is crazy, and why can’t we all agree to get rid of the stupid filibuster already? It was undemocratic when the Democrats did it for Bush’s judicial appointments, it’s undemocratic now. The Senate itself is sort of an absurd institution in modern America, and I’d be in favor of tossing the whole thing and having just a House of Representatives. But that’s not gonna happen anytime soon, so can we at least get rid of the insane, obstructive filibuster? The number of veto points in American politics is ridiculous, and it’s moments like these that it can be extremely frustrating and dangerous.
Late update: Nothing in this post takes away from my love for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington or this episode of the West Wing.