pertweefan1970

[pertweefan1970]

Released on the Slapstick Festival Youtube account yesterday, this is Paul and Ralph discussing Withnail with Phil Jupitus at the event in January 2014.

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"sniff"

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An interesting interpretation of this film, though it was based on writer / director Bruce Robinsons experience as a struggling actor in the late sixties.

I watched Withnail & I last night. Out of all the movies I've watched I've never seen anything gayer I swear to fucking God. The three primary male main characters (Monty, Withnail, and ...& I) are - at least to me - so clearly meant to represent the different manners queer people responded to the oppression they experienced in the 60s and 70s, with the film being made retrospectively in 1987. So now I'm going to yap about it.

I'll start with the easiest, Monty, since he is overtly queer. He represents the queer man who is one hundred percent aware that he is queer, but knows that its taboo. Therefore, he believes any sexual interaction he has with another man is already unorthodox and morally wrong, so being gay in the first place is just as bad as trying to force himself on someone else, which is why he stoops to such a level.

Withnail is so repressed he's gone insane. He abuses substances and is an absolutely rampant alcoholic. Anything to distract himself from the reality of the situation and who he is. The film uses his completely unsuccessful acting career as an allegory for this. For example, he pines over other people being given roles and him getting none, which could represent a pining to be loved the way he wants but unable to find such a love due to his orientation. He also refuses roles he doesn't feel like playing - as in he refuses to be an understudy. This makes me think that he is supposed to be choosing to completely remove himself from the romantic and sexual world, because he doesn't want to settle for a repressed heterosexual relationship. This repression - as well as implied family issues ('If you had my father you'd get it'), which could be a nod to queer people being ostracised from their families - has made him go, for all intents and purposes, fully off the fucking handle, batshit crazy.

'I', in my opinion, is supposed to represent bisexual men during that era. He longs to be free to live a life that most of society sees as disgusting and depraved, but, at the end of the day, he still has the choice to blend in with everybody else. He can and did choose the 'normal' life, but, in doing so, he had to leave a part of him behind. He had to completely reject Withnail at the end. Refuse to daydrink in the rainy park with him. Cut his hair and look 'presentable' and 'normal'. He admits that he'll miss Withnail, but leaves nonetheless. He had the choice and he chose to leave a part of himself behind.

This is not to say that both Withnail and '& I' are gay or even queer. It's to say that their stories are allegorical. They represent queer men in the 60s, 70s, and even 80s. If you want to believe they are not queer or that they are, go ahead, I don't particularly know where I stand on the issue myself but I don't think it matters at all. It doesn't take away from the meaning of the film that I interpreted, which was that oppression, regardless of who it is towards, only leads to pain, strife, and suffering.

[pertweefan1970]

Mark was such a sweetheart

Advent Calendar Door 21: The teddy bear that is Mark North.

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What do you mean "is that all I have two of?"

Caption This!

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Thomas Benjamin Kennington (English, 1856-1916)

Forbidden fruit

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evelyn de morgan

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'Midwinter Orison' by Andy Kehoe

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Lady Death Visions by George Perez

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Doctor Who Advent Calendar —Day 18

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I just noticed this myself, not too surprising since at least two streaming services are showing classic Doctor Who for free (Tubi and Pluto TV) makes perfect sense for them to start showing classic Who as well.

dunno how well known this is but BBC is posting full classic who episodes on youtube!

they've already got at least one episode for each classic era doctor up and they're posting more constantly

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what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?

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[pertweefan1970]

The Garfield family grows, it's quite concerning.

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[pertweefan1970]

Santa Lucia by John Bauer, 1913.