#Big Eden

[tvandfilm]

BIG EDEN (2000) dir. thomas bezucha

[madeline-kahn]

Dancing in Film: Big Eden (2000) dir. Thomas Bezucha choreography by Alex and Melanie Parkhurst

happy birthday @magterrific

[gayvecchio]

It recently occurred to me that one of my fave feel good/comfort movies, Big Eden, could be included as part of C6D because it stars Eric Schweig who was in the due South pilot.

Big Eden is a sweet film about a gay man who returns to his small hometown in Montana to take care of his ill grandfather, and pretty much the whole town then proceeds to play matchmaker between him and the local general store owner, Pike (Eric Schweig).

This film means a lot to me as Native/Indigenous representation is hard to come by, and queer Native/Indigenous rep even more so. I highly recommend it to any dS/C6D fans, and anyone in general, who wants to watch a lovely queer romance.

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[torsamors]

Let me help (id in alt text)

[Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever, Anne Carson - Euripides, Big Eden (2000), W. H. Auden, Holes (2003), Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever, Deleted scene from The City on the Edge of Forever, Star Trek: Voyager - Resolutions, Dead Poets Society, The Untamed (2019), Star Trek - The City on the Edge of Forever]

[tuherrus]

i just want things to be nice for him 🐟

[celluloidrainbow]

BIG EDEN (2000) dir. Thomas Bezucha Henry Hart, a successful New York Artist, returns to the town of his childhood to care for the ailing grandfather who raised him. Back in tiny and quaint Big Eden, Henry must come to terms with his relationship to Dean Stewart, his best friend from high School, as well as the object of his unrequited love. All these years Henry has been pining for a dream image of Dean from back then. This is also the story of Pike Dexter, the shy, unassuming owner of the town's general store, who is as surprised as anyone to find himself falling in love with Henry. The people of Big Eden conspire and attempt to bring Henry and Pike together. (link in title)

[fredbydawn]

Pike is tall, shy, autistic, and his love language is cooking, he’s literally the ideal man

[inkmaze]

rewatching big eden w my head in my hands. wheres more media where the surrounding background is so devoid of homophobia/etc that its so chill to just have this quiet gay story w/o a single scene incl them having to justify or explain themselves, or any degree of hatred at them or other gays. n the town is not only chill they're actively trying to help them get together I'm. this aired in 2000 how do we not have. idk. more shit like this truly pretty casual chill regular relationship issues gay media

[unliikelylovers]

it’s 3am and i’m thinking about big eden (2000)

[kurtwarbler]

it’s the best time to rewatch big eden

[bashcrandicoot]

I need you guys to go watch Big Eden okay it’s actually so important

[rovermcfly]

[ober-affen-geil]

[ID

All gifs are of Dean and Henry from Big Eden. Henry is shorter than Dean by about half a foot and is wearing a brown sweater. Dean is wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt partially unzipped with a plain white t-shirt underneath.

Gif 1: Front shot of Dean facing the camera with Henry standing behind him. Henry has his hands on Dean's shoulders, resting his head on Dean's back. Dean has one hand up on his chest, his fingers barely brushing Henry's where they are peeking over his shoulder. Dean is pausing, caught in the quiet tension of the moment. He seems to make a decision, then starts to turn towards Henry.

Gif 2: Cut to shot of Henry and Dean as he finished turning around, his hand coming up to cup the back of Henry's head and meeting Henry for a gentle, easy kiss.

Gif 3: Dean, still kissing Henry, angles his head to deepen the kiss and pulls Henry closer with his other hand around his back while moving the hand cupping Henry's head to his neck.

Gif 4: Dean and Henry kissing, clutching at each other but not really moving otherwise. The hood on Dean's sweatshirt is bunched at the back where Henry's hand has moved it.

Gif 5: Dean is still kissing Henry, but something is wrong. His eyes, already closed, start to squeeze shut harder as Dean screws his face up with effort. Eventually he breaks, and his face drops into Henry's shoulder as he gives up, still clutching Henry in an embrace.

End ID]

So I finally watched Big Eden, and the whole thing is generally sweet and warm and I love that Henry and Pike find each other by the end and the whole town coming together to make sure it happens is so incredibly heartwarming. But I want to look for a second at the quiet tragedy of this moment with Dean, from his perspective.

Dean is introduced to us as Henry's high school crush, the one that got away. The straight boy he could never have. We are also told that he has now separated from his wife and he has what appears to be full custody of their two young sons. No details are given, but full custody of two children under 10 years old? Doesn't paint a positive picture of the relationship.

Immediately upon gracing the screen, we see Dean is a person who is friendly, loving, and easily physical with pretty much everyone, especially his sons. Which is where this scene starts to become heartbreaking.

It's clear that Dean had been in a committed relationship, and for one reason or another is no longer in it. It's also clear that he loves Henry as his friend, and misses him. He says as much himself. And it's achingly clear that Dean is both longing for a deep human connection and also wants to reconnect with his friend, break through the wall he can feel Henry has built around himself.

So when Henry leans on him, tired and anxious about his grandfather's condition in the hospital, Dean recognizes the domestic nature of the moment (Henry has made him coffee and he is making Henry eggs). And, wanting in some way to connect with Henry, Dean reaches for him in the only way he may know how. In the way he knows Henry wants.

It just. Doesn't work.

"I can't. I can't. I'm so sorry. I want to. I can't."

He tries. He really, really tries to give Henry everything he wants. He's gentle, and sweet, and he holds Henry like he's something precious because he is, he is precious. But Dean just...can't. He knows this isn't something he can give Henry no matter how much he wants to.

And while of course this is a sad confirmation for Henry, from Dean's perspective this is him reaching, desperate for a connection, and being unable to make one. This is the grasp of a drowning man at the only lifeline in front of him and it doesn't work.

It's no one's fault. He wants to. But he can't.

[loisfreakinglane]

dance with me

[bengiyo]

I can say with confidence that our collective favorite show, between you and me, is What Did You Eat Yesterday?, the GOAT BL, and an exemplary example of a slice of life drama. What are your other favorite slice of life dramas, BLs and non-BLs?

Thank you for this ask. I have been trying to stay out of a bunch of discussions about this, but it seems that people feel really strongly about how people talk about a mid-tier BL produced by the largest producer of BL content in the world, currently sold as a premium product exclusively on a Chinese streaming platform, and currently receiving almost universal acclaim from its viewership on this platform. So, since I am possibly the only person who has posted publicly how much this show doesn’t work for me, I will continue with my task and clear up some confusion I’m having with the discourse.

We Are…Struggling With Definitions

Thankfully, @lurkingshan provided a good framework to discuss what slice-of-life even means. While I am willing to accept that a strong episodic structure is not inherently required for a good slice-of-life drama, the bite-sized nature of an episode lends itself to enabling clear stories about the complexities of mundane human existence. It’s a very popular genre, especially in anime. As I said in an earlier post, this is a mature genre with a long tradition.

Most of my favorite approaches to slice-of-life are from Japan. When America does slice-of-life, you get it more as sitcoms than thoughtful dramas about everyday life. One of my favorites would probably be Midnight Diner. As Shan defined before, a good slice-of-life drama could go on forever, and in so many ways Midnight Diner has. 

I’m actually currently watching Three Star Bar in Nishi Ogikubo because Machida Keita and Fujiwara Kisetsu are in it.

We Are…Already Familiar With Slice of Life QL

We’ve actually had a few QL projects cover the slice-of-life feeling before.

You and I are both big fans of What Did You Eat Yesterday?, a show I loved so much we had to do a whole podcast episode about it.

On the lesbian side of the equation, we have the lovely She Loves to Cook, and She Loves to Eat.

We also had Naked Dining, which I had some mixed feelings about.

There's the gay dads drama from Taiwan in Papa & Daddy.

For people who seem to struggle with non-Thai productions, there’s also Ingredients with everyone’s favorite singer Jeff Satur.

Besides, I argue firmly that Tadaima, Okaeri is the only true slice-of-life BL airing right now. It’s the married gay dads show we’ve been asking forever to get, and it’s even in the omegaverse!

We Are…Possibly Suffering From Recency Bias

It’s surprising for me how hard everyone has fallen for this show, considering the long history of reactions to New Siwaj’s work. He’s been in the genre for over a decade.

I am intimately familiar with this man’s work, and have been a Make It Right Apologist for years. I’ve been with this man since I got into the genre. This isn’t even his first attempt at 16 episodes about boys in college.

Everyone else watched My Engineer at the time, but I watched EN of Love and was not surprised when Love Mechanics got its own full series afterwards. I’ve been with this man working through gay angst in Make it Right, examining intergenerational queer trauma in Until We Meet Again,  fumbling through Between Us, trying for something in Dear Doctor I’m Coming For Soul, hustling in Even Sun, still crying with him over Love of Siam (2007) in My Only 12%, and squandering everyone’s time in Absolute Zero. 

It’s kinda baffling to me that I’m catching strays over not liking New Siwaj works in 2024. It feels weird that the show I’m getting heat over not liking is the least-queer thing I think he’s ever made. I don’t know what that says about current BL tastes. I will say this plainly every time: Queer Truth is Non-Negotiable For Me In a Genre About Boys Kissing Each Other. If that statement bothers you, please swerve on.

We Are…Not the Only Examples of Queer Fun

While we’re here, I wanna talk about how there really is a whole gay world outside of BL. I feel very strongly that Western viewers are extremely rude and often racist when it comes to their disdain of BL. However, there is all kinds of fun to be had in queer cinema if you can handle projects made more than a few years ago. 

If you want silly fun, you can always go to TLA Releasing. They funded an entire gay parody of the American Pie franchise. They’re great for the types who want to see pretty people smile at each other and have sexy times. 

If you’re in the mood for something a bit more serious and heartfelt, you can dip by Strand Releasing. They have one of the best coming-of-age queer films I’ve ever seen. They also picked up a really melancholy Japanese film called Egoist. 

My favorite studio, who shows up repeatedly on my BL Syllabus is Wolfe Releasing. They have my all-time favorite Big Eden (2000), and many others. 

My point is that there is a huge world of queer media out there well beyond the latest mid-tier BL from GMMTV designed to keep the boys working. We also don’t need to argue that some of their shows are more queer than they actually are, especially when Cooking Crush is right there.

Thanks for the ask!