Tender Typhoon

I have been obsessing with the historical Hadrian and Antinous for quite some time now.  I re-viewed the 2013 film Burning Blue, and the film triggered opening the void that Antinous set in motion.  I realize I can still be vulnerable.  I expect we all are vulnerable intermittently and unpredictably throughout our lives.  The tragic ending of Antinous and Trent Ford’s heartfelt portrayal in Burning Blue gave me a sense of longing for a faceless someone I can only know by heart.

I never had to tell myself, “I do not need anyone,” because I have felt that way for a long time without having to express or repress it.

However, I do occasionally feel the need to embrace someone, like a tender typhoon mercilessly uprooting a house and mercifully slaughtering its inhabitants, sparing them prolonged agony.

I do not feel the need to be loved per se.  I get enough from people and animals around me.  But ever so occasionally, I feel the need to be in love.  In love, not to be loved, as in someone to take care of (not someone to take care of me) the way I have taken care of my pets through the decades, although I would not mind someone facing my tender typhoon head-on with his tranquil tsunami.

I feel the need to be in love.  I endure the ghost of such an emotion until it fades (and fade it will for sure)… until the next haunting.

Movie Greats like 'Love, Simon'

Love, Simon, a film directed by Greg Berlanti, is not exactly faithful to the book Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda upon which it is based, but it surely nails the message that love is for everyone, that love wins in the end.

Simon, played by Nick Robinson, is a young man who fell in love with Blue (online alias), a fellow closeted gay high school student he met via the Internet.  Their true identities were a mystery to each other.  They communicated via e-mail.  This mode of courtship brought me back 20 years earlier, to the film You’ve Got Mail where Kathleen/Shopgirl (Meg Ryan) fell in love with Joe/NY152 (Tom Hanks) via e-mail.  The part where Shopgirl finally met NY152 – or Simon his great love Blue – still tingles my heart, in a good way.

Another film I am reminded of is the 1998 British film Get Real because of the high school setting and the love between two closet homosexuals.  Steven (Ben Silverstone) fell for schoolmate and fling John (Brad Gorton).  However, when he got real in the end, that is, he decided to come out, John stayed behind (Steven did not out John.  He knew it was John’s call, not his).  Get Real is a contrast to Love, Simon because Steven did not get his happy ending, while Simon got his world colored Blue.  Nevertheless, Steven’s heartbreak was palpably intense, and his coming out was a journey of triumph and a vicarious sort of deliverance for those – viewers and in-story characters – who remained in the closet.

Simon’s Blue is Jewish and gay.  The book adaptation of the 1968 play The Boys in the Band is especially memorable to me because it brought home the point that Jewish gay men are doubly persecuted – for being gay and for being Jewish.  The 1970 film adaptation has the same effect.  Films that tackle gay life will always have something in common, and The Boys in the Band (TBitB) and Love, Simon (LS) find common ground in how gay men deal with homophobia.

Harold, the Jewish gay man in TBitB, only had his circle of gay friends for support.  Simon’s Blue had non-gay folks who loved him.  The 48-year interval between the two films made clear that the mindset of yesteryears is no longer exactly the same as the mindset of today.  There is still homophobia, but we are now better equipped to counter such malevolence.  Same-sex marriage is now legal in a number of countries.  We make progress slowly but surely.  Love wins.

Never Been Kissed is a 1999 film starring Drew Barrymore as Josie Geller and Michael Vartan as Sam Coulson.  Josie, working for the Chicago Sun-Times, went undercover to report on what high school was like “these” (the 1990s) days.  Sam (a teacher) and Josie (a student) gravitated towards each other, but Sam found out he was just a story and got hurt.  To make up for it, Josie published her love for Sam and people in the school, and asked Sam to kiss her in front of a crowd in a baseball field before a game.  People cheered Josie on as she waited for Sam to come to the field to give her her first kiss.  It was quite a spectacle with media coverage to boot.

The Broken Hearts Club (TBHC), a 2000 film directed by Greg Berlanti, broached the idea that when you’re a newbie, there are a lot of possibilities (other men are possible lovers and friends), only to find out that you’re the possibility.  In LS, Simon thought of his classmates and other men he knew as possibly Blue.  Also, both TBHC and LS questioned why there is a need for gay men to come out.

Simon found the courage to come out on his own terms, declare his love for Blue and ask Blue to meet him in person by posting a message on a Web site known to the student body.  The meeting place?  The Ferris wheel at the carnival.  This is one of the differences that the film made from the book.  In the book, it was a private thing between Simon and Blue.  Yes, the Ferris wheel was the point of no return, but they were supposed to meet there without the world knowing about it.  In the film, Simon’s public declaration allowed his friends and well-wishers to cheer him on as he waited for Blue at the Ferris wheel – and to give him support in case of a heartbreak.  This spectacle, of course, brought me back to Never Been Kissed.  Apart from the e-mail, meeting the mystery lover only at the end of the film gave me back You’ve Got Mail.

Some nuances of the book got lost in translation, but Simon’s public declaration makes the film, in a way (not totally, just in a way), better.  It is not everyday that we see a young adult film (from a major motion picture company) where the gay protagonist affirms himself.   Believe it or not, this film will have its positive effects days and years from now.  But for now, the film gives a vicarious sort of deliverance for those still in the closet – and a sort of flashback for us aging and aged gay men.

With TBHC and LS, Berlanti seems to be making a handbook or a guide to living and loving as a gay man.  Love, Simon tackles young love; TBHC deals with adult gay men including a geriatric gay couple.  Perhaps, a full-on geriatric gay love story in the future?

For writers, creators, directors, et al., their body of work is their love letter to the world.  I imagine Berlanti writing as Simon:

Dear Dorothy,

You’re not in Kansas anymore, although I’m sure you already know that even in Kansas love matters.

Gay love is real.

I am here.

Love,

Simon

POSTSCRIPTS

William Shakespeare’s As You Like It was being taught by Sam Coulson (Michael Vartan) when Josie Geller (Drew Barrymore) went undercover in Never Been Kissed.

Purple Guy, a character in The Broken Hearts Club, quoted Shakespeare’s As You Like It in his eulogy for his lover.

Tommy (Michael Vartan) was squeezed and led by the balls, for disrespecting women, by Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) in Too Wong Foo, Thanks for EverythingI Julie Newmar, a 1995 LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) film.

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” said Dorothy (Judy Garland) to her dog Toto (Toto) in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.  The line is one of the most famous movie lines in popular culture and is not found in the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz upon which the film is based.  Judy Garland is a gay icon.

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Nick Robinson said that his brother “came out around the same time that” they “started filming” Love, Simon.

Greg Berlanti has made quite a name for himself.  He wrote episodes of the TV series Dawson’s Creek, Jack & Bobby, etc.  Dawson’s Creek had gay characters.  Berlanti co-created Jack & Bobby which also had a gay character and an episode* about another gay man taking his own life.  Berlanti also co-produced and co-wrote the superhero film Green Lantern.  For more about Berlanti, kindly search Google (or the search engine of your choice).

REFERENCES

Albertalli, Becky.  Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.  2015.  New York: Balzer + Bray, 2018.

The Boys in the Band.  Dir. William Friedkin.  Perf. Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey.  Leo Productions, 1970.  Film.

The Broken Hearts Club.  Dir. Greg Berlanti.  Perf. Timothy Olyphant, Zach Braff, Andrew Keegan.  Meanwhile Films, 2000.  Film.

Crowley, Mart.  The Boys in the Band.  1968.  New York: Dell Publishing Co., 1969.

Get Real.  Dir. Simon Shore.  Perf. Ben Silverstone, Brad Gorton.  Graphite Films (Get Real) Ltd & Distant Horizon Ltd, 1998.  Film.

Love, Simon.  Dir. Greg Berlanti.  Perf. Nick Robinson.  Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and TSG Entertainment Finance LLC, 2018.  Film.

Never Been Kissed.  Dir. Raja Gosnell.  Perf. Drew Barrymore, Michael Vartan.  Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, 1999.  Film.

You’ve Got Mail.  Dir. Nora Ephron.  Perf. Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks.  Warner Bros., 1998.  Film.

OTHER REFERENCES

* “The Lost Boys.”  Writ. Barbie Kligman.  Dir. Bryan Gordon.  Jack & Bobby.  The WB.  17 Nov. 2004.  Television.

Baum, L. Frank.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Chicago: Geo. M. Hill Co., 1900.

TheEllenShow.  “Nick Robinson on His Brother Coming Out While Filming ‘Love, Simon.’”  Online video clip.  YouTube.  YouTube, 14 Mar. 2018.  Web.  15 Mar. 2018.  <www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WI36kJ7Rbs>.

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar.  Dir. Beeban Kidron.  Perf. Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo.  Universal City Studios and Amblin Entertainment, 1995.  Film.

The Wizard of Oz.  Dir. Victor Fleming.  Perf. Judy Garland, Toto.  Loew’s Incorporated (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), 1939.  Film.

In Memoriam: Dr. Cirilo Bautista

While our memories remain intact, free from Alzheimer’s or any neurologic effects, we remember the words of people who matter.

More than two decades ago, I had to take American Literature as part of the requirements in my bachelor’s degree.  The subject was a major elective.

My AmerLit professor was Dr. Cirilo Bautista, national artist for literature.

Many, if not most, of my classmates were philosophy majors.  My goodness, philosophy students were very eloquent, bright, and they never ran out of reasons.

In one of our classes, Dr. Bautista asked us why the Americans were so open about sex, especially in literature wherein they seemed so sexually active.  I forgot the exact novel or short fiction we were discussing.

The philo majors gave endless reasons.  Everyone of them seemed to outdo each other, unintentionally of course.  I felt I was with graduate students discussing their theses.

I kept quiet in class most of the time.  I liked reading but not discussing.

To my surprise, Dr. Bautista called me.

I am a Pink Archer, but my mind is green, ever and ever.  So, I replied, “Racial integration.”

Dr. Bautista asked, “What about it?”

“The black body was curious with the white body, and the white body was curious with the black body.  So they had sex.”

The class gave an uproarious laugh.  And yes, including our beloved Dr. Bautista.

When the class quieted down, Dr. Bautista told me something I shall never forget, “I like how you think.”

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In loving memory of

Dr. Cirilo F. Bautista

National Artist for Literature

Ides and Endings

Ides (pronounced as “eye” connected to “ds” – sounds a little like the dreaded AIDS)

In Ancient Rome, the ides falls approximately on the middle part of the month.  Ides is English.  The Latin original is “idus” which is both plural and singular, so ides can be used with either a singular or a plural verb.  The ides falls on the 15th in March, May, July, and October.  It falls on the 13th in other months, so today (April 13) is the Ides of April.

The Ides of March (March 15) is notorious for the murder of Julius Caesar.  The famous line “et tu, Brute? (even you, Brutus?)” (Caesar 3.1.77) from William Shakepeare’s play Julius Caesar originated from this pivotal date in Roman history.

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Men in Ancient Rome usually have -us at the end of their name, e.g., Marcus, Aurelius, et al, and many have the same name.  If you shouted “Marcus” in a crowd, you would see many heads turning in your direction.  Women have -a at the end of their name, e.g., Tullia, Lucretia, et al.

Latin is a dead language but it has daughter languages still living today like Italian, French, and Spanish.  These derivatives share many traits with their original.

In Spanish, the -us ending has become -o, e.g., Marco, Aurelio, et al.  The feminine -a ending of Latin is retained in Spanish, e.g., Maria, Aurelia, et al.

Marius becomes Mario or Maria in Spanish.  Antonius becomes Antonio or Antonia, and so on.

If I want to Latinize my name, it would become Robertus or Roberta.

One can be creative in giving new names or words with Latin endings -us and -a.

You can name your pug “saratilongus” or “saratilonga.” (sarat ilong = flat-nosed)

You can call an ugly man “pangitmotolus” (pangit mo, ‘tol  = you’re ugly, bro).  You get the gist.

=

sarat = Filipino word that usually refers to a deformed or flat nose

ilong = nose

pangit = ugly

mo = “you” in the objective case

‘tol = short for utol = sibling

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Shakespeare, William. “Julius Caesar.”  The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.  Ed. W.J. Craig.  London: Henry Pordes, 1987.  899.

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Originally posted on my Facebook wall on 13 April 2018 in a slightly different form.