Letter To Bangkok Post

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, Moog, for all that dialogue from 'American Beauty.' I worked in Texas with a tax attorney who openly referred to his 'partner,' but didn't rub it in. His boss was apparently a lesbian, but nobody ever said so. However, management in that agency was pledged to make the working environment safe for GLBT's. I could have come out, but it wasn't important enough for me to be 'out.' Being out wouldn't have saved the world. One of my employees was a lesbian in a very LTR, and I had to protect her once or twice. When there was a rumor that I was gay, and I was working for a Black straight female whose secretary was the same, I replied, "I don't go spreading nasty rumors that you nice ladies are N****ers." And I pronounced the N word!

[The_Moog]

Here is the third relevant scene, and this one really came as a missile up the jacksey. The Colonel kisses Kevin Spacey !

The Continuity person on set here messed up, because as we viewers know from earlier, the Colonel is homophobic. So this scene doesn't fit.

COLONEL

Your wife is with another man and you don't care?

LESTER

Nope, our marriage is just for show. A commercial, for how normal we are. When we are anything but.

He grins... and so does the Colonel.

LESTER (cont'd)

You're shaking.

He places his hand on the Colonel's shoulder. The Colonel closes his eyes.

LESTER (cont'd)

We really should get you out of these clothes.

COLONEL

(a whisper)

Yes...

He opens his eyes and looks at Lester, his face filled with an anguished vulnerability we wouldn't have thought possible from him. His eyes are brimming with tears. Lester leans in, concerned.

LESTER

It's okay.

COLONEL

(hoarse)

I...

LESTER

(softly)

Just tell me what you need.

The Colonel reaches up and places his hand on Lester's cheek... and then kisses him. Lester is momentarily stunned, and then he pushes the Colonel away. The Colonel's face crumples in shame.

LESTER (cont'd)

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm sorry. You got the wrong idea.

The Colonel stares at the floor, blinking, and then he turns and runs out the open garage door into the rainy night.

[Ijustwannateach]

Think the point, Moog (which I think you already know) is that homophobia is often a sign of repressed homosexuality, and so it isn't a continuity error but follows quite expressly.

Heard that a certain Hispanic pro-torture lawyer for the Bushies (no, not Gonzales, the other one- forgot his name) who was initially touted as a potential federal judge nominee a year or two back was quietly dropped when rumours surfaced that he used to go to hotel rooms with men- have sex with them- and then go into screaming fits at them: "YOU'RE GAY!!! YOU'RE GAY!!!!" These homosexual/homophobic headcases are more common than you'd think. Just consider J. Edgar Hoover, Roy Cohn, or a number of the leading workers for the Republican party right now.

The guy who wrote that letter is obviously obsessed with gays, and probably a severely messed up closet case.

"Steven"

[the gent]

Not sure what's going on here but Moog's final comment suggests he hasn't seen the film. Not a lapse in continuity at all but the realisation of the pivotal moment in the movie in which the marine psychopath outs himself erroneously to Lester who rejects him. The marine feeling betrayed fatally represses his sexuality and then externalises his angst by blowing Lester's head off in the penultimate scene. Both the marine and Lester were existing in dysfunctional relationships running parallel, a theme which the director used to great effect.

Bit like the average day in lala LoS, possibly.

[The_Moog]

Not a lapse in continuity at all but the realisation of the pivotal moment in the movie in which the marine psychopath outs himself erroneously to Lester who rejects him.

Phew, good job you are here to explain the nuances to me

It was a great film and I enjoyed reading the screenplay when posting these excerpts, but it was an urban fairy tale, full of juxtapositions that in the real world don't happen whilst seeming plausible in the context of the movie.

The one that springs to mind is Lester chivalrously refusing to sleep with the object of his lust when finding out she was a virgin. In real life, he would have been tearing his trousers off !

Edited December 24, 2005 by The_Moog

[Ijustwannateach]

I dunno, Moog- I think there are decent guys out there who have moral scruples that overcome the hormones (whether straight or gay). Seems to me the guy's crisis was about more than just having sex, and when he had more information about the girl (in other words, she was no longer just the object of a fantasy) he reacted to her decently as a real person... which is what I think he was trying to do through most of the story.

"Steven"