Many
films have made an attempt at exploring the complex relationship that two men
have. From, Renoir’s Le Grand Illusion,
Ozu’s Tokyo Story, even Tarkovsky’s Solaris and Wilder’s Some Like it Hot, have made some
attempts at exploring the fascinating boundaries between men in plutonic relationships.
One such film not mentioned much is the 1996 Pauly Shore vehicle Bio-Dome. This film lacks a lot of
qualities that produce good cinema - its staging is poor, characterization is
almost non-existent, and the visuals produce an almost bland unfocused mess, all
of this on top of the poorly developed story, lost in misdirection. But, as a
film about male relationships, it produces a truly subversive mainstream piece
which highlights a subtle relationship between our two characters: Bud and Doyle
(Shore and Stephen Baldwin respectively). They first appear to be two slacker
friends existing as plutonic foils, deceptively charming us into seeing them as
harmless waifs who spend all of their time together. Instead, these characters
are more obviously closeted homosexual lovers.
It
all remains clear - the aversion to feminine whims, the destructive pattern of
hetero-sexual relationships, the over preponderance of sexual touching (overly
sexual gyrations, grabbing and even kissing) and Bud’s knowledge of Doyle’s
masturbation techniques (not taken out of context). It would appear that, like
Rosencratz and Guildenstein before them, these are two characters trapped in a
puritanical prison escaping only through the means of an intense plutonic
relationship. The time this film was made was right at the height of the
“culture wars” that defined much of the 90’s. Much could not be said and shown,
much was even denied by stars afraid of ruining leading man status (Will Smith
rejecting a gay kiss in a movie, Tom Cruise and Mark Wahlberg rejecting
homosexual activity in respective films). Our film in that context gains a
subversive traction; it shows individuals within a harsh cultural reality
looking to belong somewhere.
Hence
after being rejected by multiple communities (the aforementioned bio-dome and
their town) they must act out in order to belong (the plot of the movie). The
subversive tone the film sets in regard to our characters and their sexuality
allows the movie to make a clear statement on the role of community and
personal preference. We witness a movie striving to create a circumstance where
societal notions of normalization do not happen (such as in Kaurimaski’s film Leningrad Cowboys) and our characters
can form their conceptualization. That is why at the end of the film, the
kisses our main characters share with their girlfriends lack passion and focus
(despite having no contact with them for a year), they have instead found a
place accepting them.
-Mark Brinton
No comments:
Post a Comment