A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

[michaelflanagansf]

To play Devil's Advocate  just a little here, aren't all stories about homosexuality really just about the human condition? How different fundamentally is a homosexual from a heterosexual?
Society and culture might see us differently, but biologically and emotionally how great are the differences?
We are all human beings with the same frailties and mortality after all.
On that basis a story like ASM or BBM for that matter reflects us all.

It is exactly in the social and cultural differences that the differences lie.  And the emotional differences are often related to shame and anger that are not applicable to heterosexual relationships.  For example.

"'The Children's Hour' is not about lesbianism, it's about the power of lies to destroy people's lives" (William Wyler, 1962)

'The Children's Hour' is about a woman who is shamed into committing suicide upon confronting her lesbianism.  Heterosexuals do not confront their heterosexuality in a similar way - it is assumed.  It is also still true that there is a double standard relating to sexuality and sexual orientation (and gender) and its presentation to children (compare the reaction to female heterosexual teachers who have relations with their students vs. the visceral reaction to the perceived inclusion of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts).

"'The Sergeant' is not about homosexuality, it's about loneliness" (Rod Steiger, 1968)

'The Sergeant' includes scenes of anonymous sexual encounter scenes which have no comparable heterosexual equivalent (at the time of the film they were in the back of trucks on a wharf in New York City).  The shame and disgust which are associated with these scenes in the film have no heterosexual comparison.  Compare the reaction to Larry Craig's encounter in a restroom and his retirement from politics vs. the revelation that David Vitter visited a prostitute in Washington D.C.  Vitter is running for Senate in Louisiana and Craig's career is over.  'The Sergeant' is also about a murder which occurs in relation to a sexual encounter between men because one of the men is closeted.  Heterosexuals do not kill one another because they are hiding their heterosexuality.

"'Windows' is not about homosexuality, it's about insanity" (Gordon Willis, 1979)

Windows is a film in which the bias and hatred of lesbians is all too apparent.  A lesbian neighbor hires a rapist to rape a woman so that she can hear her sexual encounter.  When you look at the cases of rape and violence against women that occur either in the UK or the US I doubt you'll find anything that looks like this.

"'Staircase' is not about homosexuality, it's about loneliness" (Rex Harrison, 1971)

'Staircase' is about two aging homosexuals and the loathing they have for themselves and each other.  Aging heterosexual men have lots of problems (as any cursory view of Donald Trump or Anna Nichole Smith's late husband Howard Marshall would show) but self loathing at their sexual identity is not one of these problems.

"'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is not about the sexuality of these people, it's about human loneliness" (John Schlesinger, 1972)

'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is about the relationship of a bisexual man to both his male lover and female lover.  To deny that sexuality is at the center of this movie is about like denying that it has a place in 'Pretty Woman' or 'American Gigolo.'

"'The Boys in the Band' is not about homosexuality" (William Friedkin, 1970)

I think this is best dispelled in two lines in the film:

Harold: "What I am, Michael, is a thirty-two year-old, ugly, pockmarked Jew fairy, and if it takes me a while to pull myself together, and if I smoke a little grass before I get up the nerve to show my face to the world, it's nobody's Goddamned business but my own. And how are you this evening?"

and near the end of the film:

Michael: "If we...if we could just...not hate ourselves so much.  That's it, you know.  If we could just learn not to hate ourselves quite so much."

"'Cruising' is not about homosexuality" (William Friedkin, 1980)

Cruising is about a series of murders that occur in the leather community in New York.  Without the sexuality and its context there would be no murder.

As for 'Brokeback Mountain' - the relationship between Jack and Ennis takes place over 17 years in which Ennis is unwilling to commit to a stable relationship and still feels shame at his relationship with Jack - he never discusses the relationship with anyone but Jack.  Jack either is or is not (depending on your belief) killed in a homophobic attack.  Homosexuality, homophobia and the closet are intrinsic to the movie.

In 'A Single Man' George has lost his partner and lets no one except his longest term friend know about it.  He does not share this central relationship with his neighbors or work companions and they don't know about his loss.  The closet and George's anger in relationship to it are central to the plot of the film and the book.

The love between individuals is comparable in either BBM or ASM despite their sexuality.  The social context that these people are in and the psychological states it puts these people in is intrinsically related to homosexuality.

[michaelflanagansf]

Here's a great quote from Isherwood about the invisibility of homosexuality:

From 'Conversations with Christopher Isherwood', and interview with Winston Leyland from 'Gay Sunshine', 1973

Leyland:  In his book 'Homosexual Oppression and Liberation', Dennis Altman quotes you talking about the 'annihilation by blandness' which liberals adopt toward gays.  To what extent have you been exposed to this in your own life?

Isherwood:  Well, I've never been annihilated by it.  But I've been very conscious that I was exposed to it.  At one campus where I was lecturing, I asked a friend, 'How many of my colleagues know I'm gay?'  He answered, 'All of them.'  I wasn't surprised.  But at the same time, it was kind of spooky, because not one of them had ever given the faintest sign that he or she knew.  If I had spoken about it myself, most of them would have felt it was in bad taste.
     I suppose my own role as a gay is to try and get people out of their closets.  When you're elderly and well known, closety types are apt to approve of you.  Your books encourage their fantasies of freedom.

[janjo]

It is exactly in the social and cultural differences that the differences lie.  And the emotional differences are often related to shame and anger that are not applicable to heterosexual relationships.  For example.

"'The Children's Hour' is not about lesbianism, it's about the power of lies to destroy people's lives" (William Wyler, 1962)

'The Children's Hour' is about a woman who is shamed into committing suicide upon confronting her lesbianism.  Heterosexuals do not confront their heterosexuality in a similar way - it is assumed.  It is also still true that there is a double standard relating to sexuality and sexual orientation (and gender) and its presentation to children (compare the reaction to female heterosexual teachers who have relations with their students vs. the visceral reaction to the perceived inclusion of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts).

"'The Sergeant' is not about homosexuality, it's about loneliness" (Rod Steiger, 1968)

'The Sergeant' includes scenes of anonymous sexual encounter scenes which have no comparable heterosexual equivalent (at the time of the film they were in the back of trucks on a wharf in New York City).  The shame and disgust which are associated with these scenes in the film have no heterosexual comparison.  Compare the reaction to Larry Craig's encounter in a restroom and his retirement from politics vs. the revelation that David Vitter visited a prostitute in Washington D.C.  Vitter is running for Senate in Louisiana and Craig's career is over.  'The Sergeant' is also about a murder which occurs in relation to a sexual encounter between men because one of the men is closeted.  Heterosexuals do not kill one another because they are hiding their heterosexuality.

"'Windows' is not about homosexuality, it's about insanity" (Gordon Willis, 1979)

Windows is a film in which the bias and hatred of lesbians is all too apparent.  A lesbian neighbor hires a rapist to rape a woman so that she can hear her sexual encounter.  When you look at the cases of rape and violence against women that occur either in the UK or the US I doubt you'll find anything that looks like this.

"'Staircase' is not about homosexuality, it's about loneliness" (Rex Harrison, 1971)

'Staircase' is about two aging homosexuals and the loathing they have for themselves and each other.  Aging heterosexual men have lots of problems (as any cursory view of Donald Trump or Anna Nichole Smith's late husband Howard Marshall would show) but self loathing at their sexual identity is not one of these problems.

"'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is not about the sexuality of these people, it's about human loneliness" (John Schlesinger, 1972)

'Sunday Bloody Sunday' is about the relationship of a bisexual man to both his male lover and female lover.  To deny that sexuality is at the center of this movie is about like denying that it has a place in 'Pretty Woman' or 'American Gigolo.'

"'The Boys in the Band' is not about homosexuality" (William Friedkin, 1970)

I think this is best dispelled in two lines in the film:

Harold: "What I am, Michael, is a thirty-two year-old, ugly, pockmarked Jew fairy, and if it takes me a while to pull myself together, and if I smoke a little grass before I get up the nerve to show my face to the world, it's nobody's Goddamned business but my own. And how are you this evening?"

and near the end of the film:

Michael: "If we...if we could just...not hate ourselves so much.  That's it, you know.  If we could just learn not to hate ourselves quite so much."

"'Cruising' is not about homosexuality" (William Friedkin, 1980)

Cruising is about a series of murders that occur in the leather community in New York.  Without the sexuality and its context there would be no murder.

As for 'Brokeback Mountain' - the relationship between Jack and Ennis takes place over 17 years in which Ennis is unwilling to commit to a stable relationship and still feels shame at his relationship with Jack - he never discusses the relationship with anyone but Jack.  Jack either is or is not (depending on your belief) killed in a homophobic attack.  Homosexuality, homophobia and the closet are intrinsic to the movie.

In 'A Single Man' George has lost his partner and lets no one except his longest term friend know about it.  He does not share this central relationship with his neighbors or work companions and they don't know about his loss.  The closet and George's anger in relationship to it are central to the plot of the film and the book.

The love between individuals is comparable in either BBM or ASM despite their sexuality.  The social context that these people are in and the psychological states it puts these people in is intrinsically related to homosexuality.

I don't disagree for one moment, Michael, I was playing Devil's Advocate, but heterosexuals do have things they are ashamed of too. We may be ashamed of having mental health difficulties, for instance, It is not our fault, but we are ashamed and blame ourselves anyway. We may have behaved badly towards someone and be ashamed of that, we may have debts that we are ashamed of having run up.
Shame for no reason is prevalent in the homosexual community, but heterosexuals feel it too. Certainly homosexuals have an extra stick they need to resist beating themselves with.

[Nikki]

 'How many of my colleagues know I'm gay?'  He answered, 'All of them.'  I wasn't surprised.  But at the same time, it was kind of spooky, because not one of them had ever given the faintest sign that he or she knew.  If I had spoken about it myself, most of them would have felt it was in bad taste.

 

I wonder how shame and anger influenced his colleagues who felt it was in bad taste to let on that they knew he was gay. Ashamed to acknowledge it, or anger that a gay colleague who was a well known writer was on the faculty?  It does speak to the social and cultural differences in this case, don't you think?

[tfferg]

Yes, Nikki, i think you're right.

I know that heterosexual people feel shame about something they have or have not done, but the shame is not about their heterosexuality, which of course is never a problem.

[michaelflanagansf]

I don't disagree for one moment, Michael, I was playing Devil's Advocate, but heterosexuals do have things they are ashamed of too. We may be ashamed of having mental health difficulties, for instance, It is not our fault, but we are ashamed and blame ourselves anyway. We may have behaved badly towards someone and be ashamed of that, we may have debts that we are ashamed of having run up.
Shame for no reason is prevalent in the homosexual community, but heterosexuals feel it too. Certainly homosexuals have an extra stick they need to resist beating themselves with.

Yes, well you have to be careful playing an advocate for the devil.  You never know what demons you're going to stir up.

Of course heterosexuals have things they are ashamed of - I was not suggesting that shame was an emotion that was particular to gay people.  As Tony points out, however, the shame they feel is not directly linked to their identity, but to activity.

For example when Hester Prynne is stigmatized as an adulteress it is her activity which is proscribed by her culture not her identity.

When Ennis Del Mar looked out at the road at the car driving by when Jack came to visit (after Jack tells him he had to ask all over town where he had moved) the shame and embarrassment he feels is not because of anything he is doing - he's not afraid of being identified as someone who has friends from Texas or has friends visit his house.  He is ashamed of being identified as Jack Twist's lover.

This is a theme which is repeated again and again in LGBT literature and is one of the things that still drives poor young people to take their own lives.  This exchange between Martha and Karen in 'The Children's Hour' tells it so well:

Martha: There's always been something wrong. Always, just as long as I can remember. But I never knew what it was until all this happened.
Karen: Stop it Martha! Stop this crazy talk!
Martha: You're afraid of hearing it, but I'm more afraid that you.
Karen: I won't listen to you!
Martha: No! You've got to know. I've got to tell you. I can't keep it to myself any longer. I'm guilty!
Karen: You're guilty of nothing!

And finally she says:

Martha: But why this lie? She found the lie with the ounce of truth. Don't you see? I can't stand to have you touch me! I can't stand to have you look at me! Oh, it's all my fault. I have ruined your life and I have ruined my own. I swear I didn't know it! I didn't mean it! Oh, I feel so damn sick and dirty I can't stand it anymore!

As far as George goes I think that some of his anger and the reactions that he has due to that anger is directly related to the shame that he is supposed to feel but does not.  As he thinks Jim is not a substitute for anything and there is nothing which is a substitute for Jim.  Even when dealing with the more enlightened view of psychology there is the taint of shame and even the suggestion of evil:

"But Mrs. Strunk, George feels sure, takes leave to differ gently from her husband; for she is traind in the new tolerance, the technique of annihilation by blandness.  Out comes her psychology book--bell and candle are no longer necessary.  Reading from it in sweet singsong she proceeds to exorcise the unspeakable out of George.  No reason for disgust, she intones, no cause for condemnation.  Nothing here that is willfully vicious.  All due to heredity, early environment (Shame on those possessive mother, those sex-segregated British schools!), arrested development at puberty, and-or glands.  Here we have a misfit, debarred forever from the best things in life, to be pitied, not blamed.  Some cases, caught young enough, may respond to therapy.  As for the rest--ah, it's so sad; especially when it happens, as let's face it it does, to truly worthwhile people, people who might have had so much to offer.  (Even when they are geniuses in spite of it, their masterpieces are invariably warped."

I don't think you can state it more clearly than that.  People think (and still think, as the groups that try to provide 'reparative therapy' to gays) that gays are maladjusted, perverse and sinful - that it is wrong and something to be ashamed of - and George reacts to this throughout the book.

[michaelflanagansf]

I don't disagree for one moment, Michael, I was playing Devil's Advocate, but heterosexuals do have things they are ashamed of too. We may be ashamed of having mental health difficulties, for instance, It is not our fault, but we are ashamed and blame ourselves anyway. We may have behaved badly towards someone and be ashamed of that, we may have debts that we are ashamed of having run up.
Shame for no reason is prevalent in the homosexual community, but heterosexuals feel it too. Certainly homosexuals have an extra stick they need to resist beating themselves with.

And aside from the shame the other issue which I mentioned is the invisibility and the warping that being told you don't exist constantly has - in all of those films, being told that it is NOT about homosexuality when anyone can clearly see that they are sets up a cognitive dissonance - it is not about homosexuality and yet it is.  And for gay people this is maddening - you really do begin to question your sanity - maybe I am mad for seeing this where I am told it doesn't exist.

I understand the argument that many of these works are universal - and they are - but they are ALSO about the experience of gay people - intrinsically.

[michaelflanagansf]

I wonder how shame and anger influenced his colleagues who felt it was in bad taste to let on that they knew he was gay. Ashamed to acknowledge it, or anger that a gay colleague who was a well known writer was on the faculty?  It does speak to the social and cultural differences in this case, don't you think?

I think so Nikki - and that is a feedback loop.  You don't talk about the 'bad' thing that is impolite and therefore you reinforce the feeling that people are bad or wrong or maladjusted.

Back in the 70s when Anita Bryant was on the warpath I talked to a relative about her and she responded by saying that a friend of hers had someone from Dignity come up to her at church and come out (to ask for support for gay people in the church) and her friend responded 'if I have another person talk to me about this I'll just be sick to my stomach.'  It is a visceral reaction that tells you that what you are talking about (and who your are, btw) is disgusting and that good people don't even talk about it.

[janjo]

As I say, I do not disagree with you, these things are all about homosexuality as well as being of universal resonance. But being different from the majority is something felt by many of us, particularly those of us on this forum.
I see students everyday who are ashamed of not being able to read and write because they have Dyslexia. They feel stigmatised and inadequate about their lack of literacy, and blame themselves for something that is not their fault.
Your examples are perfectly apposite, but one does not have to be some sort of dumb liberal to appreciate that there are other differences that affect people, which they are ashamed of, and which are inherent to the person that they are.
They are often also differences which like homosexuality confer valuable contributions to society as a whole.
Dyslexia often has the payback of affording great artistic talent, for instance.

[michaelflanagansf]

I was thinking about this over breakfast and about the closest things that I can come to for this imposition of shame and the rejection of it both come from the 19th century - the idea that women are somehow flawed humans that brought evil into the world and that the 'sin of Cain' is a mark which is imposed on people as a racial characteristic and deserving of slavery.

Both of these notions are biblical notions, of course, and with people like Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass around they were challenged in the 19th century.  But there are still people around who believe that the 'sin of Eve' is a taint on women and that is why they bear children in pain.  So there are those who still impose that stigma.  But there aren't many women who would hide their gender out of shame for being female.  Racially, of course, there is the whole notion of 'passing' which was addressed in the film 'Gentleman's Agreement.'  The difference is, of course, that there is no group which was advocating that Black or Jewish people become white or Gentile - or that there was no such thing as a person who was born Black or Jewish.  And (for the most part) there is not they type of internalization which goes on in gay people in people who were/are stigmatized due to race, gender or religion - so most Jews in 15th century Spain didn't believe that they were in league with the devil and therefore needed to convert to Christianity - they converted to save their lives.  As the lives of people like Ted Haggard, George Alan Rekers and the many, many people who were outed because they died of AIDS show us, there is still stigma and self-hatred and shame in many people who are gay.

[michaelflanagansf]

As I say, I do not disagree with you, these things are all about homosexuality as well as being of universal resonance. But being different from the majority is something felt by many of us, particularly those of us on this forum.

The problem, of course, is that there is this pesky little thing called a plot which occurs in these stories.  Trivial, I know, but when George talks about gay people's art being warped he ISN'T talking about dyslexia - he's talking about being GAY.

The same with 'Children's Hour' and the same with 'Brokeback Mountain.'  

[Nikki]

Yes, Nikki, i think you're right.

I know that heterosexual people feel shame about something they have or have not done, but the shame is not about their heterosexuality, which of course is never a problem.

I agree, Tony.  In the past I was asked why I joined the Forum and wasn't I embarrassed about being involved, or in connection, "with a bunch of gays."  I replied that I was not embarrassed, I was a heterosexual woman who was probably different from many on the Forum, but for this reason I learned a lot about the gay community that I hadn't known before, and that I never felt shame or embarrassment just a greater understanding of people who were different from me -- and I did feel anger toward this dummy. To stay OT, I wonder if Isherwood would have agreed with me.

[michaelflanagansf]

To stay OT, I wonder if Isherwood would have agreed with me.

I think so, Nikki.  When he is talking about annihilation by blandness I think he is talking about the very excusing off of homosexuality that he sees Mrs. Strunk doing and not attempts at truly understanding gay people - she is not doing that, she is trying to excuse homosexuality.

For my part when he talks about 'A Single Man' not being about homosexuality and his never having written a book which was about homosexuality I take that to be the view of an author who is saying that the central plot of the book was not about the mechanics of a homosexual relationship - or perhaps about coming to terms with homosexuality the way that 'A Boy's Own Story' does in its plot.  George is gay and has been in a relationship for years when we drop in on him in ASM.  He has a fully formed identity and the major plot of the book is not about whether or not he is going to get into a relationship.  So in that way the book is not about homosexuality - it's about getting George through his day and seeing whether or not he can survive another day of life without Jim.

[michaelflanagansf]

Here are a few interesting bits about gay identity from and interview Isherwood and Bachardy did with Armistead Maupin in the Village Voice in 1985:

AM:  You told me once that you felt you had entered the gay rights fray too late, that you wished you'd gotten involved earlier.  In what way?

CI:  Well, I never really felt, myself, that I was leading the charge or taking the role of some kind of leader.  Never for one moment.  On the other hand, I never denied that I was queer.  During all those years in Hollywood I just took it for granted that they knew what Iwas doing.  I suppose it was a kind of arrogance.

Later in the interview:

AM:  Do you personally know anybody who has AIDS?

DB:  Certain of our friends have died of it.  That black nude in the studio--he died about a month ago, a beautiful, charming, funny, nice man.  His friend is a brilliant journalist who lives in Venice, and they were having sex just last November.  He must be very worried.

CI:  What one should be, of course, is very well informed on the subject, which I don't feel I am.  I don't feel I know nearly enough about the AIDS situation.  But these younger men who find they have it--some absolutely awful pressures begin to assert themselves.  They're told by their relatives that it's a sort of punishment, that it's dreadful and it's God's will and all that kind of thing.  And I think they have to get very tough with themselves and really decide which side they're on.  You know, fuck God's will, God's will must be circumvented, if that's what it is.

AM:  Do you still encounter the closet mentality?  It seems that we have a situation today where gay people who are famous and in the closet are forced to coexist openly with those who are open about it.

DB:  And they feel awkward and it makes them almost resentful of their queer friends who have been identified.  We're in that situation.  Two very good friends of ours really don't like gay liberation--they don't want to be liberated; they liked it better before.  Their attitude toward the two of us coming out in print was one of total dismay.  When one of them was told that I'd given an interview to the 'Advocate'--in fact they put my picture on the cover--he said, 'Oh, no.'  He thought I'd made a disastrous career move.  And who knows, he may be proved right. (Laughs)

CI:  Well, we have to look at the example of David Hockney.  He never made any bones about it.

DB:  I must say he was outspoken at a time when I thought it precarious.  Ten or twelve years ago he was taking some boy magazines back to England from here, and their customs seized the magazines.  Now all David was out was maybe twenty or thirty dollars that he spent on the magazines, but he went to court and challenged them.  He said he used the magazines for his work, and of course it got top billing in the newspapers.  And David won the case.

[janjo]

I agree, Tony.  In the past I was asked why I joined the Forum and wasn't I embarrassed about being involved, or in connection, "with a bunch of gays."  I replied that I was not embarrassed, I was a heterosexual woman who was probably different from many on the Forum, but for this reason I learned a lot about the gay community that I hadn't known before, and that I never felt shame or embarrassment just a greater understanding of people who were different from me -- and I did feel anger toward this dummy. To stay OT, I wonder if Isherwood would have agreed with me.

Can I second this and say me too.