Lesbian Heroine?
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FrozenFireBalls — 20 years ago(August 04, 2005 06:31 PM)
I agree with the first poster, because any interperation is valid. Great art can definitly be personal, and that estimation of Mary Henry makes sense to me - That actually adds a layer to the film that I never noticed before. Damn, I'm gonna go watch my gorgeous 2 disc Criterion set again!
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kilgore2345 — 20 years ago(August 11, 2005 08:51 PM)
Lesbian Heroine? Tough sell for me. I just finished watching it, the thought came across my mind regarding her sexuality. Yet, I could not justify it outright. Sex and sexuality does not seem to be the issue being driven here. The lecherous neighbor seems to neither prove nor disprove which way she swings, because he is just fairly unattractive for obvious reasons, not because he is a male.
Sex seems to be the last angle to view this film; Mary seems to want the fellowship of anyone. Then again, I tend to try to avoid using Queer Theory as my first analyzation tool. -
The_Dying_Flutchman — 18 years ago(June 12, 2007 10:28 AM)
The thing absolutely everyone misses about this is it is a Mormon cult horror film. This all by itself is shocking! The fact Hervey got any money at all to make it is almost beyond belief. I was told that he said the money for it was paid out for a series of oral hygiene flix, but he pocketed it for this.
What is the meaning of meaning? -
kaylynn36 — 18 years ago(July 23, 2007 04:00 PM)
Bathwater of the Gods -
I was just wondering why you say this is a Mormon cult horror film. I did not see anything in the film that referenced anything to do with the Mormon religion. Other than the fact that part of it was filmed in Utah, I don't see a connection. Please elaborate.
Thank you,
kaylynn36 -
wellesradio — 20 years ago(September 08, 2005 08:55 PM)
I don't think "any interpretation is valid" if the writer disagrees with it. Or maybe every interpretation is valid, but some are just dead wrong. There are some nuances that rise to the top in the light of scrutiny but when it has to do with something so fundamental as a person's actions or direct motive, then you really have to go through the author. What I mean is let's say X kills Y because someone kills X's friend Z. It is revealed that Y did not kill Z. Now whether this is fact or left open ended is completely up to the writer (do they choose to reveal it?). But when it comes to whether X really killed Y for this reason is anybody's guess. That is what's known as an indirect motive. It is that which is partially (but mainly) hidden and it is a great part of what is known as the iceberg theory. Sexual orientation is a part of the former - it has to go through the author and as someone else here has posted, it is not the author's intent.
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bigdave11243 — 20 years ago(September 14, 2005 05:10 PM)
I certainly don't think that because Mary is riding in a car with other girls it is reasonable to assume she is a lesbian if that view is valid, then the fact that the guys who engage in a race with the girls are also riding in a car with no companions of the another gender would imply that they must be gay as well. And what would it say about the lecherous young guy boarding (until Mary shows up)in a house with only an old woman? Some kind of Oedipal relationship? And once you begin this kind of out-of-thin-air kind of analysis, you have to find some kind of psycho-babble explanation for why Mary wants to "play an organ" in a church what does she see when she looks at those "phallic" pipes of varying sizes as she plays barefoot! aha! a foot fetishist's delight! in the church! until music reaches a "climax" in tones that are "blasphemous" ???!!!
Once this sort of "interpretation" starts, there is no end anything can mean anything in the eyes (or imagination) of a beholder. Whether it is logical, or motivated by demonstrable evidence from within the work of "art," or is in keeping with the probable human motivations of its own time period instead of forced upon it by the mores of our own period ah, there's the problem.
No, I don't think there's any reason within the movie itself to see Mary as a lesbian she is devoid of emotional connections with people because of what becomes clear at the end of the movie. In her situation which she only gradually grasps sexuality is of little significance, ultimately of no importance at all. -
rcitizen — 20 years ago(November 30, 2005 06:11 PM)
I am so glad you posted the lesbian question. That was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the film. Now I'm writing a paper about it. REsisting compulsory heterosexuality in Carnival of Souls. Cheers! I thought I was the only one.
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who_is_in_charge — 20 years ago(December 06, 2005 06:56 AM)
Well, i am not sure about lesbianism, but what about in the shop, where she becomes 'invisible'. The shop asistant is quite clearly a man in drag! I am not jokin, seriously, watch it, and tell me that is not a transvestite!
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expostdelirium — 20 years ago(December 06, 2005 08:49 PM)
i just figured her "detachment" had to do w/ her being dead and all. i DID think the same thing about the sales'lady'. i'd swear she had a moustache (or at least bushy eyebrows), and was hellaciously tall.
i used to shop in that store. actually, not IN the store, as the interior of that store is in salt lake, but the exterior (of the store i used to shope in) is in lawrence, ks, and i believe it's the oldest department store in the state. it opened in 1857, which might make it one of the oldest in quite a wide area.