Lesbian Heroine?
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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. -
le_chiffre-1 — 16 years ago(September 14, 2009 03:39 PM)
What course are you writing your paper for? Do you think you're getting your time and your money's worth attending such a course? What type of employment do you hope to get after taking such a course?
Homosexuality is a resistance movement? To what exactly? Well, it's a good thing there are heterosexuals out there to give birth to all you homosexuals, otherwise the ranks of your resistance movement would be very thin indeed.
Why is heterosexuality "compulsory"? Because reproduction is why nature gave us genitals? Is your struggle against Mother Nature and the roles she intended for your body parts? -
shy_moment-1 — 20 years ago(December 27, 2005 10:39 AM)
I think your missing the whole point. She not only didnt want to be around men she says she doesnt want to be around anyonei life. She was dislocated from people in life, and dislocated from people in death also.
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mercury4 — 20 years ago(March 04, 2006 10:03 PM)
You could tell that she only stayed around her neighbor because she was afraid and didn't want to be alone. She wasn't attracted to him at all. He just wanted to get into her pants from the start. That doesn't mean she's not interested in men. It just means she wasn't interested in him. I couldn't see that she was a lesbian. Only that her neighbor just didn't do anything for her. Case closed.
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fae-of-eire — 20 years ago(March 21, 2006 11:54 PM)
I got the lesbian vibe from her too
Film, like art is interpreted by those who perceive it.
Not sure there's a right or a wrong way to interprate any creative endeavor.
So to say we're reading something that isn't there is a mistake
It may not have been intentional on the part of director, but people see it, so it becomes a part of of their experience of the film, and therefore a valid part of the piece. It certainly doesn't make any difference one way or the other as to the story. -
rayincumbria — 12 years ago(September 06, 2013 08:22 AM)
A long dead thread, but I'm afraid I groaned when I saw the title..
The neighbour was a seedy creep. I'd hope few women would be interested in HIM.
As some one else said.. 3 women in a car = Lesbian? Then, by the same rule, the guys in the car = Gay. I don't think so.
few visible scars -
le_chiffre-1 — 16 years ago(September 14, 2009 03:10 PM)
I disagree. Not all art is an inkblot test. Some interpretations may not be consistent with the facts. And just because a character doesn't walk around with a T-shirt that says "I'm heterosexual" doesn't mean they're homosexual.
If you don't know what a character's sexual preference is, then it's a safe bet they're heterosexual, since the vast majority of people are. Especially in a non-sexploitation movie from 1962.
And perhaps if a character's sexual preference isn't clear, it's because it's not important to the story? What is it with homosexuals trying to make everything about their sexual preference, anyways? -
kaosnklutter — 19 years ago(June 02, 2006 05:52 PM)
well my theory is: if she grew up in a very religious god-fearing family and became a organist for a church before getting into a car accident it seems she is just not interested in "sin" before marriage. And if she had any interest joining the church to be more than on organist then she would be a nun and then therefore would be celebent. just my thoughts tho.. and strickly not backed up by any info beceause really there isnt any except the movie, which is to be inturpurated however well have fun guys!
"Give her hell for us Peeves!!" -
Incredible_Brightness — 19 years ago(July 10, 2006 04:11 AM)
Everyone always reads too much into movies. But you might have something there with the doctor's office confession. But you definitely read too much into the Landlady and the Souls-dance. If she were a lesbian, I think she'd have better taste than to have 'chosen' Mrs. Thomas. Plus, if she is a lesbian - why does she trust men like Dr. Samuels? And she trusts Mr. Linden quite a bit (not to mention that she looks quite lit up after he leaves her in that Morning Coffee scene). Most lesbians have
serious
trust issues with men, and though Mary says she wants to be alone, I see her making an effort to be more open to men. If the writer was trying to imply somehow that Mary was a lesbian, the movie would have been bad, because there would be no point to it - it would be purely for the exploitation factor. It's not important that she even be with any guy, so I think that's why the script chooses her to be sexually confusing. There is no real evidence here to support that claim apart from the fact that her character isn't motivated to jump every guy she can find. Remember, back in these days, people expected all pretty young girls were either married, had boyfriends, or were on the lookout for one.
Sorry, but the Prosecution's Case doesn't hold water.
"Carol, one word of advice: send Cindy to a
special
school" -
clunkygirl — 19 years ago(July 30, 2006 12:47 PM)
I think Mary's sexual orientation was not touched on at all in this film, rather, it was her lack of sexual interest
(this was implied to be the case even in life for her as she indicated at the doctor's office). Most people fall in the middle of the bell curve when it comes to sex drive/attractiveness and behavior. Couple this with the saturation of sex in film and it easy to forget that there are promiscuous hetero, homo, bi and asexuals just as there are sexually inactive hetero, homo, bi and asexuals - in other words, not everyone is ahem horny. And jeez, the neighbor is a caricature of a sleaze-ball - it seems the writer's intention that he be undesirable, period.
Lesbians have issues with men? Straight women do as well! I'm joking, sort of - generalizations like that are sweeping.
http://www.myspace.com/clunkygirl -
DetectiveDoug — 19 years ago(September 09, 2006 08:33 PM)
Kind of off-topic, but if she was so anti-social, who were those two girls in the car with her? I'm not pushing for or against the lesbian thing (I do doubt it), but doesn't a playful joyride with friends seem like a strange way to introduce an emotionally detached/numbed character?