To continue my theme of Pride related movies, I chose In & Out for this week's post. I had considered watching Brokeback Mountain instead, but after last week's movie, I needed something a little lighter for my movie to watch. Boys Don't Cry has stuck with me all week and my heart aches every time I think about what Brandon Teena went through. In & Out is more of a light-hearted film from the 90s that's about a high school teacher who gets called out for being gay on national television, despite the fact that he's never lived his life as a gay man. Even his fiancé asks him, "Is there something we need to talk about?" I'm still not sure whether he is gay and has never considered it himself, or if he's just a generally feminine man who is straight, but comes across as gay. I'll find out once the movie's over. I remember that Kevin Klein's character is about to get married, so there's a lot of imagery of the wedding in the previews and the posters. This was a very popular movie when it came out in the 90s, but I never got around to watching it. I don't have many opinions of it up front, but it has an amazing cast, so I'm expecting lots of good things from this movie. But watching it almost 25 years later, I might see some moments of inconsiderate humor that Hollywood wouldn't have worried about in the 90s as being seen as inconsiderate. We'll see how well the movie holds up to the test of time. Time to watch it and find out!
So, this is definitely a movie that lives in the 90s. There are a lot of stereotypes of what gay men are "supposed" to do and how they're "supposed" to act in this film, as well as some of the common issues people had to deal with when coming out to the world around them. Although there are a lot of common misconceptions in this film, it isn't as horribly offensive to the subject matter as some films of the past. It's light-hearted, so there isn't as much that would offend the LGBTQ+ community in this film as it could have had for it's age and Hollywood's insistence on doing whatever it pleased without care or concern for factuality and proper representation. There were a lot of things that are shown in this film that reminded me of just how things really were in the 90s. A lot of truths that may not be pretty, but doesn't change the fact that it was how things were.
This movie is about a man who is about to get married. The whole town is watching the Oscars because one of their own is nominated for a best actor award. He portrayed a gay man in the military in the film he was nominated for, and so, in his acceptance speech, he wanted to thank his high school teacher (Kevin Klein's character, Howard), announcing that he was gay. Being that it's such a small town, the whole town erupts in gossip about the topic. Media descends upon the small town like sharks to chum looking for a juicy story. Howard's life is turned upside down and he's forced to face his own self in figuring out if he is actually gay or not. In the end, he comes to the realization that he must be gay and calls off the wedding. He loses his job as a teacher, since they fear he will influence the children negatively, and his fiancé's life feels shattered. When the high school children have their graduation ceremony, they find out that Howard no longer has a job. The entire town winds up standing up for him in support to get his job back. You don't actually find out if he does or not, but you're led to believe he does.
The movie starts out giving you the basic information of the film. Howard is an English teacher who teaches poetry, he's also the coach for the high school team, I assume football. The kids love him as a teacher and a coach. He even helped one of the students get into his college of choice. He's shown to really care about his career, those kids and his town in general. He goes with his fiancé to the bridal shop to pick out her dress and I couldn't help but wonder why he was there. It's bad luck to see the bride in her gown before the wedding! Everyone knows this. They have a gathering pre-wedding with everyone and everyone goes home to watch the Oscars afterwards. It's all a normal day up until this point. Watching the Oscars footage, I couldn't' help but think of all the ridiculousness that was rolled up into one event. From the crowds outside, to the dismissal of a long time actor (Whoopi Goldberg) for the young, up & coming actor (Matt Dillon's character, Cameron), to the way they had Glenn Close announce Cameron's movie (which the Oscars would never pay more attention to one actor over other more seasoned actors) and how they showed a large portion of a "clip" of the movie while skipping over the other nominees and their movies. The clip of the movie shows a movie that would be ridiculously horrible and would never get a nomination for best actor. Just as cheesy as the war movie that Tropic Thunder was filming. Totally cringe-worthy. Once the Oscar is announced to go to Cameron, he goes up to accept his award. He decides to thank someone he personally knows who is gay and "outs" his high school teacher, which sets the entire town into an upheaval. The media, looking for a story of any kind, shows up looking for Howard. Included in those reporters is Tom Selleck, who happens to also be a gay man. He tries to come across as helpful to Howard, but it only feels like he's pushing his own agenda. Forcing someone to do something they're not ready to do is usually a bad idea. Whether that is confronting a person who's wronged them or doing something they aren't comfortable with, including admitting to their entire town something they've hidden from themselves for their entire lives.
In the 90s, coming out as gay could be such a dramatic change for your entire life. When Howard doesn't follow through with his wedding, he is fired from his job. Parents had called the school with concerns about him teaching. While it may not be pretty, it was an unfortunate reality in the 90s. Being known as gay was almost equal to being considered a pervert. Parents would have worried that a gay teacher would see their children in a licentious way and would have asked for the teacher's removal, despite that being a ridiculous correlation to make. Even Ellen DeGeneres lost her television show after coming out as gay on tv. The network felt that people wouldn't want to watch a show about a lesbian, so they cancelled it. When someone came out, there were too many who thought it made the person something completely different than what they thought they were. It was probably more that they worried how it meant they were different. Did liking someone who was gay, even if only as a friend, did that make them gay? This was an actual thought process, which I honestly can't say has actually ceased, even though being out is so commonplace nowadays. It's a concept born of ignorance and I hope it disappears fully someday. In the end of the movie, when the town learns how their perspective of him is ruining his life, they realize that he's still the person they always knew and stand up for him. Not everyone in reality is so lucky, though. Especially not in the 90s when the events of the AIDS pandemic of the 80s was still so fresh in the public's mind. The movie did try to keep the topic light, despite the sad reality so many lived with and you can feel the undercurrents of it in this film. Little things like the masculinity "self help" cassette showed how men were expected to act. No dancing, looking neat, or standing with good posture. This type of mindset has seriously hurt our population because someone couldn't be seen as to be anything remotely feminine if they wanted to be accepted by their peers. Guys were expected to be sloppy, careless and bullish. I was more disturbed by the self-help cassette than the obvious stereotypes of gay men that the film was throwing in your face. Things like listening to Macho Man, excessive motions with their hands and loose wrists, a love for everything Barbara Streisand, an eye for fashion aren't exclusive to gay men and not every gay man lives up to these stereotypes, either. Unfortunately, when a few live up to the standard, there are people who think that all of them must be that way. We have those same ideas for differing nationalities, races, sexes and careers. Although there may be some that live up to the stereotype, we have to let go of the idea that everyone in that grouping is the same. We all are individuals and deserved to be seen for our own merit.
A few fun moments that I enjoyed through the movie included the interviews of the townspeople that Selleck did, especially the postal worker. He was on point with giving out the appropriate response to someone asking about personal mail (he couldn't discuss it) and even requesting people use full zip codes. Brilliant short appearance. Joan Cusack and Debbie Reynolds were utter perfection. Cusack always does a slight lean on the side of crazy and I love it! And Debbie Reynolds being obsessed with the wedding was hilarious. She didn't care if he was gay, as long as he followed through with the wedding. "How could he not want a wedding?" I also loved that in the end, she decided to use the wedding for herself to renew her vows with her husband. That was perfect. I also loved that the high schoolers used sarcasm to show their solidarity for Howard. "I was around Howard a lot, so it must have rubbed off. I'm gay!" Sarcasm was a huge thing in the 90s, especially in high schoolers. I should know, I was in high school in the 90s and that was a primary form of humor with my classmates. They also showed the expectations of the women in the modelling industry when the model girlfriend had an interview and she needed to "shower and vomit" before going on the air. Although it's said in a humorous way, the undercurrent of that statement showed that models were expected to be ridiculously thin, to the point of it no longer being healthy. I'm glad things are shifting now and modelling is now starting to reflect a more diverse body shape, but in the 90s, many models were known to have eating disorders to keep their careers. I also had to look up how old the actors were in this film and I was a bit shocked. I knew they usually paired an older male with a younger female, but this movie definitely stretched it a bit far, especially with his "mother" only being fifteen years older than him. Kevin Klein was 50 when this movie was released. Joan Cusack was 15 years younger than him and Debbie Reynolds was 15 years older than him. Man, I could go off on a tangent about the film industry's insistence on these types of pairings because those older men couldn't see the beauty in someone who was their same age, but that would go on for too long. Let's just say that I find more and more issue with this as I get older and notice the difference in ages. No wonder people thought they had to act older than they actually were. These were their idols and inspirations. It also made the fact that he was home before midnight the night of his bachelor party make more sense, even though I know 50 year old's who could last longer during a night out than I could now. It's kind of amazing how this entire movie, meant to be a light-hearted comedy, really pokes at all of the differing expectations laid on people of all types. It's a study of misconceptions. It may have fallen by the wayside in recent years, but it was still fun and entertaining, despite the obvious stereotyping.
Next week I'm going to watch Moonlight since it was such a favorite at the Oscars the year it was released. It's available to watch on Kanopy (free access with your AAC Library card) and Showtime Anytime (only until tomorrow, though). You can rent it from other sites, like Amazon Prime, but why pay when you can watch for free through your library? So, join me next week to see what I thought about it!
For more movie love, check out my other blog, "You're Watching That Again?!"
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