MovieChat Forums > You Can't Take It with You (1938) Discussion > Question about the usage of 'Gay' in a s...

Question about the usage of 'Gay' in a scene

posted 14 years ago by rivak2
35 replies | jump to latest

It's been a while since I saw the movie but I checked the scene again, just now.

[Edit 10/10/2010: The scene occurs at 1:55:20 (on my DVD) into the movie--pretty much at the very end of the movie, and just before Jimmy Stewart walks in to try to convince Barrymore's character to tell him where his daughter is; 1:55:42.]

When Lionel Barrymore's family is preparing to leave, a girl from the neighborhood (I don't recall her as a family member) says, "It certainly is going to be gay around here when you leave, Grandpa."

My jaw dropped when I heard that. I used captions and the word indeed was "gay." The caption reads slightly differently than I clearly heard it and I believe the caption is incorrect: "It's certainly going to be gay... [the rest as I have it above]? With the question mark at the end. I don't believe the girl was asking a question.

I realize that in the same year, 1938, Cary Grant made the "I turned gay... all of a sudden," ad-lib while wearing a dress. I've read about that one. That one I understand (or the debate anyway).

However, this is very different. Here, the word "gay" seems to be used as an antonym of itself (opposite of mirthful). I can't bring myself to believe that the word here is a pejorative. I myself have only heard that useage around 1999 althought it was around since 1985 I hear.

I'm very curious as to the meaning of the word here in 1938. [edit 10/10/10: I know "gay" meant "mirthful" and the like back then too.] I did a bit of searching and my best guess came when I found:

" A 2006 BBC ruling by the Board of Governors over the use of the word in this context by Chris Moyles on his Radio 1 show, "I do not want that one, it's gay," advises "caution on its use" for this reason:

“ "The word ‘gay’, in addition to being used to mean ‘homosexual’ or ‘carefree’, was often now used to mean ‘lame’ or ‘rubbish’."

And here I suspected that the word was meant to mean something very similar to "lame" or "unfun", possibly "depressing", however it was used that way in 1938. Also, pardon, I don't think "unfun" is actually a word in the dictionary, but it is used here and there and it popped to mind just before I wrote it.

The girl was portrayed as very sincere and she was saddened that the family was leaving.

Is it possible the word had some other meaning in 1938? Or did it have a similar meaning to the pejorative employed now but was (as it must have been) viewed as much more benign?

One alternative I can think of is that she meant they were going to have a party after they left to remember them by (and be gay, or mirthful then), but I think I'm really stretching it there. I don't see that at all as I watch the scene.

Another alternative is that I missed the meaning completely and it's much simpler than I thought, but if so, I still don't know what she meant.

Any thoughts? I'm rather stumped.

And do I get a prize for finding this? ;)

Actually, thoughts are reward enough, lol. Thanks!

EDIT: 12/2/10 It seems WOTAPAIN's explanation is very likely the correct one. The girl was employing irony.

[–] jadeval76 8 years ago

I was born in 1957 and my Mama named me Tamalyn Gay~ It means happy or joyful~ Anyway I was named after one of her high school friends and her first name was Gay~

[–] ajprice-1 8 years ago

I have seen the movie several times (even in my youth, when the word "gay" meant light-hearted and happy, as in "Our Hearts Were Young and Gay.") I thought she was just being ironic.

And now...a scolding. I had a childhood friend, a girl whose parents named her Gay. She was born in 1948. We hit high school before anyone snickered at her name. I think it's a shame that a perfectly lovely word and name has evolved so radically from it's original meaning. (But, as she still says, I can always tell everyone that one of my best friends is Gay.) I'm not being homophobic...promise. Some of my best friends ARE gay.

[–] rferrubbish 8 years ago

A few definitions-

Irony - when the intended meaning is the opposite of the words used.
Sarcasm - to speak bitterly.
Gay - mirthful, happy.

The actress speaks the line with a sad face and sad tone in her voice. It seems to me that she is intending to convey the idea that she is sad or unhappy.

This is irony. The intended meaning is the feeling being expressed which is opposite in meaning to the words.

I find it very difficult, in the context of the movie, to believe that she is suggesting that Grandpa is the only thing that has prevented the neighbourhood from indulging in homoerotic behaviour. How can the statement possibly be interpreted as, "When you have gone we can all get down to it!"

[–] liscarkat (19418) 6 years ago

By "gay" she meant cheerful. She was being sarcastic, because from her point of view it was going to be sad after he and his family were gone.

[–] Destinata (3564) 6 years ago

Sarcasm is the most likely explanation. That's something we do all the time. The delivery could have been a little too subtle to detect the sarcasm employed. I don't remember the scene, but I don't remember anything seeming out of place, either.