One thing I've never understood...
Could someone please tell me about Secret Love, is it about danny, Bill both... sorta hard to put together.
shareI think it was about Bill
share
MovieChat Forums > Calamity Jane (1953) Discussion > One thing I've never understood...
When calamity sings Secret Love she is talking about Bill. All through the movie she thinks that she is in love with Danny but in that moment she realises she has been in love with Bill all along, hence him being her 'secret' love. I think this scene makes more sense in the stage show where calamity actually sings this song directly to Bill.
shareKatie? Ha ha. Seems a lot of lesbian/gay people like to think of the 'secret' as a veiled attraction to another woman.
It does make more sense when sung with Bill onstage, especially the line, "...just how wonderful you are and why I'm so in love with you." Maybe Doris or the director wanted her to have her big number all to herself in the movie.
Katie? Ha ha. Seems a lot of lesbian/gay people like to think of the 'secret' as a veiled attraction to another woman.
Yep! And it's not just us gay people who see the gay subtext in Calamity Jane. I recently watched it with two straight friends who, by the end of the movie, agreed it was one of the gayest films they'd seen in a long while!
I've always thought that Secret Love is about Calam's love for Katie. I'm sure there's a lot of people on this board who'll shout me down about this but I think it's just a case of how each individual watches the film and whether they agree that the subtext is there or not.
Dear Buddha, please send me a pony and a plastic rocket.share
My mum , who just happens to be gay, would not shut up about that womans touch song ...and how they were together lol I always thought it was funny though .
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way!
'A Woman's Touch' is one of the gayest songs ever put in a muscial! After all, the essence of the song is extolling the pleasures of how two women living together can create a beautiful home. The visuals that accompany the song, however, are the most telling. Calam painting the "Katie and Calam" sign on the door, for me, is the final stamp on the subtext of that scene. Dear Buddha, please send me a pony and a plastic rocket.
Ok, I do not understand finding a Calamity/Katie subtext. I think we are trying to impose modern views on a old movie. To me, Katie writing the names on the cabin was just another way to show her "girly-ing" up the cabin to contrast it with how Calamity used to keep it. To me, it was just a way to show how "womanly" and "frilly" Katie was. To me, Katie was just a friend to Calamity, the first person who took the time to get to know Calamity and just be her friend, which she seemed to not have before. Katie played sort of a motherly role to Calamity, and helped her find that "feminine side".
I also think the movie made it pretty clear that Katie was attracted to Danny and Calamity was attracted to Bill.
Also, I didn't see that Calamity dropped everything to become a "housewife" as someone else mentioned. Yes, she did find a more feminine side to herself, but she also was still a tough cowgirl (when she ran off to fetch Katie) and again as Bill found the gun in her dress as they were leaving after the wedding. Plus, Bill never had the attitude of trying to "keep her in the kitchen". Remember again, when Calam when to fetch Katie, she stopped to kiss Bill on her way, and the guy with Bill told him that life would definitely be interesting with Calamity and Bill chuckled. He seemed quite fine to have an independent, capable wife who would be a partner with him working the land.
I don't know what some of you all saw in this movie! But I thought it was pretty straightforward, and a light, fun comedy! One of my favorites! :)
Lots of films from the production code era have gay subtext. Since gay characters and gay plotlines could not be shown overtly on the screen. Homosexuality didn't just suddenly pop into existence in the late 20th century. It's been around as long as human beings have been. Hollywood had lots of gay producers, directors, actors, and other crew people. They knew that part of the film audience was also gay, and that they would get the subtext and double entendres. Calamity Jane is no exception. A man in drag sings, "I've got a hive full of honey for the right kind of honey bee.". Two women sing, "Never underestimate a woman's touch." The big love song of the film is about a secret love. Gay people of the time period would have picked up on all of these references. Cross-dressing plays a major role in the film-- not only Calamity Jane, but two of the major male characters cross-dress, and one of them is the film's romantic lead. Does that mean that the film can't be enjoyed on the straightforward (pun intended) surface level? No, of course it can. The "gayness" just gives it a broader appeal.
sharedmnemaine, I guess I can see where you might be getting that but I honestly did not draw those interpretations myself at all. I'm not saying that gay actors or plotlines never existed in movies, but I did not see that here. Maybe you can draw that from Frances Fryer's song...but Bill dressing up as a squaw to me was just the ultimate embarrassment for Wild Bill Hickok to be seen in, therefore, when it was found that Calamity brought the wrong girl and he did it for nothing, he strung her up! Also, the "Woman's Touch" song, I NEVER felt that it had a subplot to it. If anything, in today's world, it could be considered sexist, "The pies and cakes a woman bakes / Can make a fella tell her / That he loves her very much..." Perhaps saying that a woman should just stay at home to clean and bake. But considering the times, even that perception doesn't shock me. Especially since in the movie the women do have careers and independance and aren't depending on the men to take care of them.
But I truly do not understand why since two women characters are friends that it has to mean something different than that. Two women out in a town like Deadwood would probably lack for actual female friends so the fact they become close makes sense to me. Also, to me, Katie shows she's attracted to Danny upon their first meeting and just hides it from Calamity, and Calamity begins the movie with quite the crush on Danny, so I guess I just don't see what other people see. And as this is a fav of mine, I've watched it many times and just don't get that vibe at all.
On a different note, I love the character development. Well, of everyone except Danny.
Calamity-learns to tone down her rowdy demeanor and lets down her guard to let others in
Katie-finds the courage to start a new life, and becomes so strong she is able to be shot at (and shoot back at) Calamity
Bill-eventually sees beyond the surface and learns how to treat Calamity as more of a person instead of a wild creature, just because Calamity isn't "womanly" doesn't mean she's not a woman
Danny--well, not really sure if he learns anything at all. when Katie leaves, he does not attempt to go after her, but yells at Calamity until she goes herself
Look up the meaning of the word "subtext" sometime. You are talking about the obvious surface interpretation of the film. I am talking about something deeper, and more subtle. When I talk about the film having gay subtext, I am not saying that the film is about gay characters and situations. It qutie obviously is not. There is, however, a definite undercurrent of gay innuendo and inside jokes. The phrase "a woman's touch" has a definite double meaning, not necessarily to the characters in the situation, but to certain members of the audience. Do you see what I mean?
share[deleted]
I don't think Calam and Katie are closet lesbians, or that anyone else in the film is gay. That's not the point at all. Once again, I am referring to some of the innuendo made in the film that would be easily picked up on by a gay audience. An example of this outside of this film would be Cole Porter's "You're The Top". The lyrics have the straightforward surface meaning of a boy and girl using a cute way to tell how they feel about each other, but it also has a lot of very clever innuendo that a gay audience of the day would have picked up on. Does that mean that I think that the characters who sing the song in "Anything Goes" are gay? Of course not. It has nothing to do with that.
And by the way, since you aren't the owner and commander of the IMDB message boards, it doesn't matter whether you get peeved about so-called "vague message titles".
Don't worry Dmnemaine, I am sure I am not the only one that understands what you were (very patiently and kindly) trying to explain. Only Gay and Bi or those very sensitized to their culture at that time would pick up on these "nods". Of course these days with the social acceptance of that lifestyle and the more educated and aware movie audience at large would pick up on the subtext. But even today, some never would, (or would not choose to). And that's ok too.
share