MovieChat Forums > The Beguiled (1971) Discussion > Martha's sexuality

Martha's sexuality

posted 19 years ago by sugar-bear
13 replies | jump to latest

Was she bi or something?? I mean why else was she fantasizing about kissing John and Edwina and having a threesome with them??

It's all about the corned beef sandwiches and pineapple juice

[–] joekiddlouischama 19 years ago

Bisexual and incestuous ... but remember that this was the nineteenth century, when "bizzare" relationships were probably more common due to the isolation of rural life.

[–] sugar-bear 19 years ago

Incestuous?? How?

It's all about the corned beef sandwiches and pineapple juice

[–] the_playboy_bunny69 19 years ago

Well incestuous due to her relationship with her brother and bisexual because of the lack of men around. The (sexual) feelings she probably used to have towards men (or her brother) seem to now be projected towards the people or person she has spent the most time with. In this case it happens to be Edwina. I think if she ever HAD to chose between sex with a man or a woman, she would opt for the former, however on a more emotionally intimate level, she may gear towards a woman.

Remember, she believed Carol completely and even comforted her (embracing, kissing on head in a maternal way) when Carol said the McB had "forced" her to "do the most terrible things" despite most likely being aware of her promiscuity.
She has no faith in men after her brother abandoned her for some reason or other, and only really saw McB as a physical, sexual object.

Well that's my theory!

Also, Joe has a point, these kind of relationships where probably more common in those days and areas than most people realise. War's have a sort of 'domino'(sp?) effect and pretty soon everything becomes unsettled.

x

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] PhoenixLotus (21) 7 years ago

Incestuous how? Seriously? Did you not watch the movie?

[–] 19 years ago

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[–] ShootHimKurt 16 years ago

I was never sure whether her brother really *was* her brother, or whether that was what they told eveyone so that she could be under the same roof as her lover without arousing suspicion in more formal times. However, brother or not, I've always wondered whether his disappearance was because she booted him out after finding he'd tried to force his attentions on Hallie, or whether she (or possibly she and Hallie together) had bumped him off for the same reason. So it's possible that she was used to dispatching troublesome men!

[–] fantasyescapist 16 years ago

Whatever he sexuality, you can tell it's been repressed earlier in the film and bubbles over when she kisses McB.

"He who lives by the sword, shall die by the sword".

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Angus-8 12 years ago

That was an awfully weird part of the movie--those flashbacks of her getting busy w/her "brother". It was so weird I have to ask who that guy really was and, like everyone else, what happened to him. It's as if his disposition was cut out of the script at the last minute.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] ElizabethJoestar (946) 2 years ago

He's definitely her brother-- it's made explicit in the novel. From what i remember, he left because she started trying to control him using her sexuality.