Woke?
Female lead, solves case.
shareyes, everything is woke. case solved so we can stop talking about it
shareBy 1991 standards, this as well as Thelma and Louise, are very "woke". Or at least progressive.
shareHmm, I don’t know, I remember a certain backlash from the lgbt activists in 91 about the way it depicted gay/trans characters. Which I always thought was dumb since Bill wasn’t a character who identified as either, he was just a raging psycho. Come to think of it, there will probably be a trigger warning slapped on it for the snowflakes soon enough 🙄
shareTrue, but keep in mind how professionally he was addressed in the show. They merely referred to him as a transvestite, and used no offensive terms which were very common in cinema at the time.
And yes, you are correct in that making the villain a transvestite may seem offensive to the whiners, but there was a movie released on Netflix a couple years back called To Catch a Killer (which appeared heavily influenced by SotL). The three protagonists were as stereotypically Netflix as you can get. Woman, man of color, and a homosexual. Yet, they made the main villain a vegan (Yes, it was as stupid as it sounds!). And they made his whole evil plot based around his vegan agenda.
You'd think they would have made him a hero as well! In a funny way, I think those offended in 1991 may actually be more open to it now because of how inclusive Buffalo Bill was for being a cross dresser but it not tying to his evil ways (whose to say he still wouldn't kill if he didn't cross dress?). But that's just speculation on my part.
Also, unlike TCaK where his villainous actions involved his veganism, in SotL they didn't make him a killer because he was a transvestite (which would have been much more offensive), he was a killer who just happened to be a tranny.
I know it's a bit of a stretch.
Jame Gumb's backstory from the book was not included in the film. Here is a synopsis that may help explain his pathology. I think he hated his mother, (and himself) but here is what the author said.
"Jame Gumb was born in California in 1948 or 1949. It is stated that the unusual spelling of his name is due to a clerical error on his birth certificate "that no one bothered to correct". Gumb's mother, an aspiring actress, went into an alcoholic decline after her career failed to materialize, and Gumb was placed in a foster home when he was two. The novel goes on to tell of Gumb living in foster homes until age 10, when he is adopted by his grandparents, who become his first victims when he impulsively kills them two years later. Gumb is institutionalized in Tulare Vocational Rehabilitation, a psychiatric hospital, where he learns to be a tailor."share