MovieChat Forums > Gigli (2003) Discussion > The movie is pretty bad anyway, but espe...

The movie is pretty bad anyway, but especially for the gay community...

posted 12 years ago by ejs8882000
6 replies | jump to latest

Right? I mean, despite the bad acting, writing, directing and everything else. Isn't this film especially bad because it continues to perpetuate the ridiculous myth that homosexual is a "choice" or a "lifestyle". It's especially insulting for gay females. I'm not surprised that MANY lesbians hated this film for that specific reason. It continues to make gay people look bad. The movie may not be taken seriously despite that part of the story, but no matter what, the gay community obviously deserves to have positive representations of them in any form of media. But this was just bad.

So what exactly was Martin Brest thinking? What was the point of having J-Lo's character start out as "gay" when she really wasn't. What was Brest trying to say? That homosexuality is a joke? That being gay is just a "phase" and gay people are just waiting for the "right person" of the opposite sex to just come along? What was the whole point of using that insulting troupe? Pardon the sarcasm, but does Brest even know what a lesbian is? Is he aware that lesbian means "homosexual female"? It's just all around bad for an already marginalized group that is still discriminated against. It's just overall weird that some people are unwilling to accept the fact that gays and lesbians are no different from each-other.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

I talked about this with a friend of mine who's bi. He said that he thinks that happened because homosexuality was still a taboo in '03, and therefore, there was still a lot of ignorance. I said "Are you sure? I thought that stopped being a taboo somewhere in the '90s.

Either way, I'm sure none of the cast and crew members meant any harm. It doesn't excuse it, but it's not like they're homophobes.

[–] Grey_Waddle_Doo 11 years ago

You mean the "lesbian" wasn't really lesbian at all?! I thought there was something massively stupid about the movie's cover shot; no lesbian would dare touch a man like that unless of course they wanted to play harsh mind tricks on the poor slob (which is what I thought she was doing at first).

[–] DeputyDippity 11 years ago

Being gay, I understand that there are bisexuals in the world, on various places on the Kinsey Scale. Especially now when not only is there more acceptance of homosexuality, but of bisexuality. There's the urge, the action on that urge. There's always a choice to act on urges. There's also the urge to act where there is no urge, for some reason other than sexual pleasure. Etcetera, blah blah blah. My husband spent like 40 years doing tons of women, and now identifies as gay and not even bi, so I understand how difficult it must be for people to understand that it's not really a choice when bisexuals outnumber both straights and gays. It's a complicated world.

That being said, as someone who is on the very, very far end of Kinsey 6 Gold Star Gay, not bisexual and certainly not straight, this is one of many movies - nay propaganda - where heterosexuality is presented as solid and normal, and homosexuality is fluid and can be changed to normal heterosexuality. There is no bisexuality, it's Heteronormativity battles homoperversion and Heteronormativity wins yet again because the "sexual dysfunction" known as homosexuality is just a phase, usually for people who are developmentally stunted. If a woman finds the right man and is pretty enough, she won't have to stoop to lesbianism anymore. Because gay sex and love isn't real like straight sex and love. Maybe if she just tries it she might like it. Blah blah blah Etcetera.

It's also the first of at least two movies where Ben Affleck is the man who's sexy enough to convert a lesbian.

I`m sorry for my lack of manners, but I`m not used to escorting men.

[–] EmilyRoad 11 years ago

It's also the first of at least two movies where Ben Affleck is the man who's sexy enough to convert a lesbian.

Chasing Amy came before this, and was a little similar, however the ending was not at all the same. And (it was in 97 so this doesn't count as a spoiler) it didn't work. It was more an exploration into straight territory for a lesbian, who was reaffirmed she was gay. That was incredibly respectful of gay people as it's often times something that happens. I've been in similar situations.

So in that case, no, he wasn't sexy enough. Because that doesn't matter.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Lianco 10 years ago

Studios really need to just leave projects alone.