Did that Drag queen have anything to add to this story? Or is this just the Director's way of throwing a Little PC crap in the Movie??? I bet the movie might have done better if they had stuck to the story of a Man from New Zealand coming to America to pursue a Speed record! Typical Hollyweird!
shareYes why that character? Did Munro actually meet a transsexual? Maybe the director wanted to contrast the very reserved NZ culture to American culture and show how Munro dealt with this alien world, (alien to him as he was from a very provincial remote place,Invercargill at the bottom of the world).
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Ohhhh....That's Gross!
shareI believe it was just to show the devirsity of LA, now and in the 60's. It also show how Anthony Hopkins character didn't sterotype, and was kind to all that were kind to him. The he-she was necessary for the film!
shareI believe it was a reference to fellow New Zealand director, Lee Tamahori.
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It also show how Anthony Hopkins character didn't sterotype, and was kind to all that were kind to him. The he-she was necessary for the film!
Exactly what I was going to say. Hopkins character was likable and liked everyone. He reminds me all throughout the movie of my father, except for the accent. Replace the New Zealand with Kansas and you have it. Dad was a charmer and so was Burt. Both accepted people as they were. Both lived life as they wanted. Simple. Life is simple if you want it to be.
shareThis is a ridiculous post...he met lots of people during his journey...I don't hear your complaining about the lady that he slept with who didn't really add to the story either yet you are complaining about a drag queen. You're the one with the problem!
shareYea, him meeting the Soldier was more political than anything. Burt going on about death, senseless death, and of course the Soldier saying the war will be done in 6 months.
It's always funny what things in movies bother people. Really, they need to look at why it bothers them, not why it's in the movie.
http://startrekspoilers.ytmnd.com/ (joke that contains no actual spoilers)
It's clear that after paying an exorbitant taxi fee, being ripped off by a flower seller, and accosted by a sex worker in the street, that this is perhaps the least objectionable part about L.A. In fact it shows that even though Burt might come from a "backwater" somewhere in New Zealand, that he was more than able to take any number of difficulties or turn-abouts in his stride. In fact, it also shows that he treated everybody else as people, giving them the respect they deserved, and receiving respect back, even if he was a little eccentric.
Which is more than I can say about the previous poster.
Laura S
Burt was an was a different kind of person. He took people at face value. The crossdresser was kind to to Burt and Burt was kind in return Well, and Burt did depend and appreciate the kindness of strangers:)
shareI'd be willing to bet that Burt Monroe didn't encounter such a person at his motel when arriving in America. It's almost certainly a device thrown into the movie to be preachy about tolerance and such, which is more than a little annoying. If the male/female character had made a brief appearance in the movie I would've barely noticed, but the director insisted on keeping that person in scene after scene shoving them down everyone's throat. Awkward and distracting.
shareDonaldson said in an interview "The transvestite story was an amalgamation of stories, some of my own, coming to Hollywood early on, and characters that he had known. One thing I was looking to do with that scene is that Burt had a wonderful quality about him where he was color-blind. He didn't see race or religion or anything. To tell the story nowadays where not only is the guy black, but a transsexual, the real Burt would have been exactly like this character was. He would have treated him normally."
shareThe real Burt, like most New Zealanders, probably was "colour blind". But a black transvestite is not something that a New Zealander, certainly not one from Invercargill, would have been comfortable with in 1967.
shareI guess it was to show that Ed was the kind of person that the OP isn't.
shareHeheheh. Well said.
shareAgreed, topics like the OPs does nothing but showcase their own insecurities. And shows why art is so open to interpretation to the point of ridiculousness. I think it is mind-boggling, the amount of people that get uncomfortable and say something isn't "normal" just because it isn't the norm in their life. And how people will want to take someone's freedom away on something that is not hurting anyone. Create enough problems for yourself and the world around you and you can become intolerant of anything.
share I think it is mind-boggling, the amount of people that get uncomfortable and say something isn't "normal" just because it isn't the norm in their life.
hoboboxerjoe
That cross dresser is NOT "normal". In this context; normal is when a man dresses as a man.I wish that today's society were a little more "normal".
It gave great credibility to the sheer honest down to earth nature of the man, and people in general of that period.
It is also my own experience of New Zealanders that he played the part exceptionally well.
I doubt that there were ever enought Tv's in NZ that could have desensitized Bert to what must have been a new experience. He just took all people as he found them.
I think it also shows that Homophobia is quite often something that is bred into people in certain societies.
Tv's were'nt an issue in NZ hence no need to breed unjust hatred by those sick warped individuals who attempt to do so elsewhere, including this thread.
Agreed, topics like the OPs does nothing but showcase their own insecurities. And shows why art is so open to interpretation to the point of ridiculousness. I think it is mind-boggling, the amount of people that get uncomfortable and say something isn't "normal" just because it isn't the norm in their life.
And how people will want to take someone's freedom away on something that is not hurting anyone. Create enough problems for yourself and the world around you and you can become intolerant of anything.
Damn low IQ knuckle draggers.
Please tell me you havent diluted the gene pool yet.
Yes the drag queen was needed, Burt met a drag queen, a horny window, a Mexican car saleman, an indian and two bike fans at the flats.
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