Film Critique: Chasing Amy - Essay Example

Film Critique: Chasing Amy One of the biggest questions in the homosexual debate is identifying the ‘causes’ for homosexuality. Why does one child grow up ‘normal’ and another ‘become’ gay? Is this a biological or genetic aberration, a preference that cannot be helped or avoided, or is this a conscious decision, brought on by adverse environmental and psychological conditions occurring during childhood? This debate has raged in scientific circles as the gay gene is sought after, political circles as the legislation regarding couples’ rights is considered, religious circles as otherwise devout Christians struggle to find acceptance within a traditionally harshly critical crowd and social circles as each individual comes to their own understanding of the importance of the answer to this question. Providing some support for the concept that sexual orientation is based primarily upon personal choice is the concept of sexual mutability, in which individuals have been known to change their sexual preferences after having long preferred same-sex or opposite sex relationships. This seeming instability in preference has led many to consider what might be the true objective people are seeking when forming relationships. This concept regarding the true reason for sexual mutability is one of the many issues dealt with in the film Chasing Amy. In this film, three individuals struggle to come to grips with their own sexual identities. It opens by revealing the close friendship that exists between Holden, the primary character, and Banky, his homophobic sidekick, two individuals who have collaborated on a popular comic book and are just beginning to taste success. The two men meet Alyssa Jones, another comic book creator, through a mutual friend, Hooper X, a gay black man with a comic book of his own in which he struggles to present a strong, positive role model for black children. Holden and Alyssa establish an instant rapport and Holden expresses his interest in her to Hooper X, who later extends an invitation from Alyssa to Holden to attend a nightclub event. It is at this event that Holden learns she is a lesbian and he is shocked by the revelation. Revealing some of his own background, he is seen to hold a relatively conservative view regarding his own sexuality which will have tremendous repercussions later. Following the nightclub event, Alyssa insists on meeting with Holden the following day and encourages him to talk with her about his issues with lesbianism. This turns out to be the start of a complicated friendship that quickly turns to romance once Holden confesses his love to Alyssa. This hopeless pursuit on Holden’s part eventually interferes with the relationship Holden has previously had with Banky. Jealous that Holden is spending so much of his time with Alyssa and concerned for his friend’s welfare, Banky works to dig up dirt about Alyssa after she surprisingly responds to Holden’s sentiments by returning his love. Banky succeeds in revealing that Alyssa was once involved in a threesome with two boys from her high school, demonstrating that she is bi-sexual rather than lesbian, a fact that profoundly disturbs Holden who had thought he was her only male experience, and causes Holden to take advice from other friends. While Hooper advises him that Banky’s jealousy is brought on by deeply buried homosexual urges, Silent Bob breaks his silence to tell Holden about how he has been chasing Amy ever since he allowed his pride and fear to get in the way of a similar relationship he had. This advice somehow leads Holden to a profound misunderstanding of his relationships, unintentionally severing them completely by insisting he, Banky and Alyssa participate in a threesome. There are many indicators throughout the film that illustrate both positive and negative attitudes towards homosexuality, as well as a mocking support of some of the more blatant stereotypes. Hooper X, for example, is a gay black man, who doesn’t mind pointing out that he is a minority of a minority of a minority. Even as he talks about how the black gay man is stereotyped as overly effeminate, he displays this type of behavior while he discusses comic books with Banky at a club just after the first comic book show. Such common expectations as a limp wrist as he holds his cigarette out to the side and waves money at Banky to go purchase some comic books, a preening tone of voice as he insists that Archie and Jughead were lovers and a consistent reference to others in terms of ‘bitch’ and ‘girl’ are sprinkled throughout his actions and words as he tries to convince Banky that one of his favorite comic book characters was gay. Despite his willingness to be himself when with his friends, Hooper X promotes a tough guy, Black Panther militant character styled after Malcolm X as an integral part of his public persona. This aspect of his character indicates a certain reluctance to face the public reaction to a gay black man, somehow also seeming to indicate that a gay black man cannot also be strong. His overly intellectual approach to life as well as his sense of aesthetics also tends to support homosexual stereotypes within this character as these are used as a means of formulating arguments such as the one depicted in the Archie scene and to highlight the concept of effeminate tendencies (he goes breathless over Yanni later in the film). In this near-opening scene, Banky demonstrates distress at the thought that one of his favorite childhood comic book characters might have been representing a homosexual man and reveals his homophobic attitudes. He introduces the conversation by indicating that Archie and the Riverdale gang were a fun-loving, wholesome bunch of kids depicting a world where no dysfunction can be found. He is instantly upset, employing foul language, when Hooper suggests Archie and Jughead were gay and insists Archie’s failure to select between Veronica and Betty was not the result of him being gay, but was instead the result of a desire to have both girls at the same time in a three-way. It is important to note here that while Banky considers a three-way with two girls a natural part of this ‘wholesome’ world he has envisioned for Archie’s gang, the thought that there might be gay men in this world is highly upsetting to him to the point where he cannot even consider such arguments as being possibilities. He remains upset throughout the conversation, raising his voice, employing foul language and insisting that Hooper accompany him to the comic book store so that they can pick up some copies and prove that Archie is not gay. That this exercise has not served to convince either man of the other’s point is obvious when Hooper and Banky walk up to Holden a few minutes later still arguing about whether Archie and Mr. Weatherby were having an affair. Throughout this conversation, several terms are put to various uses to help illustrate the type of attitudes held by each individual. While Hooper talks about Archie and Jughead being lovers, Banky insists that two men in Archie’s world were not ‘fucking’ each other. Hooper’s language is full of feminine language, referring to the Archie/Jughead pair as “Archie was the bitch, Jughead was the butch” as a means of putting the relationship into understandable terms yet not seeming to use the terms in a derogatory sense. He talks about Jughead being the “king of queen Archie’s world”, indicating a sense of romance and true interpersonal relationship. Banky, on the other hand, is unable to escape the dominating possessive language usually associated with his gender. He tells Hooper to ‘march’ over to the comic book store with him so he can prove that “Archie is all about the pussy”. Meanwhile, Holden plays the reasonable voice, listening to both sides of the conversation, and, while not agreeing outright with Hooper, admits that he does have a point regarding the possible sexual orientation of the characters. As this difference in language begins to introduce, the true question in this film is not what makes a person homosexual, but whether love transcends questions of gender as people search for meaningful relationships with others. This is made clear in a later scene when Holden and Alyssa are lying in bed obviously just after having finished having sex. Holden asks Alyssa why she decided to pick him when she likes girls. She explained to him that the reason she opened the door to girls in the first place was because she had never had an example of a heterosexual relationship that worked, but had always desired to find that one person in the world who “really gets you”. Because women seemed to have a greater understanding in most cases than men, she made the conscious choice to be lesbian. However, when she met Holden, she realized she’d found what she’d been looking for and shouldn’t close the door to him simply because he was a man. She was able to accept a relationship with a man because she had come to it on her own terms, not because she had been pushed to her decision by anything that society, family or life had tried to push her into and had indeed already suffered greatly for her decisions. She indicates that being a lesbian had ostracized her from a great portion of society, but also that decided to be with Holden had caused her to be ostracized from her lesbian society. Despite this, she was content because she was confident that there wasn’t a single place she didn’t look in order to find that one person she was looking for and would have been content whether he was male or female. This film really made me think about what people are seeking in relationships. It seems like the difference between whether a person is attracted to men or women would be a significant factor in their lives, yet Alyssa acts as if gender was the least part of her concerns. For me, this last described scene shifted the entire balance of the film from being about homosexuals to being about relationships, making the division between these two ideas suddenly clear. I hadn’t really considered the idea of homosexual relationships in terms of the relationships themselves before. Instead, it has always been a physical consideration to me – a question of what makes an individual attracted to another individual of their own gender, physically speaking. This film really made me consider the psychological and emotional aspects of these attractions. What if homosexuality wasn’t about the physical sex act, but was instead about the deep personal connections that could be achieved with someone who understands everything you have to say? While my preference remains to explore the differences between myself and the opposite gender, I can understand how finding someone, regardless of gender, who thinks much the same as you do would be highly attractive. Such a relationship, strongly concerned with emotions and feelings, would, as a natural course of its existence, ensure that each partner received the kind of attention – psychological, emotional, physical – that they need. Alyssa presents the physical characteristics of an individual as little more than their outer shell and renders the questions regarding what causes homosexuality mute, overshadowed by the stronger concern of establishing fulfilling interpersonal connections. Works Cited Finding Amy. Dir. Kevin Smith. Perf. Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams and Jason Lee. Too Askew Productions, 1997. Read More