By Andy
“Another lover hits the universe. The circle is broken. But with death comes rebirth. And like all lovers, I am a poet.”
From the moment it was first advertised, “Kill Your Darlings” seemed like a movie I needed to see, not simply because of Daniel Radcliffe (although, to be honest, seeing him outside the role of Harry Potter was a major motivator) and his fabulous acting, but because of the film’s portrayal of LGBT life in the 1950s. It had always intrigued me, but I never got around to actually seeing the darn thing.
Needless to say, I am incredibly grateful to have finally seen the movie this past weekend. The on-screen chemistry of leads Radcliffe and Dane Dehaan, as poet Allen Ginsberg and his romantic interest Lucien Carr, is tragically wonderful. What begins as a coming of age, rebellious plot soon descends into dark complicated places that are at once horrible and wonderful.
After watching the movie, I started thinking (I do that sometimes). It seems strange to me that many refer to “the whole gay thing” as a recent phenomenon, as if LGBT people crawled out of their collective societal closet in the late 1900s: “Surprise! We exist!” On the contrary, LGBT people were assuredly present, often accepted, and sometimes celebrated throughout societies from Ancient Greece through the 19th century. It was only relatively recently that governments and institutions began to isolate LGBT people as targets for restrictive laws. As humans entered the “modern” era, variety of sexuality and gender became strict taboos. Over the past few decades, the LGBT community has begun to fight (successfully) for its re-recognition in the public sphere.
“Kill Your Darlings” examines the lives of a group of writers whose own struggle against the rigid conformity of their contemporary poets reflects on an important step in the LGBT community’s struggle for acknowledgment and sense of self. As Radcliffe and Dehaan grapple with their oppressors in the literary sector, they experience similar oppression by the harsh rules of their society relating to sexuality. Watching the film definitely gave me an impression of how far we have come as a culture, yet how many hateful undertones still remain as strong as ever before. We still have some ways to go.
Don't forget to subscribe! To do so, just fill out the form on the side-bar - you'll get frequent updates and some exciting subscriber perks.
From the moment it was first advertised, “Kill Your Darlings” seemed like a movie I needed to see, not simply because of Daniel Radcliffe (although, to be honest, seeing him outside the role of Harry Potter was a major motivator) and his fabulous acting, but because of the film’s portrayal of LGBT life in the 1950s. It had always intrigued me, but I never got around to actually seeing the darn thing.
Needless to say, I am incredibly grateful to have finally seen the movie this past weekend. The on-screen chemistry of leads Radcliffe and Dane Dehaan, as poet Allen Ginsberg and his romantic interest Lucien Carr, is tragically wonderful. What begins as a coming of age, rebellious plot soon descends into dark complicated places that are at once horrible and wonderful.
After watching the movie, I started thinking (I do that sometimes). It seems strange to me that many refer to “the whole gay thing” as a recent phenomenon, as if LGBT people crawled out of their collective societal closet in the late 1900s: “Surprise! We exist!” On the contrary, LGBT people were assuredly present, often accepted, and sometimes celebrated throughout societies from Ancient Greece through the 19th century. It was only relatively recently that governments and institutions began to isolate LGBT people as targets for restrictive laws. As humans entered the “modern” era, variety of sexuality and gender became strict taboos. Over the past few decades, the LGBT community has begun to fight (successfully) for its re-recognition in the public sphere.
“Kill Your Darlings” examines the lives of a group of writers whose own struggle against the rigid conformity of their contemporary poets reflects on an important step in the LGBT community’s struggle for acknowledgment and sense of self. As Radcliffe and Dehaan grapple with their oppressors in the literary sector, they experience similar oppression by the harsh rules of their society relating to sexuality. Watching the film definitely gave me an impression of how far we have come as a culture, yet how many hateful undertones still remain as strong as ever before. We still have some ways to go.
Don't forget to subscribe! To do so, just fill out the form on the side-bar - you'll get frequent updates and some exciting subscriber perks.