blog 5

After reading the article that Brian Gallagher wrote called I love you to: sexual warfare & homoeroticism in Billy wilder’s double indemnity I think he was spot on with a lot of his theories except on the bromance. I really think he put a lot of thought on all of the subliminal messages that accrued in the movie. But I really think Brains gaydar is off a little. Yes I get it that homosexuality has been alive and kicking for a while but the actors that Billy put in this film are not what I would call on the light side of man hood. So after the discussions we had in class and dissecting every bit off Brian’s article I did some research on Billy and I have to admit I may have been wrong on this one and maybe my gaydar may be off a little. Let me explain what I found. Billy said in an interview after the making of double indemnity that he wanted to create a love story between two men when he made double indemnity. In this article by QScribe, Billy wilder: My Gay Icon. Who says in the article that “he said he didn’t know why the abundantly heterosexual wilder should have been drawn to queer subject matter time and again” looking into the mind of wilder some more it is said that most of his movie held some content of gay relationships in them and that he did like to tap into the taboo. But I have to say coming from a heterosexual male that I just couldn’t see it. What saw were two guys that were friends and that had worked together for a long time. Keys being older then Walter and also at the time he is his friend and mentor. Both men don’t have kids or wives, I saw this as maybe a possible father and son type of relationship or maybe even keys playing the part of Walters big brother image. But I guess that’s what Billy wanted to project. And he did a good job of doing that, because I never realized this homosexual relationship in the movie was being displayed through subliminal contexts. But if I was gay I might have picked up on it and I think that was Billy intentions. I do have to give Billy kudos on doing this because he did a brilliant job on disguising the content. On another note if I wrote double indemnity I think at first I would be upset with wilder for changing the content but after thinking about it for while I think a brilliant job on combining film noir and this ever controversial subject. I really hope that I could shed a different light on this subject.