It’s appreciation of a horror movie that turned into whisper of a joke that is now a well-established meme. The Babadook’s rise to queer legend is a remarkable one. “While I must make it clear that I was not the first to acknowledge the Babadook's burgeoning status as a queer icon, I do count myself among the most vocal supporters of the movement to recognize the Babadook as a radical representation of queerness.” “Haunting a small white family in an Australian suburb is a radical act, and the Babadook did that,” John Paul Brammer, a journalist and queer Babadook enthusiast, told me. Its existence is defiance, and it seeks to break down the borders of acceptability and establishment. Mister Babadook, as the figure is referred to in the movie, is queer in the most empirical sense. But while its anointment as an icon might be less straightforward, the Babadook’s status as an LGBTQ hero is ultimately no less valid. Like the icons who came before him, the Babadook’s story is one of hardship, endurance, and queer protest - though that might not be immediately apparent. Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, and Carly Rae Jepsen make music that brings joy to their fans. Cher and Dolly Parton endured struggle and hardship, but have never stopped working.
David Bowie and George Michael showed us how to live free before they died. Bea Arthur and Elizabeth Taylor were allies to the LGBTQ community, as talented as they were selfless. Judy Garland’s death is apocryphally cited as inspiration for the Stonewall Riots. Pop-culture LGBTQ heroes come in all shapes and sizes, but those who join the pantheon of legends are often revolutionary, sometimes tragic figures who inspire the community regardless of their professed sexual orientation. This is a major entry in the canon of queer cinema.There are two types of people in this world: People who know that the Babadook - the namesake of the acclaimed 2014 Australian horror film - is a queer icon, and people who will soon find out that the Babadook is a queer icon.
But the craft on display from all involved is an example, yet again, of how movies can create empathy in an almost spiritual way. The level of trust and strength these characters share brings a richness that is not necessarily known to a universal audience. This is not a love story that “just happens to be gay”. But these are the true-to-life grace notes that make this film so touching.Ĭall Me By Your Name is a masterful work because of the specificity of its details. A lesser film-maker (and co-writers including Walter Fasano and the great 88-year-old James Ivory) would probably cut the scene where bike-riding Elio and Oliver ask for a glass of water from an old woman peeling beans outside an old house. Scenes play out at a pace more befitting a summer in the Italian sun, and while there’s no shortage of well-placed props (a Robert Mapplethorpe print here, a Talking Heads T-shirt there) the natural settings and ancient cities are enough to keep the frame looking marvellous. To put it in blunt terms, he reels it in this time. Luca Guadagnino’s last two films, A Bigger Splash and I Am Love, were both highly stylised, with dazzling extreme closeups, high-speed editing and brash musical selections. (Though why is he so determined that his family’s gay friends catch him smooching a vacationing French girl?) Oliver seems so lithe, but are his initial rejections meant to protect Elio, or is he himself panicked about doing “something bad”? Luckily, this is a movie wise enough for its characters to be a little contradictory. Elio seems the aggressor, and unashamed about his feelings. Of the numerous fascinating, nuanced and realistic facets to their relationship, it’s hard at times to determine who is the driving force. How Oliver feels about Elio is more of a mystery, but as the days and nights continue (so many meals outside! And dancing to the Psychedelic Furs!) the invitations to “go for a swim” eventually turn intimate. (Elio later explains that his mother considers the Perlmans “Jews in discretion” in the sleepy northern Italian vacation village.) At first Elio is annoyed by Oliver, but quickly becomes infatuated. His half-unbuttoned shirt reveals a Star of David necklace, which catches 17-year-old Elio by surprise. He savagely owns professor Perlman with his mad etymology skills, breaking down the word “apricot” to its Latin, Greek and Arabic roots.
It’s a world where the broad-shouldered, blond Oliver fits in nicely.