aTypical Joe: a gay New Yorker living in the rural South
Sunday, May 21, 2006
The Da Vinci Code - No Gay Content
Guest post by Augusto
Good movie. Initially, I had high expectations for it, but then I learned about the bad reviews and my expectations were lowered. I guess my low expectations allowed me to actually enjoy the flick. Watch the trailer here.
Here, Tom Hanks is a professor who gets sucked into this mystery which is protected by a secret society. As you should know by now, the revelation of the mystery would shake the foundation of Christianity. Audrey Tatou plays a French agent in the movie and Ian McKellen plays a super rich old friend, they both are out to help Tom.
I guess you could read gayness into Ian’s character and you could even believe he has a thing with his kinda-hot-daddy butler, played by Jean-Yves Barteloot (pic on the right). But there’s no hard evidence of any of that in the movie, it’s all just my wishful thinking.
I read the book a while ago and I had imagined a cast lead by Harrison Ford and Julie Delpie. I think Harrison would have been more suitable to the plot and would have certainly lowered the standards and expectations for the movie, and everybody would have been able to enjoy it. People would not expect an Oscar movie if Harrison was leading, and I guess they did expect just that with Tom Hanks in the lead. And Tom is not good in it.
Oh, I also liked Paul Bettany as a crazy monk. He shows quite a bit of skin in some eerie and disturbing scenes.
If I remember correctly, the book did not have any gay content, and the movie reflects that flaw. A movie almost entirely based on Leonardo Da Vinci, a notoriously flaming ‘mo, with no gay content is rather upsetting (consider this great discussion about the lack of gay content in The Da Vinci Code).
I saw the movie in Brazil, a deeply catholic country, and I actually saw people praying in the theater. With a rosary in hand. I kid you not.
Some in the blogosphere loved the movie, others were disappointed. I liked it. See it and decide for yourself.
(crossposted at Queer Beacon)
