Lost Villages and the Old West

[felis_ultharus]

So last Tuesday, I saw my first ever Western, as part of a literature class. It was called The Searchers by John Wayne, and has been repeatedly voted the best Western of all time. Since it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life, it makes me wonder what the worst Western is like.

The gaps in continuity were larger than the holes in a Conservative's logic. The actors sounded like they were rejected from porn due to their inability to deliver lines. One actress was playing was two major characters without special makeup or disguise, so it took me a while to realize they were different people. The evil Indian Chief ("Scar") had bright blue eyes. Oh, and John Wayne can identify the scalp of a woman he hasn't seen in decades, and pick it out of a series of scalps on a stick.

It goes without saying that the ideology underneath it was awful. I don't think I've ever seen a movie so overtly racist. Children who spent a couple of months with the Comanche people went crazy. John Wayne explains that "they [the children] aren't white anymore" (which is why they're crazy).

The movie's only saving grace was the vague homoeroticism, and actor Jeffrey Hunter (who later went on to play Star Trek's Christopher Pike) was shirtless at every opportunity, which suggests to me that one of the writers must have been gay -- but then it was Hollywood in the 1950s, so that's obvious :)

And speaking of queer history, I've been reading up on the history of Montreal, during the long dark age of hiding and persecution (props to ubergreenkat for pointing out that marvellous book). After meeting up withfoi_nefaste, we went on a pilgrimage to the Old Village on Peel Street (it was forced to relocate in the east due to police persecution).

All the old buildings were there there, though none of the businesses were. Located on either side of Seagram's fake Scottish castle were the Hermes building (which housed the well-known Peel Tavern, and which was home to probably half the gay male population of Montreal in the 1950s) and a small building that hosted the Tropical Room (one of the only non-mixed gay clubs in the city, and the first public place where management allowed men to slow-dance together, back in 1952, even though it was still illegal).

Next to that was the Peel Pub -- the only business from the era that survived, and it only did it by converting into a straight (and homophobic) bar. A lot of people would be surprised to learn it started its life as a gay bar, since it's mostly known as a frat boy hangout now. In the 1990s, the management actually threw out a female couple for kissing there, and queer groups staged a kiss-in as a protest.

Across the street is the former Hotel Mont-Royal, which housed the Piccadilly Club ("the Pic"), where gay men would gather around the bar to cruise or chat, or meet people after arriving in Montreal for the first time. It's now a mall (the Cours Montréal) with dozens of clothing stores devoted to expensive fashions, and even though it's a stereotype, judging by the clientele and the clerks I've seen in those places, I'd have to say that things haven't really changed all that much there :)

Quick meme yanked from archdiva. I'm amused (though not surprised) to find out my name is pink :)

1.) Copy and paste this into your journal:
<*font color="yourusername"> <*b>yourusername<*/b> <*/font>
2.) Eliminate the asterisks.
2 1/2.) Replace "yourusername" both times with your user name.
3.) See what color you are

felis_ultharus

Comments

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

On second glance, the quote seems to be "sitting around eating pudding," though couscous does come up in the episode.

Pudding is far more common. We can hold out for pudding :)