Media that explores lines between male friendship and homosexuality?

October 2, 2011 7:37 AM

Can you recommend books, short stories, academic pieces, movies, tv shows, and other media that explore the boundaries (and their blurring) between male bonding, friendship, camaraderie, hero worship and more "platonic" relations and homoeroticism/homosexuality? That delve into the lines between liking, love, lust, admiration, and feelings of belonging?
posted by Malad to Media & Arts (24 answers total)

Seinfeld episode: "The Cartoon." The subplot about George and his girlfriend Janet. George becomes insecure when people start saying Janet looks like Jerry. Excerpt:

My friends are idiots, she doesn't look like Jerry. She doesn't look like anybody. And so what if does look like Jerry, what does that mean? That I could have everything I have with Jerry but because it's a woman I could also have sex with her.... And that somehow that would be exactly what I always wanted...?

posted by John Cohen at 7:46 AM on October 2, 2011

For some reason, movies about the Beatles are great for this, like Backbeat and Two of Us. Also, of course, A Separate Peace.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:47 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Y Tu Mamá También

The Talented Mr. Ripley
posted by sharkfu at 7:56 AM on October 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

In terms of academic work, Between Men by the late Eve Kosofsky Sedwick is about precisely this and it's a classic.
posted by neroli at 7:57 AM on October 2, 2011

From TV, the relationship betwen Alan Shore and Denny Crane on Boston Legal.
posted by timsteil at 8:25 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Humpday
posted by teekat at 8:30 AM on October 2, 2011

There's always Top Gun.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 9:01 AM on October 2, 2011

You absolutely must see Brideshead Revisited -- the 1981 BBC mini-series, not the dismal 2008 Hollywood film. (If you're not familiar with the Evelyn Waugh novel on which the series was based, avoid at all costs the awful spoiler comments on the Amazon page in the link.)

The character of Charles Ryder (played by Jeremy Irons), his relationship with Sebastian Flyte and his desperate desire to belong seem like exactly what you're looking for. It also happens to be a visually lush and incredibly well-acted drama.
posted by Paris Elk at 10:10 AM on October 2, 2011 [3 favorites]

Gods and Monsters comes to mind
posted by Durhey at 10:18 AM on October 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

This made me think of Chuck & Buck.
posted by Fuego at 10:26 AM on October 2, 2011

The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Michael Chabon's first novel.
posted by Tin Man at 10:28 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Shakespeare's Coriolanus. There's a mainstream film version coming soon and it'll be interesting to see how they play up those homosocial elements.
posted by pised at 10:43 AM on October 2, 2011

A Home at the End of the World- Michael Cunningham
posted by Cerulean at 10:45 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, On the Road by Jack Kerouac
posted by Cerulean at 10:47 AM on October 2, 2011

Brokeback Mountain. I think Ang Lee did a pretty good job with the film, but if you haven't read Proulx's story, you should.
posted by trip and a half at 10:57 AM on October 2, 2011

Fortress of Solitude by Jeremy Letham also features this in the relationship between Mingus and Dylan
posted by Cerulean at 11:04 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Women in Love, directed by Ken Russell and starring Oliver Reed, Alan Bates and Glenda Jackson (among others).
posted by HandfulOfDust at 11:24 AM on October 2, 2011

In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo's relationship to Mercutio could be interpreted as having more than just a platonic friendship. Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet sure plays that angle. There's certainly evidence in the text for that reading.
posted by guster4lovers at 11:37 AM on October 2, 2011

timsteil took my answer! the bromance between alan shore and denny crane is probably the best i've ever seen on screen.
posted by nadawi at 11:50 AM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

I love you, man.
posted by softlord at 3:11 PM on October 2, 2011

Thought of one more. The movie adaptation of Apt Pupil.
Another great McKellen flick; Super interesting.
posted by Cerulean at 3:49 PM on October 2, 2011

Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy deals with some of these issues in First World War vets.
posted by raxast at 8:13 PM on October 2, 2011

Mary Renault's 1953 novel The Charioteer is about a young soldier who is struggling with the idea of platonic relationships.
posted by betweenthebars at 1:22 AM on October 3, 2011

Milk
posted by costanza at 12:28 AM on October 16, 2011