Sorry for spending so much time on The Righteous Gemstones. It's not even my favorite show: I don't like a lot of the gross-out humor. But this scene is really bugging me, and I've spent an inordinate amount of time today studying it in detail, trying to understand why it is there in the first place. I think it can tell us a lot about Hollywood's treatment of LGBT people.
In case you're new here, The Righteous Gemstones is a HBO Max sitcom about the famous, ultra-rich televangelist Eli Gemstone and his three children, who live in separate mansions on his compound and get into constant squabbles and scrapes. But of course they love each other deep-down. Kelvin (Adam Devine) is the youngest son, around 30 years old. a muscle enthusiast who usually works in the low-prestige teen ministry, and has to constantly prove himself. Keefe (Tony Cavalero), a former Satanist whom he saved, is his boyfriend.
Everyone treats them as a couple, especially in Season 2, when Keefe is definitively accepted as a member of the family; yet no one ever refers to them as "boyfriends" or "partners" (except once in Season 1, and Kelvin denies it). They never say "I love you" except in a gesture in a song. They are never shown sharing a bedroom, or even cuddling on a couch; their displays of affection occur in long shots, and are limited to hugging, forehead-pressing, and holding hands (once, when they are fleeing from danger). They are never shown kissing, even in situations when romantic partners would be expected to kiss. So are or aren't they?
In the scene they are obviously having sex but they keep discreet enough to keep it wink wink funny- HBO had a great gay series in "Looking" which had some very hot gay scenes for some reason it was not inclusive enough for some people so it was not a sucess and was canceled- so now we get stuff like this - or worse the degerate gay villains in " The White Lotus" another HBO show I wonder if HBO is all into gay teasing
ReplyDeleteI never noticed before, but HBO Max does not have a LGBT category. As far as I can tell, only "The Other Two" has an out gay character in a starring role. But we can probably blame Danny McBride, who specializes in comedies with "are they or aren't they?" characters, like "Eastward and Down" and "Vice Principals"
DeleteI couldn't find the "Eastward & Down" that you referenced. After digging around online, I see that you must have meant "Eastbound and Down".... I just wanted to help clarify that, in case others like me enjoy researching the films/videos that get mentioned in these discussions. Love everyone's comments!
DeleteI guess it's "Eastbound and Down." I never heard of the series until I saw it mentioned in a review, and neither title makes much sense. It appears to be another series by Danny McBride and Jody Hill, about a baseball player turned high school teacher, with a homophobic character (negatively portrayed, of course) and maybe a queerbaiting relationship. But that doesn't necessarily prove that the Kelvin-Keefe relationship is also queerbaiting, especially since Edie Patterson specifically said "We're not queerbaiting."
DeleteI used to think "Heterosexuals will never believe that a character is gay unless they actually see him having sex." It appears that even a sex scene is insufficient for some viewers.
ReplyDeleteWell if two men are having consensual sex they are gay on screen
DeleteI think I'm obsessed with Kelvin because his story is my story: raised in a hard-core evangelical subculture, a Johnny Nazarene who fell in love with boys and liked looking at muscle men, but couldn't accept it until one day the dam burst: I still break down when I hear or think about: "The adults are lying, only real is real: we stop the fight right now, we got to be what we feel."
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why you are so into this plot
DeleteNotice the white spot on keefe’s shirt in Frame 7? His shirt does not have a button . He missed some . That’s paying a lot of attention to detail , to reward fans who analyze scenes in detail
ReplyDeleteI think you're going a little overboard. Nobody will pay that much attention to detail. Besides, I'm pretty sure that showing that would push the rating up to X
DeleteAdded a screenshot to the sequence that I didn't notice the first time around: Kelvin relaxes and smiles.
ReplyDeleteI went through it in real time , and there’s no reason Kelvin should act that way to put on his underwear . It’s a misdirection, so some viewers won’t catch it
ReplyDelete