In other news, I saw a performance of The Green Bay Tree recently and found it...interesting. The play is about an older man who has a younger man as his ward and he raises the younger man from, I believe, around age 11. When the younger man is an adult, he meets a woman he wants to marry, but the older man convinces him not to marry because doing so would cause his ward to give up the comforts of the luxurious life the older man has given him. Although it's never stated, the implication is that the older and younger man have a relationship beyond that of a guardian and his ward. And the jealousy shown by the older man towards the woman the younger man plans to marry furthers that assumption. The play takes place in the 1930's, but the theme could still be relevant today. Would you be willing to give up a life of luxury for love? If you've grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle with a person who took care of you, would you chuck all of that to live a life of near poverty with someone else?
I also saw the film Beach Rats last weekend and an entirely different side of male relationships was explored there. The main character was a working class white guy in Brooklyn who, basically, did nothing but smoke weed and go to the beach with his equally useless friends while living at home with his mother and younger sister. (His father dies early on in the film.) But the guy has a secret life as a hustler who meets up with men (usually older men) online. Even though the guy has a girlfriend and seems like a heterosexual guy, he hooks up with men on the side. I couldn't figure out if he was gay for pay or really gay and the main character seemed confused as well about his own sexuality. The film provided an interesting take on male sexuality.
Have a great Fourth of July holiday!
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