Despite what the director says, it would answer many questions raised in the film if he was gay.
1)One possible reason why Oskar's mother is separated from his father.
2) Why Oskar was giving the stink eye to his father's "friend", when he waltzed in uninvited.
3) The looks exchanged back and forth between the two men who seemed to be just waiting for Oskar to leave.
No, he's an alcoholic. This part of the story is autobiographical.
1) I don't remember if the author´s (Oskar´s) mother divorced because the father was a period drinker, it might be he developed that habit after they divorced.
2) Because he was the drinking buddy, and that meant end of good times for Oskar.
3) Yes, they were thirsty, but also shameful about it. Anyway, Oskar went back to Eli.
In Cod we trust.
Actually, that's not the only part that is autobiographical. A great deal of the book is (apart from the supernatural parts, of course). :-)
It was quite fun to find his bullies in the yearbook. He hardly even bothered to change their names. ;-)
Yes, I heard about that, haven't read the yearbooks though.
I was in Blackeberg following the book literally metre by metre, it almost felt like a documentary :).
For the heart life is simple. It beats as long as it can.
These three points are answered equally well by Oskar's dad loving vodka more than he loves his family. It's about priorities. For an addicted person, everything you see is just fill-in until he or she can indulge again.
Edit: Second post deleted. I double-posted. 😢
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I'd say it's a valid interpretation, gays can be alcoholics too. However, the film's exploration of androgyny, ambiguity in conjunction to sexuality are enticing enough to at the very least entertain the idea. One could even surmise that the gentleman's long hair clashes with our conventions of masculinity--symbolism can be multifacitated. Divorce is multifaceted. On what authority do we have to dismiss such possibilities? Speaking from expierience, the sexual inclinations of heterosexually married men are vastly misunderstood. Why do you think fraternities were invented?
shareWhy do you think fraternities were invented?
I loooove that you take into account the cultural relativity. I was hoping someone had that insight! Mucho thank you :)
shareyogi, why do you want everyone to be gay?
Maybe you should just stop being so heterophobic!
www.facebook.com/BCAflashyourboobschallenge
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IKW!
Sheesh!
www.facebook.com/BCAflashyourboobschallenge
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"justification" for their lifestyle"
Meaning?
I am proud to be non-American, but I also suspected that Oscar's father, the way he behaves, might be gay. However, my Scandinavian friends on this board assured me that this is what people with drinking problems in Scandinavia look like, quite different from my part of world, and I believe them. The authors made the movie for their audience and according to the people that live there, so there is no logic to say we know better.
However, I don't see that this impression has anything with someone being "heterophobic" or "homophobic". I don't have reason to be "heterophobic" if I am hetero, and I don't have reason to look if straight people might be gay, because I don't care what they are. After all, there "-phobic" words that are so often used nowadays are completely wrong. People simply like or don't like gay or straight persons, hate or don't hate them, but "-phobic" means that they are afraid of them. Why would I be afraid, if someone is dangerous and I should be afraid it's not because of his sexual orientation. So if I hated gay people the word homophobe wouldn't describe my feelings or my personality. This is equal to "-philia" words, it literally means that someone is friendly to whatever is in the first part of the word. I am a friend of animals and children, but I don't have sex with them, however if someone correctly named me as "-phile" person I would have a lot of trouble...
The book goes into Oskar's internal reactions and makes it pretty clear that it's about his father's alcoholism, and that Oskar has a longstanding hatred of his father's drinking companion that has nothing to do with a sexual relationship. His father doesn't get to see Oskar that much and is letting him down by abandoning him for drink.
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That still makes him European.
"All these squares make a circle."
I thought they were gays at first too by the looks that guy was giving, but then they focused in on the drinking.
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