Get back into films

Totally awesome.

Reminiscent of other ghost stories I’ve seen but still worth it – beautifully shot, spooky, heartbreaking.

The restraint of these two would-be lovers is fascinating to watch, but I’m not sure what purpose it served. They should have been together. Maybe it makes a better movie if they’re not though.

Diversity is everywhere in the natural world:

Sex-changing fish; male seahorses that give birth;
species where inter-sexed bodies are in the majority.
Some animals are promiscuous, and some bond for life. There are over 300 vertibrate species that engage in homosexual behavior.

This film makes the point that we have to respect diversity because it’s natural. It’s nature.

Some cultures do it better than others. Thailand has its ladyboys, or katoeys. They are about 1 in 100 of the male population in Thailand. Thai culture more or less accepts transgendered people. Their tolerance has its roots in Buddhism, its belief in karma and destiny, that everyone has or at some point will be a katoey.

And in Suriname, a South American country, the Creole descendents of African slaves have retained their cultural belief that we are all visited by spirits sent by God to help us through life’s trials. They believe sexuality is shaped by those spirits, so when a woman is visited by a male spirit she will desire other women and when a man is visited by a female spirit he will desire other men. The result is a society where sexuality is fluid and carries no stigma. They believe it’s the quality of the relationship that counts and that feelings don’t come from the individual, but from God.

The documentary discusses a study done in 1996 by psychologists at the University of Georgia. Sixty four male undergrads participated. They identified themselves as heterosexual, reportedly having never had a homosexual fantasy or engaged in any homosexual act. They were divided into two groups based on answers to a questionnaire: those who had homophobic attitudes and those who did not.

Each man was put into a room alone where a homoerotic video was played. Beforehand a sensor was placed around each man’s penis to detect arousal. Of the group with homophobic attitudes, a significant proportion demonstrated significant levels of arousal. In the group with more relaxed sexual attitudes, the overwhelming majority had no sexual arousal.

So the conclusion was that those who are outraged by sexual deviation are often fighting something in themselves. Despite clear evidence to the contrary, almost all the men with homophobic attitudes reported no reaction to the video when asked it if turned them on – denial and self-deception. And that can be dangerous. Because when people’s attitudes about their own sexuality are challenged, the reaction is too often a violent one. The murder rate of transgendered people is the highest of any minority group, about 17 times the national average (in the U.S.).

I loved the little boy Noah in this film, who makes skirts and halter tops out of scarves. A very sweet, softspoken eight-year-old with teddy bears on his bed and who can dance like he should be on stage. He’s growing up in a small farm town in middle America, and his parents are afraid for his safety. I was happy for him that they are loving and accepting of his uniqueness. But they are afraid they will not be able to protect him. The point the film makes is that while nature loves diversity, society for the most part hates it. Oh, hurry up and evolve, everybody!