Homosexuality in Cinema: Dirk Bogarde in Victim
Sexual Politics in Basil Dearden's Victim (1961) with Peter McEnery
Apr 26, 2009
During the production code, Hollywood’s lack of positive gay representations could be seen as a result of closet mentalities. Censorship bills were in already place as early as 1922 because the public felt that films were showcasing depraved acts. Victim, however, made revolutionary use of the word homosexual.
Dirk Bogarde Revolutionised the Representation of Homosexuality in Sixites Cinema
Dirk Bogarde’s heartthrob status was influential in confronting perceptions of homosexuality and establishing homosexuality within British social reality. Secretly, Bogarde had a long-term male lover and his realistic portrayal of an ordinary gay man helped to move homosexuality away from the genre of horror and into the crime film or the thriller.
Sylvia Simms and Peter McEnery Star in Dearden's Winning Drama
His character Melvin Farr represses his sexuality and masquerades as heterosexual throughout his marriage to Laura (Sylvia Simms). He is attracted to a young working class boy, Jack Barratt (Peter McEnery), but he doesn’t give in to this desire. Threatened and blackmailed, Jack commits suicide in an attempt to save Farr’s marriage and reputation. This was acceptable heroism for the time as Jack does not venerate homosexual but gives dignity to the relationship by fighting for its existence.
Laura clearly knew about Melville’s sexuality before they married as she exclaims: “You haven’t changed in spite of our marriage…you were attracted to that boy as a man would be a woman”. This suggests that society still praised heterosexual superiority and marriage as a cure for homosexuality. At the conclusion of the film, Melville burns the picture of himself and Jack, boldly consigning his sexuality to the past.
Daring Script loses Seal from the MPAA
As Laura interrogates Melville, standing dominantly behind him and framed by the light, he stands fore-grounded in the shadows. This represents the position of the gay man within the family. The central close up is important as Laura inches closer to the truth. “Someone found out he was a homosexual and blackmailed him?” Melville closes his eyes as he replies “That’s it”. Jack’s death enables him comes to terms with his own sexual orientation.
Laura’s use of the term ‘a homosexual’ separates gay people from the mainstream. Even she has an unnatural, repressed, sexuality and a life without children. This issue of deviancy versus normality is paramount. The character P.H tricks the public into sending him money by playing on his blindness. His homosexuality makes his crimes seem even more perverse to the ignorant onlookers.
Melville remains in shadow until his confession when a strip of light falls across his eyes: “I stopped seeing him because I wanted him, do you understand because I wanted him!” The script fights to bring the existence of homosexuality into discourse.
Richard Dyer discusses the Political Voice and Aesthetics of Victim
Richard Dyer suggests that the closed coherence of the film represents the tight knit, cross classed gay underworld. Differences in costume and the careers of the two men along with the setting are essential. Barratt’s basic room and Farr’s mansion show the real significance of class in this struggle. The striking aesthetics are important with the combination of noir lighting and location shooting which develops the edgy working class image. Black versus white is a powerful technique here.
One of the film’s flaws is that it does not present gayness as an acceptable alternative to the heterosexual lifestyle and at times implies that homosexuality is punishment in itself. In doing so, the film inadvertently supports the oppressive dominant ideology. Victim doesn’t endorse sexual relationships outside of heterosexual monogamy or as source of pleasure so it does not grant legitimacy. However, it challenges heterosexual hegemony by suggesting that homosexuality does not have to be about sex.
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