The worried 'Time Traveler' could be a bi metaphor
Two exceptional science fiction films, "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "District 9," are coming out this Friday, (I went to screenings of both earlier this week) and after discussing them with fellow film critics I realized why they have such resonance with people, and why both of them will be successful.
Both of them are about feeling out of place, out of sorts, and alienated from the rest of the world.
In "The Time Traveler's Wife," taken from a popular book by a first-time novelist, the story focuses on a man who's plagued with traveling through time at a moment's notice, and never being able to set down roots.
In "District 9," the aliens—who are nicknamed "prawns" derogatorily because of the way they look—are sequestered in their concentration camp-like village (in actual shanty towns in South Africa, by the way), and they cannot be accepted by the humans in any way.
Now, a case can be made that "Time Traveler's Wife" is really about a man on the down-low, who can't commit, who can't stay in one place, who can't decide on one thing, who can't have children, and all that could be a metaphor for bisexuality. (By the way, I don't know that this was ever the author's intention in the least, it is purely analysis of the film.) The book was written by Audrey Niffenegger, and the screenplay was done by Bruce Joel Ruben, who wrote one of the most romantic science fiction films ever, "Ghost."
Eric Bana (who was the "Hulk" in Ang Lee's version) plays Henry the Time Traveler, who meets up with his wife-to-be when she's only a little girl playing in the meadow behind her family's home. In an interesting quirk of time travel, he appears in his new time period completely naked, so he asks the girl to get him clothes that her father won't miss.
.jpg)
That allows for some interesting moments, and a lot of Bana running around with his backside showing. However, in one scene that's particularly funny, he's stolen a girl's pink tight shirt and short-short jeans and is beating up a homophobe who is calling him names. Henry's best friend finds him and says, "Is there something you want to tell me? Maybe I can help you." Some things even your best friend won't understand.
And so, Henry has to keep a deep secret, like so many closeted bisexual men who may be sneaking around on their wives and seeing other guys (or, believe it or not, guys in gay relationships who are sneaking around with women!) Henry seems like he's stuck in a forced life of the down-low because he never knows when he has to leave, and his wife, Clare, (played by Rachel McAdams) does get a bit weary of it.
At one point Clare laughs and tells him as he's crawling into bed, "I used to think you were into someone who is fat and with a moustache." Henry smiles and says, "Well, that's my type."
Another metaphor for the misplaced, displaced and disassociated bisexual is how "District 9" shows how cruel humans can be—especially to something they don't understand. They have characterized these giant insect-like aliens as lazy, predatory, omnivorous, omni-sexual and dumb.
But, along comes a human, Wikus van der Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley), who not only has empathy for the creatures, but wants them to have their rights. He even participates in the odd charade of having the creatures sign their eviction notices as they are being relocated to a new camp.
Wikus gets infected by an alien virus and slowly becomes one of them. The governmental agency that is trying to find him put out the incorrect rumor that he had sex with one of the bug-creatures and that made him one of them. It leads to an overall feeling that if you sympathize with those who are different from you, you are almost as bad as one of them.
Some bisexuals feel like they don't truly belong in the gay and lesbian community, and they often feel separate from the mainstream heterosexual community. Anyone who may be sympathetic toward bisexuals may alienate themselves to others by association.
Of course "District 9" is about how we treat immigrants and the fear of the alien migration to our country, but it can be taken to a suppression of any minority. It may be a bit of a stretch to review these two movies for this column, but I think the metaphors are universal, and can be something that bisexuals can particularly relate to in the real world.
The movies are both good. They're not great, they're not classics, they're not Oscar contenders, but they're good entertainment. And, they're not as good as their distinct messages about humanity and how we treat each other.
...you might also enjoy these articles:
- An 'L Word' movie is in the making
- Review: bizarre bromances with hairy & sexy 'Wolverine' & Kayla Silverfox
- Twilight's Rob Pattinson looks stunning naked with hot gay kisses as bisexual Dali
- Controversial, heartwarming, cross-racial, cross-sexual movie 'Steam' opens in L.A. and New York
- History of past best picture Oscars winning with bisexual subtext
- Bisexual connections to 'Watchmen'—a review and photos, too
Don't miss a word! You can receive notice whenever I post a new article. Simply click "Subscribe to Email" at the top or the bottom of the page to be notified and you won't miss a publication!
Comments
You're kind of stretching in trying to say that District 9 is about bi-sexuality. It's well known that it's actually a statement about Apartheid
Really, From reading your analysis I could easily see you deriving Bisexuality from the following films as well...
- Schindler's List
- Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
and even....
- A Brief History of Time!
how in the sweet name of f_k did you even arrive at the notion you could possibly derive a comparison between bisexuality, and an alien movie (the real allegory is south-african apartheid btw). wow dude. you're really reaching here. wow.
Speaking as a bisexual, I'm not sure how I feel about the first comparison which felt a lot like you were saying 'bisexuals: they're cheaters', and no idea what in the sam hill you were talking about with the second, which I just saw tonight.
Really, I'm stuck on the first movie review you gave.
Being bi doesn't mean "must cheat," and sympathy for adulterers is not some noble emotion to compare with having empathy for those Other than yourself. Which is what these movies were about.
If you're going to go reaching far (far) into left field for bisexuality references, couldn't you at least discuss them in a way that doesn't validate the most negative possible stereotypes? Your "bisexual"="untrustworthy nymphomaniac" slant here is seriously offensive.
A cheater's a cheater, whatever the excuse, and there's no parallel to be drawn from that - a person who breaches trust to suit their base desires - with people who have been disenfranchised, had their rights taken forcibly, or lost their safety of privilege by standing up for those without power.
By the way, I'm bi, and the most thoroughly married human being you'll ever meet. I made a choice when I met my wife, one I'll never regret. I don't mean to use this space for a soapbox, but your spin on this was unbelievable.
Clearly you didn't watch district 9, because Wikus was as bad as any other human in denying the prawns their rights. It wasn't until he himself started to become one of them that he tried to "save" one of them, and even that was a selfish quest to rid himself of his disease. I haven't seen the Time Traveler's Wife, but I'm pretty sure you took both stories completely out of context for your own ends.
How in the world did you get to a conclusion about bi-sexuality? Thrying to tell us something there?
I think you're off with the whole bisexuality thing, I'm not sure how you arrived at that...I think its closer to an apartheid allegory. White South Africans actually did remove the blacks, Coloreds, and Indians out of South Africa and placed them into small ghettos to keep them segregated from the whites. Segregation in South Africa was legally in place until 1994. I think it says a whole lot about intolerance but also how this intolerance is justified in such modern times.
It's a take on the evils of Apartheid. Apartheid = bad. I get that. But, honestly, it made no sense whatsoever.
Aliens possessed of interstellar and other priceless technologies would just be herded into ghettos and left there? Ridiculous!
The U.N/Americans/Russians/Chinese wouldn't have at least a huge presence on board that alien ship? Nonsense.
Known foreign warlords would be allowed to operate openly in that ghetto, possibly acquiring dangerous technologies all the while? Preposterous.
TWENTY YEARS of this enormous ship hovering over the city and they haven't moved the city center away in case the batteries run out and the thing faww down, go BOOM???? Good Grief.
This company (where's the real army?!) stores weapons of unknown potential DOWNTOWN? With glorified rent-a-cops for security???
One of the worst movies I've ever seen.
Got something to say?
Examiner.com is looking for writers, photographers, and videographers to join the fastest growing group of local insiders. If you are interested in growing your online rep apply to be an Examiner today!