The Laramie Project by Moises Kaufman depicts the story of Matthew Shepard's murder, and the struggle to overcome hatred versus homosexuals in a town where it was common practice, encouraged, and then eventually overcame. The people of Laramie had forever lived by the simple rule of “live and let live.” While common and seeming harmless, this simple rule led
Within the first few minutes of listening to the Podcast, “81 Words,” from This American Life, my mind began to wander to the concept of deviance. When I think of deviance, I think of an act, or desire, that goes against the socially constructed norm. In this case a grand act of sexual deviance, which is considered a civil deviance, leads to grand social change. As I continued listening, I was saddened by the realization that John Spiegel, the main figure in the episode, was a homosexual physiatrist during a time when homosexuality was thought to be a disease.
In "When Brooklyn Was Queer," Ryan presents a handful of unique accounts that reveal how queer individuals have previously been marginalized and have sought for acceptance. Ryan, for instance, recounts the story of Louie, a gay man who was held and arrested in the 1930s solely because he was gay. Louie's experience is one example of the many ways LGBT people have been criminalized and mistreated throughout
Wolfenden found that in 1955 30% of those prosecuted were imprisoned. The irony of imprisoning homosexual men in institutions which were all-male seemed lost on the system. (‘Gay’ in the 1950s) With knowing the severity of homosexuality during the 50’s , it brings clarity as to why problems came about when creating the film version of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. When deciding to make the play into a film, one main change had to be made due to restrictions of homosexual references in films.
The relationships focused on in the novel are very unstable and based on almost no connection other than money. Although there are many different views about different romances. One type of romance that has long been under fire are LGBTQ romances. While many live happily being who they are, others face the scrutiny of others throwing what they believe to be true onto them. That is the case with Oscar Wilde himself.
Relatively all authors are very fond of creating an underlying message to criticize society. Authors do this through social commentary. The book “The Picture of Dorian Gray” is no exception. The author, Oscar Wilde, criticizes the upper class through the consistent underlying idea that people are often deceived by one's beauty and are unable to understand the poison that fills the world is corrupting it. From the beginning of this book, the social commentary towards the upper class begins with the structure of the novel.
He praises some aspects, but doesn’t like others. Looking more deeply, however, it’s easy to see how this sentence is more of a backhanded compliment than anything. Wilde doesn’t value comfort or efficiency in the slightest, and neither do his readers. So when it appears he is lauding Americans for some aspect of their culture, the emphasis is on the criticism and he and his audience are looking down upon the Americans. Since Wilde and his audience share the same values, he is trying to show he has the same disappointment as the reader would when reading the piece.
Marriage in the Victorian Era The Victorian era was a period also known as the era of Romanticism. Courtship in these times was considered a tradition and very popular when getting to know a person although many marriages in this era of time were not established on love. The play “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde, was set in the late nineteenth century Victorian era. In the play Wilde makes a mockery of social statues and marriage compatibilities by portraying marriage to be more of a businesslike deal.
On May 25th, one hundred and twenty one years ago today, Oscar Wilde was sent to prison, convicted for sodomy (Mercer). Just 9 years later, J.M Barrie wrote the iconic children’s novel, Peter Pan, about the boy who would never grow up. Buried within this classic text are deeper messages about Peter and Wendy; their complex symbolic relationships as mother and son, husband and wife, and friendly companions are lush with ripples of the trial of Oscar Wilde. Ideals concerning gender, sexuality, and what it means to be a child are explored throughout the text in myriad ways. Due to the persecution of Oscar Wilde, sexuality and gender were clearly at the forefront of the educated Victorian mind.
Describing how the play differs from the Irishman’s other writings, Ellmann assesses, “What seems clear is that Wilde has turned here from direct onslaughts upon conventional morality to a more olympian amusement” (xviii). Wilde utilizes
In Pale Fire, for example, Charles Xavier, the king of Zembla, had homosexual experiences as a prince, further proving that love is not a constant, measurable concept- it takes different forms. In this way he is almost defending Humbert Humbert in Lolia, and Nabokov brings the readers along with him. Readers, although initially horrified, at least in some ways warm up the pedophile, recognizing that he has a different idea of love than “sane” people do. Thus it becomes hard to wish him the total imprisonment that he eventually
Oh! It is absurd to have a hard and fast rule about what one should read and what one shouldn’t. More than half of modern culture depends on what one shouldn’t read.” (Wilde 6) Wilde made fun of the Victorian idea of morality as a “rigid body of rules” whose purpose is to tell people what they should and shouldn’t do (Sparknotes, Morality) Wilde’s play offers “rather biting … criticism of the institutions and values that … made Britain the world 's greatest colonial power
The Importance of Being Earnest written by Oscar Wilde is an excellent play which has many underlying themes and suggestions especially with regards to the Victorian era, during which this was written. Many themes within the play are reflective of Wilde and his life, including his secrecy and supposed “double life,” his interest in aestheticism, his life pertaining the mannerisms and social etiquette during his lifetime. Today, Oscar Wilde is often remembered in part due to his well known homosexuality trial of 1895 (Linderd, 1), but his “second life” per se had been speculated on for years prior to it, in fact many of his plays contain subtle yet effective implications towards a possible piece of his life kept hidden from the public eye. The Importance of Being Earnest mirrored this double life through the utilization of Jack and Algernon's “Bunburying,” and their motives for lying to the ones whom they love.
Wilde is greatly influenced by the societal movements in the Victorian Era, therefore the theme of hedonism is prominent displaying the influence of Aestheticism in The Picture of Dorian Gray and further explaining the consequences of selfishness and self-pleasure. The Aestheticism movement shockingly challenged all past standards of love, pleasure, and sexuality. Specifically this Victorian movement “promotes sexual… experimentation. ”(Burdett)
Substitute the word “gay” in any of those cases, and the terms suddenly become far less loaded, so that the ring of disapproval and judgment evaporates. Some gay rights advocates have declared the term off limits. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance against slander, or Glad, has put “homosexual” on its list of offensive terms and in 2006 persuaded The Associated Press, whose stylebook is the widely used by many news organizations, to restrict use of the word. Miss Suhashini a, lecturer of Phycology Department at UTAR who was currently doing research about LGBT has looked at the way the term is used by those who try to portray gays and lesbians as deviant. What is most telling about substituting it for gay or lesbian are the images that homosexual tends to activate in the brain, she said.
