Is Marlowe a Racist (or even homophobic)?

[kelber at mindspring.com]

Answering my own question about whether there were any openly straight writers in the 30s-40s who were sympathetic to gays, well, I've found one:  Richard Brooks.  He wrote a book in 1945 called The Brick Foxhole, about the murder of a homosexual.

I haven't read the book, but I saw the movie.  They changed the homosexual to a Jew in the movie, but the gay subtext comes through.  In the movie, an older Jewish man invites a young soldier he meets in a bar to come home with him and "talk."  The soldier's friend beats him to death because he hates Jews.  The film (not very good, but interesting because of the subtext) is a noir-ish detective story.  Brooks went on to direct  noir-ish films, including Key Largo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brooks

Laura



-----Original Message-----
>From: John Carvill <johncarvill at gmail.com>
>Sent: Aug 20, 2009 11:50 AM
>To: Paul Nightingale <isread at btinternet.com>
>Cc: pynchon-l at waste.org
>Subject: Re: Is Marlowe a Racist (or even homophobic)?
>
>Well, you've altered the subject and thereby widened the accusatory
>field. Fine. I already said that Marlowe is not a racist but admitted
>the question of his attitude to homosexuals is a different, more
>complex matter.
>
>And we have already mentioned examples of Marlowe - and Bogart -
>displaying 'non-PC' attitudes. Wanna call Bogart a racist and a
>homophobe now? I hope not! Would you remove that scene from the film
>of The BIg Sleep where Bogart flips his hat brim up and puts on that
>vaguely 'gay' act?
>
>It's probable that Chandler had conflicted feelings towards the idea
>of homosexuality. But compare Marlowe with Sam Spade, who enjoys
>beating up Joel Cairo precisely because Cairo is obviously gay. Plus
>all that stuff about Gutman's 'gunsel'. Compared to all that, Marlowe
>is practically a gay rights activist.
>
>Marlowe is depicted in a sympathetic way, but he is quite a complex
>character. If we as modern readers recoil slightly from some of his
>attitudes, we have to factor in the times, and we should be aware
>that, even with all his flaws, the character of Marlowe was, while
>still tough and manly, actually pretty sensitive and, especially for
>his time, progressive.
>
>Attempts to paint him as a straight-out racist or homophobe or Fascist
>or brute, will all ultimately fail.