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cimorene... Presented as an Illustration of My Emotions and Viewing Habits Regarding Evil and Dead Lesbians
There's also Nemesis, but although I am fond of saying that ITV added incestuous dead lesbian nuns, it wouldn't make the above list because they aren't a lesbian couple; rather, the murderer in the book is a woman motivated by possessiveness of her adoptive daughter (admittedly creepy but I don't think Christie sexualized it?), but in the adaptation ITV turns both of them into nuns, where the murderer IS an adoptive mother-figure (sort of, I think?) but is motivated by (what is suggested to be) sexual jealousy. I know the murderer gets killed in the climax of the film version, but I can't remember how the book version ends.
I will not boycott further rewatches of stories that happen to include evil or dead gay men in this manner, although there isn't a Christie adaptation that I can think of that includes the death of a gay man (there's off-screen, pre-episode gay partner death related to the plot in "The Moving Finger", but the character is never seen onscreen, he's just discreetly mourned by his surviving partner). But if it came up in passing in another crime show, for example, I wouldn't avoid the episode if I were otherwise inclined to rewatch.
In general, though, if I know in advance that the entire plot is about evil gay (or lesbian) people I will watch it, and if it's about dead gay men I will watch it, but if I know in advance that it is about dead lesbians I won't. Basically the line is anyone involved in a f/f relationship should survive.
- The Sittaford Mystery ★ ★ ★ Neither evil nor dead, but arguably platonic The two young women in this mystery who are both out of romantic entaglements at the end swear off men and go into the sunset together. On the minus side, this isn't explicit, they just "have plans" that definitely don't involve any men. In Buenos Aires, using plane tickets that were supposed to be for Carey Mulligan's honeymoon. On the plus side, they are framed together walking into a bright light. In this case, if I remember right, it's only the framing that is changed at all from the book. I choose to read their admittedly abrupt hook-up as romantic (probably making both of them bisexual).
- The Body in the Library ★ ★ Evil (and being dragged to the gallows), which is annoying but doesn't stop me watching. The relationship is completely non-canonical, i.e. in the book a heterosexual couple did it, but the adaptation just swapped another woman in for the dude, leaving the plot fairly intact, right down to Miss Marple's pontifications about love (it's her explanation for why they thought they could get away with it, because love makes people feel invincible because it's such a powerful force) and an accompanying series of flashbacks showing how in love the evil bisexual and her lover are. I still rewatch this episode and attempt to appreciate these thirty seconds or so of screentime out of context, but having evil f/fs in it still pisses me off. If the surrounding episode weren't one of the better film adaptations in the series, I wouldn't bother, but at least there is still a tiny moment or two of representation before 'but they're evil and it's annoying' kicks in.
- A Murder Is Announced ★ Dead (not evil), which is where I draw the line. Now that I know, I won't watch. The two women in this story were framed as clearly romantically involved, right down to Frances Barber's grief when Claire Skinner is killed, and the relationship is developed from the beginning of the episode, even more than Mary Stockley and Tara Fitzgerald in "The Body in the Libarry". And unlike those, which were transparently added, they actually were living together in the book, but the story didn't contain any obvious hints that they were lesbians - in fact I think I decided that they weren't intended to be, but I couldn't be certain. The possibility is always there. It would be the best if one of them didn't end up dead. I won't even rewatch this episode. [ETA: No, actually, okay, it's hinted, but it's just very Christie and Olden Times.]
There's also Nemesis, but although I am fond of saying that ITV added incestuous dead lesbian nuns, it wouldn't make the above list because they aren't a lesbian couple; rather, the murderer in the book is a woman motivated by possessiveness of her adoptive daughter (admittedly creepy but I don't think Christie sexualized it?), but in the adaptation ITV turns both of them into nuns, where the murderer IS an adoptive mother-figure (sort of, I think?) but is motivated by (what is suggested to be) sexual jealousy. I know the murderer gets killed in the climax of the film version, but I can't remember how the book version ends.
I will not boycott further rewatches of stories that happen to include evil or dead gay men in this manner, although there isn't a Christie adaptation that I can think of that includes the death of a gay man (there's off-screen, pre-episode gay partner death related to the plot in "The Moving Finger", but the character is never seen onscreen, he's just discreetly mourned by his surviving partner). But if it came up in passing in another crime show, for example, I wouldn't avoid the episode if I were otherwise inclined to rewatch.
In general, though, if I know in advance that the entire plot is about evil gay (or lesbian) people I will watch it, and if it's about dead gay men I will watch it, but if I know in advance that it is about dead lesbians I won't. Basically the line is anyone involved in a f/f relationship should survive.
(no subject)
Date: 12 Jan 2015 09:49 pm (UTC)But yeah, if evil gay is one of your lines, definitely don't read Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers. Ugh.