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Homosexuality in Films, The Velvet Vampire and American Psycho
The two films are different; however, they convey the same message. They have brought up how homosexuality and lesbianism have taken root in our society today. The main characters in the film portray lesbianism. The characters are ready to do what they can do to ensure that they fulfill their sexual desires. “American Psycho” related homosexuality to madness. Homosexuality was depicted as unattractive and as a fetish for crazy people. On the other hand, “The Velvet Vampire” depicted homosexuality as aesthetically pleasing but morally wrong. The essay brings out acts of homosexuality and how it is perceived by different communities and how it shocked the audience.
The Velvet Vampire was acted in 1970’s at that time Americans had started to have an open mind about sex. That is why some of the people started to venture in having sex with the same sex. This movie clearly portrays this. A new culture came in and became the lives of some of the people in America. Pornographic materials started coming in, that is why Suzy shows off her body even though it is not necessarily. This cleared showed how people had submerged in sexual matters at that period. Many of the actresses have acted nude. This showed how sex was not a sin anymore. In 1960’s, carrying out an abortion or using control pills was seen as abnormal one could even be expelled when found with a control pill at school. However, in 1970’s these things had become so common to many.
Everything in “The Velvet Vampire” movie starts to depict an aspect of homosexuality. The movie emphasizes on dysfunction, sexual anxiety and topless actresses. Lee and Suzy characters in the film are invited by Diane Le Fanu for a weekend at her desert home. Lee and Suzy car breaks down Diane arrives on time and gives them a ride to her house. Their car is taken to a nearby garage.
She decides to take Suzy for a walk in the ghost town. In the middle of the street Suzy is bitten by a snake. Diane takes this opportunity and sucks out the poison. By sucking the poison Diane, raises Suzy’s emotions. Although she is not ready to engage in the action, the action warms her up. Diane notices that Suzy has been moved by the action. When they go in the room Diane, and Juan start to make move Suzy notices which shows a lesbianism action. Diane starts to influence Suzy by her sweet word. She tries to tell Suzy that men envy them, and it is the time that they must take action. She tells her that there is a secret pleasure that they can have before her husband Lee joins them. This showed how sex had encroached people at that time. Suzy and Diane have sex although they are all females.
The conversations in the film focus on homosexuality actions. Ladies are hunger for sex that is why Diane tries to invite Suzy to be on the move. She does this by inviting her in her house and viewing them in the mirror in order to come up with a strategy to influence them. Diane uses a strategy to ensure that he captures Suzy attention. Although at first Suzy does not show concern on sexual matters, Diane makes sure that she captures her attention. In this film, Diane tries to satisfy her sexual hunger by influencing Lee and Suzy. This is clearly portrayed by how she invites both of them in the house and ensures that they do what she is aimed at.
Notably, Diane uses psychological strategies to ensure that he captures the attention of Suzy. She takes her into the bedroom and influences her to be on the move. Although she discharges Juan with extreme prejudice, she uses her as a tool to ensure that she influences Suzy into bed. On the bed, she tries to show her the secret pleasure that they can have as ladies.
In 1970’s we would say that there was great sexual revolution. That is why Lee and Suzy were seduced by Diane and they did not take this as a big matter. That is why there is a lot of sex nudity in this film. The movie tries to bring out that sex is dangerous when performed in sinful manner. This is clearly shown at the end of the movie when each person who committed the sexual sin dies differently. Diane starts to seduce both Suzy and Lee for sex which is not common in the society.
On the other hand, “American Psycho” is a film that also depicts aspects of lesbianism. The main character Patrick has a girlfriend of whom they constantly make wedding plans. However, his lifestyle does not show that he is ready for marriage. He has hunger for sex. He seems to live a good life, but this does not happen at all. He kills people to satisfy his sexual desires. Although he has a girlfriend, he is not satisfied at all. This portrays his hunger for sex. He does not even have moral values. He approaches a homeless man and kills him.
In the film, Patrick invites prostitutes in his house. He makes sure that, these prostitutes carry on the sexual act together. While they are having sex, he records them and comes up with a wild sex video. Before they live, he goes to the drawer and picks some tools. In the film, the two girls come out of the house crying. The producer of the film does not bring out what happened in the inside the house we only see the two girls crying. This portrays the inhuman character that Patrick has. He is concerned about fulfilling his desires and does not care about other people.
The movie was acted in 2000’s in America to show how people reacted towards some of the actions such as lesbianism. The society sees this as insanity because they do not expect a man to act in such a manner. Patrick the main character goes around killing people. He does not live a normal life that is why he is portrayed as being mad. This is because of the activities that he carries out. He does not care about the welfare of the other people but focuses on hurting them for his personal gain. Inviting prostitutes to have sex together is an act of madness
Patrick invites an old friend in Paul’s apartment. Patrick and the prostitute get into bed. The prostitute decides to get out of the bed before she gets hurt. However, Patrick is focused on fulfilling his mission. His old friend starts screaming and blood flows all over the sheets. When she tries to run, she finds corpse and blood all over the place. She finally escapes but Patrick strategies a way to ensure that she dies. She runs in all apartments screaming Patrick drops the chain store killing the girl. Patrick only focuses on killing the girl. He does not want anybody to bring out what he does.
Patrick later tells her girlfriend that, he is a psycho thus he is not ready for marriage. This happens in a restaurant where he causes riots and leaves silently. Hurting her girlfriend as a result of lesbianism is wrong. That is why there are riots in the restaurant when he confesses that he is a psycho. In the 2000’s, some of the actions are regarded as barbaric and being out of control.
There are clear differences between American Psycho and The Velvet Vampire. In American Psycho Patrick who is a 27 years old finds pleasure in killing people for his personal benefit. He even goes ahead and betrays his girlfriend. On the other hand, in The Velvet Vampire the main character in the film Diane does not kill his friends but fulfills his desires wisely. She makes sure that she traps his friends in order to fulfill his sexual desires. She makes sure that she commits herself into the lesbianism act.
Patrick does not involve himself in the act, but he enjoys seeing ladies performing the act. That is why he invites prostitutes in Paul’s house and records them as they perform the act. All his items even in his office show an aspect of lesbianism. He kills people who find him performing the act because he does not want the society to find out that he commits that act. There is a lot of shedding of blood in this film only to satisfy sexual desire. That is why lesbianism is related to madness. The madness comes up because Patrick focuses on killing people because of his desire to fulfill his sexual desires. He even goes ahead and kills his friend Paul. There is a lot of shedding blood on this film.
On the other hand, Diane in “The Velvet Vampire” tries to serve lives. She sucks the poison when Suzy is bitten by a snake. She cares about his friend’s life although she focuses on fulfilling her desires. In the film, there is no act where Diane kills her friends. She gives them priority and cares for them. That is why when her friend’s car broke down she went ahead and helped them although she was focusing on something negative. In “The Velvet Vampire” film, Diane involves herself in the lesbianism act. This is clearly portrayed in the film where he makes Suzy get involved in the act. She even does the act with Juana to make sure that Suzy easily gets involved in the act.
In a nutshell, the two films portray the perception of sexual matters in different centuries. In 1970’s, sex had greatly evolved. Sexual matters started being taken for granted. People did not have respect for sex. That is why there is a lot of nudity in the film. Women start to seduce both men and women in order to fulfill their sexual hunger. However in the Velvet Vampire the main character in the film is a Vampire to show the evil aspect of sex. On the other hand in American Psycho homosexuality is clearly seen as madness. That is not what is expected in the society. Patrick the main character seems to live his own life and does not want to relate with anyone.
Work cited
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