You're obviously wrong. The message is subliminal. We can't see it. Some of the folks here are privy to the message because they have special insight. The rest of us must rely on their reviews to know what is really going on. : )
You're obviously wrong. The message is subliminal. We can't see it. Some of the folks here are privy to the message because they have special insight. The rest of us must rely on their reviews to know what is really going on. : ) Yes, that was a consideration of mine. In the future, I'll make sure I get reviews from these guys before every movie I watch, just to make sure I understand the proper message ;-)
breakem,
I have been following the exhanges and am greatly gratified by the discussion my article "Selling Homosexuality to America" has engendered here and elsewhere.
So many observations in this thread are on target...including your tongue-in-cheek (I suspect) comment about needing others' insights. If I might comment on American Dream. The overt theme played out over and over, just like the marine in American Beauty, is that critics of same-sex sex cover their own homosexual feelings by displaying "homophobic" tendencies, i.e., many critics are actually secret homosexuals who have internalized their feelings due to a homophobic society. Ergo, most critics are either actually homosexuals victimized by homophobes, are sick homophobes or both. (Take your choice since homophobia is an invented political, not psychological, condition.)
This is one of the most common Jamming techniques: The "homophobic" charactor is portrayed as someone no viewer would want to be seen as being like...even to oneself.
However, propaganda usually has multiple layers. While the overt message is obvious, I would suggest that it also distracts the viewer from the use of a military portrayal to frame the "unfairness" of not allowing open homosexuality in the military. The script connects this marines's behavior to military sexual "oppression" and infers that it is these sort of nasty, unlikeable people that are keeping the military "homophobic". While everyone is watching the obvious hetero/homo conflict play out in the family story, an underlying seed is left to sprout in the subconcious about the results of a "homophobic" military.
It sounds like many have made the time to read the orignal "Selling Homosexuality" article at
http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/lawreview/issues/v14n2.html. Thanks to everyone who has...for those who haven't, it's a free download and I hope you will find it is worth your time.