I don't think Hitch or his films were homophobic, but I do think it's worth exploring the extent to which he often associated homosexuality (or in the case of Psycho, ambiguous or transgressive sexuality, anyway) with murder and violence. This is true of Bruno in Strangers, and the Leonard character in North by Northwest, and Psycho, and even Rope. The portrayal of homosexuality in all those films is complex, and even in some ways sympathetic, and not at all compatible with simple charges of homophobia. Nevertheless, the association holds true, as it does in numerous films from throughout cinematic history -- Claire Denis comes to mind as another interesting and equally complex example -- of the gay figure as the murderer.davidhare wrote:Calling the homophobic card on any gay character who is "flawed" or in some other way less than perfect is a now routine strategy for mostly younger gay activists who think every gay movie should be like the interminably naff Making Love (or worse.)
In regard to Psycho, one of the most interesting aspects of the Van Sant remake is the extent to which he reduces the ambiguity of Norman's sexuality. The Anthony Perkins Norman was a very ambiguous figure, somewhat fey perhaps, but mostly sexless, asexual even, his orientation uncertain and undefined. His primal attraction to Janet Leigh was clear, but not necessarily of a sexual nature. In Van Sant's version, the killer becomes definitively heterosexual, both because he's played by a straight actor instead of a gay one, and because of the much maligned change to the scene when he stares at Marion through the peephole. I imagine this scene, which most critics of the remake have vehemently latched onto and questioned the purpose of, was actually Van Sant's response to the trope of the gay as killer. It's his way of underlining that, no, the killer in this case is not gay.
