Skypilot
07-14-2003, 03:43 PM
I just found out about this site and I'm very happy to have found it. Now that I have I'd like see what some of you think about a theory I have about a character in a movie that I'm sure most of you have seen.
Remember Tommy, the angry son in Terms of Endearment ? For the longest time I couldn't figure out why this character was so angry and withdrawn. When I talked about it with a friend of mine he suggested that Tommy was angry because his mother, Emma (Debra Winger) was dying. However, Tommy was very angry and difficult before Emma got sick. Then I noticed something peculiar in one particular scene. Tommy is about 4 or 5 years old and Emma and Flap (Jeff Daniels) are arguing about how Flap is never around. Flap puts on his coat a goes out the door and Tommy goes to the window to watch him as he walks away. Tommy is grinning. Flap decides to turn around and come back into the house where he and Emma have what I presume is a "quickie". At this point a dejected looking Tommy puts on his coat and sits outside on the porch. It occured to me that Tommy is jealous of Emma; not jealous of his dad but jealous of his mother. He seemed perfectly content to hear them arguing and to see his dad rush off but the idea of them reconciling seemed to bother him. This is a boy who doesn't want to share his father. That is why, I think he is so hostile towards Emma, his mother. You've probably figured out where I'm going with this but I'll say it: I think Tommy is gay. I'm not basing that theory on just the one scene. There is a scene later in the movie where Flap is talking to Emma on the phone while cooking in the back yard. The youngest child, Melanie, starts saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and Tommy shoots her a look that could kill. Later still, when Emma is in the hospital and she summons both of her sons to tell them goodbye and to give them some life advice, she tells them to "be nice to girls". When she says this, Tommy stiffens and when he speaks his voice cracks. He says to Emma, "We're not afraid of girls. What makes you say that?" (Emphasis mine). In fact, Emma had said nothing about being afraid of girls. She simply advised the boys to be nice to them. Whenever I watch this movie I pay special attention to that character and I think I'm right about this. Movies have come a long way since the '80s in dealing with homosexuality in children but I think that for its time this was the films way of alluding to the issue without stating it outright. The sequel (whatever it was called. It was so awful) doesn't touch on the grown Tommy's possible gayness. It simply has him grow up to be something of a delinquent. I was disappointed that they didn't pick up the thread that I think the original movie provided.
Remember Tommy, the angry son in Terms of Endearment ? For the longest time I couldn't figure out why this character was so angry and withdrawn. When I talked about it with a friend of mine he suggested that Tommy was angry because his mother, Emma (Debra Winger) was dying. However, Tommy was very angry and difficult before Emma got sick. Then I noticed something peculiar in one particular scene. Tommy is about 4 or 5 years old and Emma and Flap (Jeff Daniels) are arguing about how Flap is never around. Flap puts on his coat a goes out the door and Tommy goes to the window to watch him as he walks away. Tommy is grinning. Flap decides to turn around and come back into the house where he and Emma have what I presume is a "quickie". At this point a dejected looking Tommy puts on his coat and sits outside on the porch. It occured to me that Tommy is jealous of Emma; not jealous of his dad but jealous of his mother. He seemed perfectly content to hear them arguing and to see his dad rush off but the idea of them reconciling seemed to bother him. This is a boy who doesn't want to share his father. That is why, I think he is so hostile towards Emma, his mother. You've probably figured out where I'm going with this but I'll say it: I think Tommy is gay. I'm not basing that theory on just the one scene. There is a scene later in the movie where Flap is talking to Emma on the phone while cooking in the back yard. The youngest child, Melanie, starts saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and Tommy shoots her a look that could kill. Later still, when Emma is in the hospital and she summons both of her sons to tell them goodbye and to give them some life advice, she tells them to "be nice to girls". When she says this, Tommy stiffens and when he speaks his voice cracks. He says to Emma, "We're not afraid of girls. What makes you say that?" (Emphasis mine). In fact, Emma had said nothing about being afraid of girls. She simply advised the boys to be nice to them. Whenever I watch this movie I pay special attention to that character and I think I'm right about this. Movies have come a long way since the '80s in dealing with homosexuality in children but I think that for its time this was the films way of alluding to the issue without stating it outright. The sequel (whatever it was called. It was so awful) doesn't touch on the grown Tommy's possible gayness. It simply has him grow up to be something of a delinquent. I was disappointed that they didn't pick up the thread that I think the original movie provided.