freakboy on film: PINK NARCISSUS (1971)

It’s Pride Month 🏳️‍🌈 and I know the question everyone in the LGBTQ+ community is asking.  

What if filmmaker David Lynch made gay porn? 

Ok, maybe not everyone is asking that question, but a lot of inquiring minds want to know.  Fine, it’s probably just me, but I believe the answer is PINK NARCISSUS.  

Though I hesitate to actually call it porn.  While the plot totally sounds like a porno, a bored young man spends the evening fantasizing about various sensual encounters with men and plants, it’s all very artsy and suggested, with the exception of a couple of eyebrow raising scenes.  “Oh, that’s why the back of the box has an X rating on it,” is what I said out loud when I first popped in the DVD.  Never mind IMDb designates it as Not Rated.  Still, even these scenes are surreal enough to make a certain puppet film seem hardcore.  

It’s rough being young and beautiful.

This classic, and seemingly obscure, piece of queer cinema is a visceral, dreams within dreams experience of sights and sounds.  There is no dialogue between characters, but it’s not a silent film.  The young man’s imagination takes us to a public restroom where he becomes a bullfighter, daring to dodge a  leather-clad guy in a motorcycle.  There is also a journey to an Arabian Knights fantasy that would probably be cancelled today, but the male belly-dancer seems progressive.  After a brief detour through the lonely and dangerous city outside his window, the young man imagines a Garden of Eden style landscape, except he is alone.  I guess Adam doesn’t need his Steve when he has sensual vegetation trying to seduce him. 

Green Boys Are Easy

SPOILER ALERT! 

No peeking at the ending!

According to IMDb, the young man is a prostitute.  This makes sense with a phone call he receives and the ending, I guess.  An older man shows up and looks into the mirror.  Then suddenly the older man is now the younger man while the mirror cracks.  My interpretation is the splintered mirror indicates the end of the younger man’s fantasies.  The older man transforming into the younger man may represent how the older man will now live out his fantasies through the prostitute.  Then again, maybe it means something else entirely! 

The moral of the story? 🤔 

I must add some other interesting tidbits about PINK NARCISSUS from IMDb.  There had been some mystery surrounding who directed this film because a lot of the onscreen credits simply state Anonymous.  Some assumed it was Andy Warhol or Kenneth Anger.  (It was probably too early in the 1970’s for David Lynch to be an option.). Turned out James Bidgood was the writer and director.  He had took his name off the film when the producer edited it before more material could be filmed.  Speaking of filming, with the exception of a few scenes, the film was shot in the director’s New York City apartment.  

In conclusion…
It’s bold!  It’s daring!  It’s art!  The visuals transport the viewer into a phantasmagorical fugue state, where everything is somehow both tangible and ephemeral.  In my opinion, this film captures the abstract realness feel of dreams more than any film I’ve experienced.  So, if you want to celebrate Pride 🏳️‍🌈 in a different way, dive into the subversive sensory submersion of PINK NARCISSUS! 

Freak Out, 
JLH 

P.S. An older post about a film that totally sounds like a porno, but isn’t… 

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My queer little books are available from an Amazon near you… 
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To Dream of Laurie Partridge…

I sporadically caught reruns of The Partridge Family as a kid, but have never considered myself a fan of this pop music family sitcom.  I was more of a Brady Buncher, so it’s odd I would have a dream about Laurie Partridge, as portrayed by Susan Dey.   I mean, you’d think I’d dream of Keith or his Hardy brother from another show, but neither  Cassidy ever interested me.  

As for the dream I experienced in the early morning hours of January 2nd, I was in my late teens or early 20’s, sitting in what appeared to be a bedroom with Laurie Partridge.  She was dressed in the early 1970’s style and was eagerly trying to convince me to get high with her using a new weird drug.  I finally agreed because you can’t say no to Laurie Partridge.  

She passed me a hard cocoon-ish shell I could hold with one hand and told me to suck the creature out and spit it onto a paper plate.  Then she planned to mash the creature up and mix the remains with some substance.  We would then eat the result for our high, which, for some reason, made perfect sense to me.

So, I glanced inside and saw something dark and leathery.  Then I held the cocoon-ish shell between my lips and sucked it out.  The creature was alive and it felt like multiple little suction cups were clinging to the inside of my mouth.  Whatever it was couldn’t or wouldn’t simply be spit out, so I had to reach in and yank it free.  I plopped the dark leathery round creature, with its thick little tendrils, on the paper plate.  Just as Laurie Partridge was about to mash it up, someone knocked on the door.  She quickly covered the plate and hid it under a writing desk.  

That’s when I woke up, feeling rather unsettled.  My first thought was how horrifying it was to feel the creature clinging to the inside of my mouth.  I was relieved it’s the dead of winter, so hopefully this dream wasn’t brought on by a bug or a spider crawling into my gaping snore-hole.  Then I questioned the appearance of Laurie Partridge and who knocked on the door.  Was it Mrs. Partridge or the entire family?  Would I have gone tripping with the Partridges?  Lastly, I shook my head at the absurdity of the dream.  I would never allow a creature, even a gross one, to be killed just for a high.  No, not even for Laurie Partridge.

Anyhoo, I don’t know what this freaky dream means, but it’s one way to start the new year.   It’s definitely more interesting than the post I had originally been working on.  It was to be a list of things I hope to accomplish in 2023, so at least now I won’t be publicly embarrassed when I fail to achieve anything I have planned.  I’ll just be embarrassed to know everyone knows how deranged my dreams can get. 🤪

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words and Happy New Year! 

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S.  You probably already filled your 2023 reading list, but maybe you can squeeze in a few more titles…

📚 

DARK EXCURSIONS (my dream cast)

Gill of Realweegiemidget Reviews is getting ready to read my modern take on gothic romance, which is exciting and a bit nerve-wracking for me.  That’s how I always get when someone announces they are reading one of my books.  Anyhoo, she asked which actors I would cast if DARK EXCURSIONS became a film or TV series.  This wasn’t the easiest question to answer, but I thought I would give it a shot.

So, for better or for worse, meet my dream cast of DARK EXCURSIONS… 

(NOTE - age of actors may not completely fit with characters) 

Anapola Van Der Van - Nicole Kidman 

(I had her in mind as the manipulative matriarch while writing the book)

Crop Hoppins- Colin Farrell 

(He would exude the former stable boy’s roguish charm and sizzling sensuality)   

Cheryl Van Der Van - Lili Reinhart 

(This RIVERDALE actor would perfectly circumnavigate Cheryl’s emotional growth as she confronts the past)

Dinkel - Josh Hutcherson  

(I think this HUNGER GAMES actor would easily express the one-armed gardener’s strength and vulnerability)

Xylem Smith - Timothy Olyphant 

(For some reason, his role in SANTA CLARITA DIET made me imagine him as the busy businessman)  

Luchia Diego-Smith - Salma Hayek 

(She would expertly bring out the fierceness and loneliness of this rich housewife)

Ivan Kramnik - Alexander Skarsgård 

(He would be brazen, intimidating and sexy as the Russian tennis instructor) 

Dr. Jannette Parker - Gal Gadot 

(Intelligent, statuesque and mysterious…this WONDER WOMAN actor would be perfect as the psychiatrist harboring a life-altering secret)

Father John Francis - Tobey Maguire 

(Well, if I can’t play the less than faithful priest, then the SPIDER-MAN actor will do nicely) 

Sister Beatrice Cross - Naomi Watts 

(I pictured her as this sweet, but determined nun when writing the book)

Peter Obelisk - Ross Lynch 

(This CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA actor looks the part of Xylem’s chauffeur, at least in my mind)

Sheriff Mick Webb - Sam Rockwell 

(He would bring sympathy to this sad, down on his luck lawman) 

Well, that’s my dream cast.  Hope you found it interesting.  There are a few more characters, but I’ll let Gill and other readers cast them.  

For more about Gill and her extremely entertaining entertainment blog, click the pic ⤵️ to experience an eye-opening interview… 👁 

For more info or to order a copy of DARK EXCURSIONS, click the pic…⤵️ 

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words! 

And a huge THANK YOU to Gill!!!

Freak Out, 

JLH 

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Don’t forget to check out my recent blog serial…⤵️