Point Break and the Soft Masculinity of Action Movies
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What makes Point Break such an amazing action movie? Let’s ~unpack~.
James Cameron interview:
www.google.ca/...
Be Kind Rewind's video: • Chloé Zhao's Oscar Win...
Thumbnail by Nick Woodcock
Citations:
Susan Jeffords. Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era (1994) Rutgers University Press
Christina Lane. Feminist Hollywood: From Born in Flames to Point Break, Wayne State University Press, Detroit (2000).
Martha M. Lauzen. Kathryn Bigelow: On Her Own in No-(Wo)Man’s-Land, Camera Obscura (2011) 26 (78): 146-153.
Alicia Malone. The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women, Mango Publishing Group (2018).
Willa Paskin. “What Kathryn Bigelow Learned From Rembrandt” Slant (2010).
“REALITY BYTES: Andrew Hultkrans in a 1995 conversation with Kathryn Bigelow” Artforum (2010).
Yvonne Tasker. Spectacular Bodies : Gender, Genre and the Action Cinema (1993) Taylor & Francis Group.
April Wolfe. “Revisiting Hours: ‘Point Break’ Is the Greatest Female-Gaze Action Movie Ever” Rolling Stone (2018).
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Aw to everyone getting upset at the vid - I am not the first person to say Point Break is homoerotic and I certainly won't be the last. This has been the general discourse around the movie for a couple decades now. By both men and women.
In the world (and especially in the internet) a lot of ppl say things...a lot of ppl are wrong about things...
They are perfectly entitled to say those things (bacause, you know, free speech)...but, in the end...still wrong (and laughable)...
Your case (and many others I guess) it's a perfect example of the old say: "when you are a hammer everything you see are nails"...
Yeah, overthinkers like you tbh 😅. I really like your narration tho.
@@dimercamparini and a lot of people, you included, are delusional. 😂
@@darkdream1469 ofc I am...bacause you (a random guy on the internet) say so...sure...
(funny thing...this reply of yours circularly proves my 1st post above) :DDD
Aww these people are going to be so upset when you tell them about the volleyball scene in Top Gun.
So right after Bodhi says 'you want me so bad', Johnny jumps out of the plane without a parachute, literally risking his life to chase and catch him. Then they have a passionate wrestle, hit the ground and roll around in some sheets together. I mean...it's not subtle.
I thought he was trying to capture the bad guy
@@bluebird3281 It can be both. Unless your mind literally never delves deeper than the surface level, and you believe that metaphor and allusion doesn't exist in art, in which case, sure.
@@Paroex I believe some people look at a puffy cloud and see a unicorn and others see a horse with a homoerotic horn on it's head. The didn't wrestle on a sheet it was a parachute. He didn't risk his life for love or lust he did it to catch a dangerous bank robber like cops do every day. Does a husband give his wife a "passionate" beating or is it spouse abuse ? So the "passionate" wrestle was just a odd adjective to used by the OP to describe a fight. "You want me so bad". You might not understand this if growing up you've never been chased by cops or another group of kids that meant you harm. Imagine after a chase you've eluded and frustrated your foes then get away. You feel the thrill of surviving and the wonderful since of satisfaction busting their balls as you get to the bus or hop that high fence. "You want me so bad" is a lot less of a come on then is "alluded" to. It is a Rorschach test for people. I am sure the director meant most of that subtext but it is for the initiated and those looking to see things like that. A woman can go to a mechanic and ask for her tires to be rotated and the mechanic could reply "Sure I will rotate your tires" and be alluding to something completely different through the use of metaphor. Is the mechanic a sublime genius or do they just have a dirty mind ?
The subtext of my post "I thought he was trying to catch a bank robber" was humor. At least that is my claim, now is the humor actually there or was I seeing humor where their wasn't any ? It is up to you the viewer of my art to decide....If all those metaphors in the movie are as deliberate as you say then it is a terrible movie about Keenu stalking and attempting to sexually assault Patrick Swazye as he tries to escape.
@@bluebird3281 just brilliant
To trace the only lead to the location of his hostage witness girlfriend? That’s why he jumps out of the plane lmao.
I love how dumb the name Johnny Utah is 😭😭
More or less dumb than Johnny Mnemonic?
It’s a perfect formula for any action hero name.
Better that Johnny Wyoming. 😆
And then you layer on how Gary Busey pronounces it in the film, Johnny U-taawww. I love this film.
@@PhantomFilmAustralia Johnny North Dakota
Or…Johnny Pennsylvania
Came for the social commentary and film analysis, stayed for the unconsumated yearning and phallic symbolism. Was not disappointed. * passionately fires gun into air until spent *
ruthless. this is what i came for. fire away
That was indeed intense
i took a film class at my university called 'sex and relationships in film/tv' and we literally had a whole class day dedicated to homoeroticism in action movies, especially in point break !! wish i could show this to my professor, she would have loved it
Hello dearest thanks for your love and comments towards me I really do appreciate message me through my hangouts email address. fanspagekeanureeves@gmail.com
dude you should! email your professor a link to the video fr
Do a better degree lol
@@milanmohan7731 you seem very mad don't take everything so seriously and personally
@@georgie8154 "mad", no one's mad
None of the angst would've happened if Johnny and Bodhi had simply explored one another's bodies
They arent gay and even if they were it wouldnt have changed anything
@@freebee8221 lmao take a joke
@UCo3zgg4Lt2sayUeYi-Kn0xQ Lmao fucking snowflake. Is you masculinity so fragile that it gets shaken up by the mere insinuation that your action heros might not be completely heterosexual? Pathetic.
@@freebee8221 Men were men back then, I’ll tell ya. If you wanted to do something private with another man, it wasn’t gay, you know. It was just two men… celebrating each other’s strength.
@Sound Logic someone is jealous
I never understood why people considered action movies to be for men when the main characters are usually hot, sweaty, shirtless men. My mom used to rent Commando and Rambo all the time because she thought they were hot lmao I've seen Point Break, Speed and The Matrix so many times because of my crush on Keanu. Also I'm so sick of people giving The Matrix credit for launching Keanu Reeves as an action star when this movie came first and then Speed.
@@cellophane329 very well said!
@@cellophane329 Right. Like said in the video, Keanu isn't the typical look for an action star, yet as a cis straight female, I find him much more attractive than any i can think of.
I think your forgetting about Bill and Ted he was super famous long before point break and speed
@@samsalamander8147 I know I was talking about him being an action star
@@athenajaxon2397 I agree that speed pushed him into an action direction but before that he was super famous but he was type casted as the stupid surfer guy.
YES! More video essays need more Kathryn Bigelow love! Your comments on her knack for genre bending and unconventional masculinity makes me think about this story Tarantino likes to tell about how he once showed an early cut of Pulp Fiction to all his director buddies, and everyone was like "Huh?" and only Bigelow was like "YES. I LOVE THIS"
Also, that early line of "Action movies are a safe space for men" is just excellent writing
she's such an interesting/misunderstood figure! and thank you so much :')!!!
Hey, I know you!!! What is this a cross over episode?
I love when directors kinda make you rethink what cinema is. I imagine she had the same reaction
@@BroeyDeschanel i would KILL for a near dark essay, it's one of her best movies and an amazing queer allegory vampire movie
Hey, love your content AoH!
i've always found it ironic how rom-coms are shamed because they're so obviously made for women, but action movies are so obviously made for men and yet are considered cultural touchstones.
@IntrepidTit no it’s just sad 😀
Can you give me an example of an authority or public figure who has shamed 'rom coms'?
@IntrepidTit I think the reason rom coms get 'shamed' is that they tend to follow the same predictable story line and its highly unrealistic, setting cringy relationship expectations that never materialize for the average individual.
@IntrepidTit Action movies are generally acknowledged to be fantastical. The main character is expected to be outlandishly strong and invincible. The problem is that rom coms come so close to reality that for many young impressionable women, they offer a glimpse into a world that seems possible and highly desirable. If you cant see how a guy jumping 10 feet in the air and killing a whole army of people is different than the nerdy girl getting the affection of the most popular guy in school, I dont know what to tell you. Same goes for rom coms where the nerdy ugly dude gets the girl of his dreams for being 'nice' and 'respectful'. These archetypes are so close to reality that they spin people into a useless frenzy until after some time they realize the futility of setting that standard, due to the lack of any results. This in my opinion is why 'rom coms' are 'shamed', they are cringy because of the over sweet optimism and blind positivism.
@IntrepidTit Not everything needs to be some sort of patriarchal conspiracy. Sometimes cultural norms are there for a good reason, this one being one of the few that is actually palatable.
Ooh, and another piece of mischief: Bigelow makes a satirical point of character motivation. The Ex Presidents aren’t really robbing banks for money, so much as for a life where they don’t have to think about money. What they’re all about is the adrenaline high - which means that their motivation for doing action scenes is ... to be in action scenes. They’ve dived so deep into the action movie that they’ve turned it into a religion.
And it converts Johnny. He taps out before they do, but he obviously comes to share their values - because he has to, he’s an action character too. The yelling police chief is so cartoonish that it makes the surfer scenes feel hyper-real: police work doesn’t feel part of the workd because it’s a tacked-on excuse for action, and that’s how the film makes us experience it. It flips ‘gratuitous’ so hard that it lands as Zen (or at least pop Zen.) The whole aesthetic is about embracing the fact that we’re here for the action, to the point that it doesn’t need a reason to exist beyond itself.
good comment 🤯
This is a brilliant reading. Will be thinking about this a lot the next time I watch it, which will probably be soon because this video has me jonzing now
Bodhi, Swayze's character, was very passionate. His clique had basically splintered off from society as society moved on from the 60's. Seeing some of those scenes of Keanu in the rain and all those cut muscles and eye contact made me realize I've been watching an epic romance all along!
I wish there were still room in the world for a clique like that today...
@Erwin Lii 😂😂😂😂😂 that’s a good one!
The final scene in the rain and Johnny saying he’s been searching around the world for him for a year was pure The Notebook!!
there is.
starts in your mind first. these people are not our kings or queens.
15:52 this nitpick correction, Reagan not Nixon, led me to think it’s an interesting choice for that to be Swayze’s mask during the AIDS pandemic.
Yet AIDS is like the most preventable illness ever…. Sigh.., I am an old gay BTW….
@@alejandromolinac It's a preventable disease in light of what we know now, don't be a dick
@@OM-wl7qe we would’ve known what we know now a lot sooner if it hadn’t been for politicians refusing to fund research out of homophobia.
Your understanding of action films is limited and shallow. Just because a character is shirtless and muscular does not immediately denote homo eroticism, the fact that you think shirtless male characters+close male friendship= homo eroticism also seems like a very sexist take
This is one of my father's favorite movies, he's just a sucker for action movies. As a kid, I always felt there was more to the protagonists relationship. Amazing video.
I did too whenever I saw it at 13-ish
It's my No.1 movie I love to watch since I was like 8 years old😆 I wonder how I would feel next time when I watch it upon this analysis...BTF I rewatched it today in the morning before seeing this🙃
It's about cops and robbers. It isn't too deep
You're almost certainly going to love the Point Break references in Hot Fuzz! One of the best things in that already fantastic movie :)
have you ever shot your gun in the air and gone aaaarrrggghhhhhh?!
@@amyharrington1961 no i have never fired my gun in the air and gone aaaaargh
I haven't watched Point Break but I know of it bc of Hot Fuzz lmao
If it makes your script editor feel better, i used to work with a guy named Dick Woodrow.
Early 90's Keanu really was painfully beautiful, I was a teen at the time and had posters of him all over my room.
Another rad video, but I can't wait for your analysis of Hot Fuzz - the greatest buddy cop movie ever made.
As The Grand Archpriest of The Church of the Algorithm, I bless this video with a comment.
finally, someone who also recognizes Kathryn Bigelow's genius!!
I second this request!!
Also Near Dark is the best vampire western ever.
Zero Dark Thirty was very Islamophobic and left many muslim viewers uncomfortable for valid reasons.
@@gingerkid1048 One of the most underrated vampire movies.
Ohh it’s the “Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone, 'Aaargh” movie! Great analysis!
Lma0 my girl Broey is about to watch Hot Fuzz and then have to change the title of this video when she realizes how incredible it is. Check out all of Edgar Wright's films! He is a director unlike any other.
Know that why the movie was my fave, I guess it's help that Keanu was my first boy crush. Also in those days of intense flamboyant masculinity the baby face, and softness was the epitome of male beauty
"Action movies offer a safe space for men, a low culture comfort not unlike rom coms for women with each one fulfilling a set of familiar cliches."
After hearing this I immediately tried to subscribe to your channel for the second time. Loved that line!
Thank you for the great video. I watched this movie quite a few times when I was young but I've only seen it dubbed (not a native speaker) so I had no idea how over the top it is - it was totally lost in the translation. But the clips you've included are absolutely hilarious in both language and delivery. Maybe I should watch it again - in English this time.
@pyropulse
You know, usually at this point of discussion (when one is inclined to have a discussion - I’m not) the obvious things are stated - like the difference between general trends and individual preferences, personal circumstances, exceptions, case studies, anecdotal vs. systematic, etc.
But in this particular case there’s no need to go there, cause yeah, dude, from what you’re describing it does sound like “action movie or something visually striking" could be a thing that offers you personally a safe space.
Obviously I cannot know that - I don’t know you, I’m not your psychologist, there’s not enough details in you comment to make any conclusions - and I’m not even going to try.
What I’m saying is nothing that you said in any way contradicts the idea that action movies offer you a safe space. If anything it does seem likely that in your case the line from the video might be on point.
Again, I cannot know that, that’s not my business frankly. That is something for you to introspect on if you inclined to. I just wanted to point out that you are not making a counter-argument you seem to think you're making.
You convincingly showed me the homoeroticism of a movie I never thought much about, and at this point, I think you can convince me about anything. Loved this analysis :-)
The way this is the first sponsor that genuinely interests me and it isn't even available in my country 🙃🙃
Please come to Aus likewise haha
Point Break is homoerotic? I guess it's a good thing that I don't suffer from apophenia. Yay me. 😁👍
Anytime I watch a form of entertainment, I go through the portal of escapism. Ahhh. Away from the insufferable losers of society. 😎
Heard the line about assholes, paused the video, watched the entire movie, and came back. Totally worth it. Thank you!
This is the second channel I'm subscribed to that has talked about Point Break in the past two months. I think the universe wants me to watch Point Break.
What other channel made a video about Point Break?❤
The movie is worth watching.
What other channel? And yes, such a fun movie.
Another fantastic video! I love love love when you talk about art/film theory. I thought Point Break was generally entertaining, had plenty of hilarious moments, and I definitely enjoyed reading (and watching!!) all the analysis of the homoeroticism between the two male leads. But I have a question for you (or anyone with an opinion on this): what do you think about the treatment of the women in this movie? Tyler is a separate matter I suppose, because as you discussed in the video, she’s this kind of masculine foil to Johnny’s more feminine male protag (and I guess her being more or less abandoned after being taken hostage hammers home the fact that Johnny had his real sights set on someone else). Still, I watched the movie alongside several other women, and all of us were particularly put off by the way women were shown half- or fully-naked in the house raid scene, exposed and screaming and then grabbed and thrown violently to the floor. It felt difficult to find a feminist lens for it. I feel I’m often encountering scenes or shots in movies directed by women that, despite any and all efforts to reframe a usually patriarchal trope to hold new, nuanced meaning, just come across to the audience-the untrained eye I guess-as, well, the exact same trope. (Like the shot of Scarlett Johansson’s sheer-pantied butt in the beginning of Lost of Translation, for example. I myself could read into that shot a whole message about the vulnerability of being a young woman coming into her particular femininity and sexuality amid a confusing transitional stage of her young life-but I know PLENTY of straight men who love that shot because it’s hot). I feel like your average male action movie theatergoer isn’t gonna find anything subversive in a naked blond woman screaming and getting tossed around (one TH-cam commenter on that scene simply wrote “the blond chick is hot lol”), you know? And there’s then that annoying plausible deniability where he could say, “Well, it’s not misogynistic because if was directed by a woman!” (as if women aren’t totally capable of misogyny/internalized misogyny). While I personally couldn’t find any hidden subversive message behind the scenes I’m talking about, I’d be eager to know if anyone did. It otherwise just feels like a careless perpetuation of dangerous misogynistic tropes. And all of this I guess raises a broader question: is it the responsibility of the director to make all those subversive messages clear to the untrained eye of the audience, or does that responsibility belong to the audience alone?
IMO it's a way of using genre conventions and cranking it up to 11 to subtly make fun of it, like what she did with the yelling chief. I do think she makes anyone outside of Bodhi's group and Tyler to be caricatures of masculinity for contrast. That surfing group was unnecesarily antagonistic from the beginning, their weapons arsenal was laughably excessive, and the women were a part of that. Although I do think, just because a director is progressive in one aspect does not mean they'll be progressive in every other aspects too, but I think it was intentional in this case. Whether you see it as perpetuating misogyny or not, that's another matter tho.
Well, I didn't expect to hear an impassioned feminist defense of Point Break today, but here we are.
I honestly had never really thought of action movies as "homoerotic" before. I always thought the "male eye candy" shots were for the women (and homosexual men as well) watching to movie. I was thinking it was kind of the same way all romantic comedies always seem to have their main actress and her friends dressing a certain way. You made me question some stuff.
Top Gun is homoerotic as heck, and I'm still unsure to what kind of audience the whole premise tried to appeal...Not a regular "girly girl movie", huh😁
@pyropulse I am very comfortable with my sexuality. I also can look at a pretty man and say: That's a handsome dude. I'm just saying I had never considered the argument in the video.
Action movies AREN'T homoerotic
Did you seriously never stop to think why men always say things like "I wanna get ripped like Brad Pitt in Fight Club", or "that dude has a Captain America chest"? We're not creative creatures, and those "male eye candy" shots are more to make men shape their ideals of what makes them think "that's a handsome dude" than anything else. Everyone gets in a twist about "virtue signaling" when a movie opaquely supports an ideology that doesn't fit with the dominant political zeitgeist, but no dude bats an eye as long as the virtues being signaled are "take steroids", "obtain women", "drive irresponsibly", "repress emotions", "solve problems like an enraged primate", and "kiss your bro because you cherish him". Wait, scratch that last one.
I gotta say I disagree with your take, your stand point is coming from a different (female) perspective compared to how men actually view it.
Men being muscular, masculine, sweaty, or having brotherhood doesn’t mean being “homoerotic”
Most of the time it more of the concept of “I want to be like him” and other times they equate muscles and the actions of the characters (mostly done by hero) as peak masculinity. Lots of men who workout strive to look like the men they grew up watching (even some strive to model after animé male characters). To men, masculinity=cool
Generally speaking men and women have different perspectives. (Other than the gays) Men don’t sit and look at men action movies and think to themselves “I’m sexually/erotically attracted to this man” or don’t think there is anything sexual based going on the way women do just like woman don’t sit and look at woman in romance/action movies and think to themselves “I’m sexually/erotically attracted to this woman” like men do. Women are more likely to be entertained by femininity based films and men are mostly likely to be entertained by masculinity based films because of how both of them tend to view things differently.
Plus a lot of these action moves that are targeted to men often use the themes of brotherhood and rivalry.
I think the “homoeroticism” is a bit of a stretch. By that logic, films that include female protagonists/antagonists, sisterhood, and femininity are also “homoerotic” or women who don’t like to view action films are not into men.
Well said. It's just become trendy in the media to try to deconstruct everything and view everything from a sexual lens.
So when men get along and have a click, it is called homoerotic? I have to review my friendships now....
I have never been more emotionally, spiritually, and mentally enraptured into a video essay about a movie I've never watched before, in a genre a don't normally care for. My only experience with action films come from having watched James Bond films with my dad growing up and maybe the matrix. I've only ever heard about point break in passing from other media like the avengers and b99. I'm definitely watching it after this, as well as the other films you mentioned by its director.
I was genuinely sad to have clicked the link to your sponsor today, only to find out that the app was not available where I live. Lots of kudos to you, and everyone else behind the production of your videos. I may not be able to support your channel as directly as I would to, but I do hope my like and subscription can be enough. A+ content
I saw this movie as a queer teen, and I thought, wow, what a stupid movie. It's so gay, how did the director not see that? This dialogue is so cheesy. These fights are so melodramatic.
That's the joke, 17 year old me. That's the joke.
I'm so sad that likewise doesn't work in Ireland!!
Great video. I love action films but I find it hard to watch so much damn misogyny; I've to actively turn off a part of my brain to enjoy them. That's why Point Break so great, I don't need to switch off my views on the world.
Hello dearest thanks for your love and comments towards me I really appreciate message me through my hangouts email address. fanspagekeanureeves@gmail.com
I feel like the best ones usually don't have misogny and that's why they hold up well
Must be exhausting.
I think that Bigelow is drawing from a secondary genre, albeit an unconventional one; the romantic thriller. Since the trope of the romantic thriller is that the protagonist becomes involved knowingly or unknowingly involved in a dangerous but untenable relationship, usually work adjacent, that begins with them in control, before a gradual submission, and eventually spiraling into an often volatile confrontation.
While Johnny enters a relationship of convenience with Tyler (via a file he researched at the Bureau), the True romantic love interest is Bodhi, who, like a jilted lover escalates the stakes of their erotic dance jeopardizing the lives of everyone around them, in an attempt to destroy what Johnny means to him. It seemed like the first season of Jessica Jones drew inspiration from it as well.
While this is implicit within the framework of a very masculine action film like Point Break, it's much more explicit in another Bigelow film, Blue Steel.
I'd also recommend Jagged Edge, starring the queen of the 80's romantic thriller, Glen Close with Jeff Bridges.
I absolutely loved this movie when it came out in the cinema. It really stood out from the rest of the 1990s action-movie pack.
Fantastic video! I really adore the 80's/90's era of Bigelow's work! One thing I will bring up, do you think that maybe the relationship between Johnny and Bodhi could be a different sort of longing outside of romantic? By this I mean that you're right about Johnny not being the traditional early 90's ideal of "masculine" and the police force almost represents this exhaustingly masculine, rigid and bureaucratic environment. I think Johnny see's Bodhi as an escape from that environment. I think Bodhi makes Johnny question his rigid world ideals rather than his sexuality (or hell, maybe both). Bodhi isn't full of machismo like the policemen are but he still fulfils the essential traditional "masculine" ideals of being athletic, daring/impulsive, womanising and capably violent. To Johnny he's the walking embodiment of living a truly "free" lifestyle. Free from the boss, free from the law, free from institutions and societal expectations. To Johnny killing or arresting Bodhi is him getting rid of that hope as well as that part of himself (I'd argue he realises it by letting him go at the end). Bodhi may not know that Johnny is a cop yet but he can see the longing in Johnny and almost leads him on, even if unintentionally due to his free spirited nature. Johnny wants Bodhi but due to the very things about Bodhi's nature that makes him so desirable in the first place, Johnny can never have him.
Then again you and everyone you cite in this video are much more well researched than I am so there's a good chance I could be wrong lol. Just thought I'd bring this up since as a man, I've definitely found myself at these crossroads of "masculinity" and "masculine spaces" before (I love having my nails painted with absolutely maximalist and or frilly designs buuuut I also participate in boxing on a weekly basis too. I find that both those spaces aren't entirely accepting of me as a whole and more so certain parts of myself). Also I would argue that a plutonic longing is actually pretty common place for men. People like Dan Bilzerian and The Rock probably have more male Instagram followers than female followers lbh. I doubt that all those dudes follow them because they secretly want them in that way but more so because they long to have their lifestyles and physique.
Your post is spot on.
Keanu and Patrick are so beautiful in this movie they both where in there prime. I like to imagine them having a tryst in there dressing trailers.
I love Point Break and caught the vibe the first time I watched it at the theater. I was 15 and kinda wanted to not like it but... come on, it's Keanu and Swayze - I felt like I was allowed to just... accept it.
I’m so happy to see you talk about my FAVORITE movie! I really hope you inspire more people to watch this because… I need more fanfic to read…
It's hilarious but also sad how angry straight men were at this video. Other people having a different interpretation of a film you like isn't an affront to your masculinity and it doesn't say anything about your real life platonic love for your bros. The language of cinema is very different from how real people interact with each other.
because the notion of love very much threatens the very core of masculinity, platonic or not, love means having emotions and being soft to each other, yearning for the presence of others, this is not the unemotional autonomous hard male individual, who conquers the world by suppressing anything, that doesn't steel his body.
I love that you mentioned Hot Fuzz, a movie that also really leans into the trope of homoeroticism in action movies!
Nah, there's nothing homoerotic about it. You're just reading too hard into it.
The level of "biased interpretation" in this clip is astounding...
You are reading waaaaay too much of what YOU want to read in this movie..."phallic shadow of a gun"...an "erected" surf board...the shoot of a gun as a metaphore for "release"...LOL...ridiculous (noone see these things unless he really wants to see them in everything he watches).
Point Break was just a movie about unlikely friendships and "paths not taken" in life...get over it...
That's why men can't be friends these days - if 2 men walk down the street together, people will naturally assumed they are gay.
This is one of the best takes i’ve been on point break- always loving yr videos dude!!
Hello dearest thanks for your love and comments towards me I really appreciate message me through my hangouts email address. fanspagekeanureeves@gmail.com
You have no idea how happy this video makes me, I've been annoying everyone I know for years about how this film is a subversive masterpiece 😅
reaching a bit here i think...
This video is everything I’ve ever wanted in a video essay : action, social commentary, 90’s heartthrobs , gender deconstruction and lots of gay stuff 💖💖💖thank you Broey this made my day
Only a woman can really tell what a man is thinking, really FFS. Really the last thing on a guys mind is any of that. Clearly someone who not only does not get action movies, but more importantly men.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed this. I never used to watch actions movies before I got with my partner. But when we watch them I swear I see some homoeroticism but didn't know if I was just reaching
Bankrobbing surfers, Keanu, blonde Swayze, and MLM subtext. This movie has basically everything a girl could possibly want.
What does MLM stand for
@@burymeinjhenny918 marxist leninist maoist.... lmao jk its Man Love Man or something to that effect
Eh it's moreso about our relationship to testosterone than anything else I'd say, how it seduces us into risk-taking behavior & re-evaluations of our selves via (and in the wake of) conflict with other dudes. "Secretly gay" reeks of retconning to me
i watched point break for the first time a month ago and my first unfiltered thougth was: oh if only the romance was between the guys was a bit more obvious, this would have been a great, ahead of its time action movie.
if i wanna go deeper in symbolism and character methapors i feel like johnny, as you said, is on the path of self identification. he starts an "adult job" and tries to create an "adult self". however he is portraited as an outcast in this environment: his boss is constantly humiliating him, he doesnt conform to the masculine ways of problem solving, he has to work with another outcast and eventually he even fucks up a mission.
part of his plan to do his job "right" is getting the interest of a girl. tyler gets him closer to a more true sense of self through surfing, danger and connection, however it is only until he meets bohdi, when the actual self realisation and transofrmation begins. thats when johnny starts his self discovery and gets into a conflict with himself: is he going to live by the law and follow the rules of his environment or is he going to give into the temptation, excitement and possible danger, that bohdi offers?
is he going to live as an outcast and follow his heart and bear the costs of it?
johnny can not really make a decision. he sticks with his "adult self", but chasing bodhi all the time, trying to catch him.
he even handcuffs bohdi to himself as a final desparate act to pull his opposing desires together, but in the end he decides to let go. his love for bohdi is just too big, to chain him into a society, that has no place for him. i think at the end the true adult self is realised, a version of johnny who decides to live by the rules, but acknowledges his desires.
and tyler can fuck off.
thanks for coming to my shite analysis everyone.
Every character Keanu Reeves has ever played is transmasc-coded, and I mean that as the highest of compliments.
as he should.
I guess as WE should actually bc I kind of copied him.
What the fuck does that mean?
no its trew its trew
Wtf ? Trans masc aren't men , Keanu is a cis male
So because he isn't a dumb himbo, he can't just be a cis guy?
Ohh it’s the “Have you ever fired your gun up in the air and gone, 'Aaargh” movie! Great analysis!
I've often said Keanu was the one who broke the trend of big burly muscular western action heroes. But I wasn't aware he did it long before the Matrix came along.
I dunno. I try not to talk for women. Guess it's foolish to expect the same treatment at this point.
it's the way Johnny's relationship with Tyler had no substance or relevance to the plot 💀💀💀 they also had like... no chemistry fff
I love Point Break, I'm surprised it stands up as well as it does.
So I struggled with this video by Broey. As a queer man who is sooooooo over gay coding and queer baiting in film, I think we need to stop projecting gayness onto movies and characters. As long as we do, we continue to give Hollywood an out when it comes to sincere queer representation. They can just toss us a few lingering looks and a throw away line at us, make us do the work of queer representation, and then give the lead an opposite sex, cis partner and retain deniability for their middle American audience. This video should have more so served as a call out for queer baiting than an artful dissection of a subversive love story.
Hi there! I appreciate the criticism. I approached this analysis with the idea in mind that Point Break isn't so much queer baiting (because I don't think at the time it was even trying to appeal to queer audiences - which is another video on its own), as it is a satire and appreciation for homoeroticism in hyper-masculine spaces. I'd also posit that homoeroticism and queerness are not necessarily one in the same, so I didn't want to explicitly argue in this video that there is even queer coding in Point Break, because I'm not entirely sure there is (I haven't fully explored that yet though). Nonetheless, I totally understand your criticism! I hope that can at least explain my approach a bit!
@@BroeyDeschanel I'm an Indian guy looking from the outside, so I could be completely talking out of my ass. In Western media, especially in the 80s and 90s, men were only able to show intimacy with each other in hypermasculine action movies. The takeaway being that the masculinity of these guys couldn't be questioned, so guys in the audience could live vicariously through them (perfectly summarised by the safe space for men joke). It is interesting that Point Break, directed by a woman, could be thought of as queerbaiting when it is just taking the tropes to the extreme. Almost like from the Western female perspective, men showing any sense of intimacy is inherently gay or feminine. Bollywood for all its faults is so comfortable with male intimacy, my Canadian friends were taken aback by the amount of touching in bromantic comedies like Dil Chata Hai, that they asked me if it was directed by a woman. I don't know where I'm going with this, but I'd love for you to compare the differences in relationships (masculine and feminine) depicted in the two cultures.
@@BroeyDeschanel thanks for unpacking your motivations. I think it may just be a case of every topic not being for everyone. I’ve been gay, out, and hypercritical of the media’s depiction of queerness way too long to appreciate a video essay on masc hetero homoerotica. It is well made. I look forward to the next one.
Donovan...thank you truly...its exhausting...
True. I'm so tired of the media and Hollywood trying to deconstruct everything and view it according to their modern liberal lens. Believe it or not, men can be close friends, love each other, and have respect and admiration for one another without being gay. Just in the same way that women can be close friends, and share intimate conversations with one another, and spend time together without being lesbians. It's because of these short sighted views that men are afraid to express their feelings and be physically close to each other- for fear of others misconstruing what is going on. I'm sure women are also tired of men trying to project their sexual fantasies on them when they say that all women secretly have homosexual desires.
This movie, this woman and that script is the reason why my first name is Bodhi. Absolutely am in debt to this film, great analysis. 👏🏻
love love love to see deep analysis of these kinds of films 💜💜💜
I find it interesting that, although you delve into her personal life and artistic origins, also including a glowing quote about her from "James Cameron". You avoid acknowledging that she was married to the famous film director during the time she was making the movie you are discussing. Like it would somehow diminish her abilities or accomplishments to include that in the expositionary context you provided. Is it unfeminist to engage in romantic partnerships with like-minded, similarly talented people?
I think you should do a video on Conan. Because it definitely seems like purely hypermasculin fantasy on surface level there's some really cool moments of friendship and equality that surprised me. I'm sure it isn't perfect but from what I remember there was more than just the masculine imagery we think of when we see Conan.
Your videos make my IQ grow everytime I watch them ❤️
This was one of my favourites growing up and I think this video has made me understand why, 2 of my biggest celebrity crushes, who seem to crush on each other? Obviously sold. Although my favourite Patrick movie of all time has to be To Wong Fu.
Hello dearest thanks for your love and comments towards me I really do appreciate message me through my hangouts email address. fanspagekeanureeves@gmail.com
Patrick Swayze really was that guy, the guy that guys wanted to be and the guy women wanted to be with yet somehow also made a gorgeous woman lol.
He always carried himself with so much grace. Forget Killmonger, Bodhi is the best villain of all time m
I remember that this was my dad’s favorite action films, he praised the “man” that directed it
@1:23 just realized Tom Cruise broke his nose at some point
Edit: three times evidently
See, this is why he’s the Chad-Emperor
The irony of spending so much time thinking the actors are so hot I didn't even notice it was gay
I quickly stopped the video. I had to, otherwise I will never enjoy an 80s action movie again.
Man keanu reeves might be not stallone or danny trejo but thats a lot of sick perverted mind bullshit. The spatial continuity, the shot after shot.. cmon. There is some malicious thoughts in that. The relationship between johnny and bodhi is pure respect and admiration (maybe more from johnny's side because the charisma of bodhi) non other than that. If you really think those things you be saying i guess you never have been in any group or crew. Or you have never had any respect or genuine admiration for someone(male or female doesnt matter) for his way of living or for his qualities , for his charisma as a leader, for his way of thinking. And there isnt no sexuality in that. Just mutual respect and the recognize of the real in someone else. Pure and simple girl.
In fact in the movie johnny fucks tyler , not bodhi. He sleeps with tyler if you remember... if he was gay or had an attraction for bodhi he would have behaviored in a different way. So stop trying to find things even where there arent, and trying to delegitimate a totally normal behavior of mutual respect and friendship. The fact he doesnt shoot at bodhi is cuz he sees him like a friend and/or a person he got respect to and doesnt want to kill him. Is like when paul walker gives the keys of the supra to vin diesel and let him go. Why? Because he had great respect for that dude like he will later admit in the 4th movie.
In fact johnny in the movie sleeps with tyler not with bodhi. He got intimate with tyler if you remember. So stop trying to find things even where there arent, or trying to delegitimate a totally normal behavior of mutual respect and friendship. The fact he doesnt shoot bodhi is because he sees him like a friend and/or a person he got respect to so doesnt want to kill him. Its like when paul walker gives the keys of the supra to vin diesel and let him go. Why? Because he had great respect for that dude. Like he will later admit on the 4th movie
Lol this is just how’s bros be. If that’s homoerotic than me and my boys are super homoerotic and we love it. We love it folks.
Yes, we identify as homiesexual lol
Happy for you and your bros
@Laura Kay every single guy groups are like this tbh. Men may not cry in front of others because of toxic masculinity, but nothing keeps them from showing brotherly love towards friends tho.
@Laura Kay always has been
Yeah in tight knit groups of male friends it is not rare at all for mostly everyone to have seen each other cry at one point. I think it can be somewhat difficult for men to have consequential and empathetic friendships with each other without them being viewed with connotations . Many of the most important conversations and emotionally vulnerable moments I’ve had in my life have been with my friends. It’s possible for a friend to challenge you spiritually and change your life. It’s possible to have a chemistry, magnetism, and comfort shared in a male friendship that can even come off flirty and there really be no intimate draw whatsoever.
Omg the frustration and anger this video has caused in men 😭😂😂
So men being loyal to each other more than women can be = homo sexual desires 😅😅
Omg please let us know what you thought of Hot Fuzz!
Firstable: It's the FBI not the police department. Point Break doesn't code as Homoerotic to me but Top Gun totally does. To me Point Break is more like how Women want Men to be, there is something in there for all Men loving Women - the All American good guy trying to catch the Free-spirited criminal Bad boy who lives beyond the boundaries of normal humdrum society. What you are misconstruing as the Homoerotic to me is a "Feminine gaze" take on Brotherhood - a mutual respect between men who are bonded though a stressful and harrowing experience like war compatriots or being on the opposing side of battle as in sports or within a crime drama. A bond between men who live by a code, are defined by what they do to live that code and sometimes those codes happen to oppose each other; after all what would a criminal be if there were no law enforcement and what would law enforcement be with out any criminals, each ones sees that they are not that different. The Female gaze keeps the Women watching and the Brotherhood keeps the Men watching. I also see this playing out in the Outlander Series. There are many "Good Stand up Men" characters who would appeal to Women and Men. The Men of the series repeatedly show their love for one another by laying their lives on the line and there is nothing homoerotic about it. There are Homosexuals in the stories and their homosexuality affect the main characters but it is just a part of the story line not subtext for the entire story. That Brotherhood is something that draws Women to Men. It is demonstrable of Men's ability to love, fiercely and loyally and what Woman wouldn't want that in her life?
This instant reaction to any intimate, close and intense male relationship as GHAY is kinda sexist/homophobic/toxic. You are in effect forcing men to live isolated lives for fear of this McCarthy Esque queer labelling where it obviously does not belong.
Oh jeez. They're flaunting male bodies to draw women who are not the target audience, and utterly mis-cast Tyler so as not to threaten the women who do attend.
I'm a sad girk and I found that subtle jab in the ad spot to be quite wounding. ;
I watched Point Break as research for the Hot Fuzz chapter of my thesis on Edgar Wright. I'm really glad I did. Partly just cause the movie was fun, but also because it's brand of homoeroticism really helped to inform that chapter.
the writing in this is SO great. usually your work feels like a really good lecture (and I love it!) but this is so much more!
Very superficial analysis. The agenda was so obvious...
18:43 why is "woman filmmaker" patronizing in this context (interview)? It's a term used by the interviewer to stress that Bigelow is what I'm inferring being a rare case , if not the first case , of female filmmaker in Hollywood.
If a "woman filmmaker" is patronizing , what is a "man bun" considered?
This broad sits in Starbucks all day long
So having a decent and good man kinda admiring the recklesness, adventuous spirit, of a rebel bad man is homoerotic ? ... well i don't think so ... they are oposites, is normal to be attracted in a nonerotic way to someone so daredevil and charismatic.
I think you are thinking too much bout hiding meanings, even Bigelow looks distraught when labeled as a woman director, maybe she meant all you say, but I think she nailed at representing men camaraderie and true friendhip, nothing gay to see here, just men nobility and a very amusing ride in that film. Johny spared Bodhi's life and bodhi's freedom in those scenes. He was interested in the guy surfing instead of Tyler because he was in the hunting, he was not chaising girls but male bank robbers, he was working, he was a pro, in the party scene it was clear Tyler was free as a possible love interest because Bodhi was with someone else, Johny was very young rookie fbi agent we expect he look young and not like a mature macho as a character he cannot jump the hierarchy of manliness over his bosses he is a young lion and have to abide the eldest in the pack.
I always felt this movie was alright, and have a bit feminine choices but i deeply respect Bigelow's choices is her vision and she did it well.
"You try watching Brad Pitt in Interview with the Vampire and not feel a little conflicted." - Tim LaFlour, Senseless
Your videos are never long enough for me. They're always amazing, and I always want them to keep going. I'm so glad I found your channel.
I imagine to win Broey’s heart you would have to be a version of a Beta Male of some sort, with all signs of masculinity or being a male completely gone.
Does anyone else agree that a gun over a dude's head or shooting bullets to the sky is not really an example of homoerotic imagery?
A feminist man-hater critiquing action films - HYSTERICAL
This is such a stretch. A gun and surfboard are now considered phallic
over analyzing - que exagero
You should watch the Hindi film 'WAR' with Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. The homoerotic chemistry between them is undeniable and the film emphasises it at every point. The film is also a fun action movie romp with a ridiculous plot in the best smart popcorn movie way. Just a suggestion! :)
Maybe just appreciate the movie and the work of the director lol
I'd argue that Roadhouse does the same thing; Swayze was on to something...