In the Flesh, Homophobia and the 'Zombie Menace'
July 13, 2013

 

The Setup:

 

What's so wrong with being Gay? In this day and age, with advances on all fronts towards the common acceptance of something that really is no big deal – equivalent to a person's height or eye color – does hatred and ignorance-based fear of 'gay as a disease' have any cultural grounding? Does it lurk in the subconscious like a repressed but recurring nightmare?

I am an odd duck; I know that. I think about these things, and for those who know me, they would not be surprised to learn what I am about to tell you – namely, that I have lost sleep thinking over what the recent fascination with zombies means in the 'big picture.' In point of fact, one morning after I had gone to a restless sleep thinking about zombies and what they could mean to us culturally, I awoke with a startling answer: homophobia.

I laughed. What a funny connection, but then, I began to think about it. Zombies are 'others,' they are 'contagious,' they are 'dead ends.' They live lives outside of the zone of the norms of going to work, getting a mortgage and reproduction through children. They could represent deep-seated fears of the straight majority against the so-called 'gay agenda,' the notion of which is lectured to them ad nauseum by their news commentators, preachers and political leaders.

Slowly it seemed like wisdom had crept into my consciences, but I set it aside, thinking maybe one day I would developed the notion a little further.

Meanwhile, a couple of months ago BBC America ran promos for a new series. It was a zombie flick, and looked to involve a handsome young man who had 'recovered.' I was a little reluctant to record the show – although the British do Zombie better than anybody else – the genre still seemed a bit threadbare. But then again, thinking about great Brit examples like 28 Days Later, and Shaun of the Dead, and the wonderful BBC series Dead Set, where Big Brother house guests are protected in isolation and fight for the survival of humanity (LOL!!), I decided that In the Flesh deserved a shot.

What I saw was humbling and awesome and makes me insomniac as I type this. This Shakespearean-level tragedy proves that I was not alone in my notion of modern zombies as a stand- in for 'the gay menace' in the public's mind. The writer and creator of the show, Dominic Mitchell, weaves his sad love story – think of Romeo and Juliet getting a second chance after dying – effortlessly and unselfconsciously as two boys in love driven apart by hate, fear and family pressure 'to deny thy name.'

SPOILER ALERT – If you think you would like to see the program first, do so before you read anymore. I will not hold back on the 'secrets,' or how the tragedy untimely unfolds in all its lachrymal bitterness.

Right now the entire series is uploaded to Youtube. Here is the first part: (I'm sorry these vids have been deleted...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwIf657XUz0

 

The wikipedia page for the series is detailed. Please take a look:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Flesh_%28TV_series%29

 

The plot is this:

In 2009 two boys in a backwater village in England are preparing to start a life together. They have just graduated high school. In the fall, Kieren (or Ren) will start art school in London. His partner, Rick – a star athlete – will move down and get a job. They will leave the narrow-minded town, and it's vicar behind, and never look back. Unfortunately, the obvious love the two have for one another has not escaped the notice of the local busybodies. Word gets back to Rick's father, Bill, who is an ex-military man, that his son is 'that way' for Ren. Bill bullies his son, and Rick has always craved love from the cold man. Rick has a final night with Ren and does not tell him he has joined the armed services; that his dad has forced him. In the morning Rick will go off to training, and leave Kieren trying to understand why he was abandoned. He writes desperate letters to Rick, but no replies come back to him. He desponds; he stays in his room, painting pictures of he and Rick together, and reading Rick's love letters to him. Ren is in a stupor. In the fall he does not go to art school, and his parents and his sister, aware of his heartbreak, try to help him.

One day news comes that Rick has been killed in Afghanistan. Kieren has now lost all hope. The only relief he can see is to end his pain, and hopefully join Rick on the other side.

Ren's father finds the body of his son, and the whole family is racked with guilt, and a budding hate for Bill, and what he did to the boys' future. Despite Ren's wishes for cremation, his folks bury him in the village cemetery.

That night, an unexplained event occurs. All around the world, the recently deceased rise from the dead.

Jump ahead to the spring of 2013. The world is a different place after "The Rising." Large centers have been built around the country to house the suffers of "Partially Deceased Syndrome." Here the rabid zombies (although I do not believe that word is once used in the series…) are treated with a cure. An injection-a-day restores their personalities and memories. The government is undergoing a program of release of PDS suffers back into society. The problem is, society is fearful of them. The Rising saw many people killed and consumed by the dead, and led to "The Pale Wars" were armed militia roamed and dispatched zombies.

Kieren is in one such facility. He is ready for release, but does not want to go home. He begins to have flashbacks of what he did while he was rabid, and he resents his parents not following his wishes for cremation. As part of 'passing' in society, PDS people must wear flesh-toned make-up and contact lenses that hide their true identities.

Back home, Ren is emotionally dead. His sister, with whom he was formally close, shouts at him to stay away from her. His parents are nervous, but what about exactly, Ren cannot understand. What Kieren does not know is that the village is now terrorized by Bill. During the Pale Wars, Bill led a militia to kill zombies, and has never stepped down. He uses the authority of the vicar, and the fearful notion that they could come back, to bully the entire community. Ren's sister is active in the militia, but her parents beg her to keep Ren's homecoming a secret. They are right to do so, but Kieren is housebound and in the closet about being alive. If he is seen in public, everyone in the small town will know he is a 'rotter.'

Their fears are well-founded. Ren's first night home, he watches Bill murder the neighbor woman across the street, dragging her out to her driveway in the middle of the night, and summarily executing her in front of her husband.

When Bill gets home, his wife is on the phone.
"What is it, woman?"
"They found Rick."
"Alive?"
"Partially."

In the next few weeks, Ren is going stir crazy. All he has at home are reminders of the past. He is surrounded by photos and paintings of Rick. He sits and pulls out Rick's last message to him, a reminder of how they were going to escape, and be together and happy forever. Meanwhile, Bill has ordered that all 'infected' homes have their garage doors painted with big block letters: "PDS."

Kieren finds a chance and visits his grave. He meets a girl he used to 'run around with' when they were untreated. While he is here, Rick comes home. He is scared of his father; he knows he had disappointed. At this point Bill decides to act like Rick is a 'living hero,' and marches him down to the pub. Rick wants to ask about Kieren, but does not dare bring up his name in front of his dad.

Back home, Ren's sister mentions that Rick is back and down at the pub. Ren runs there with his zombie fag-hag in tow. He has told her all about Rick that afternoon. In the bar the boys are driven to near tears to see each other, but cannot hug, or kiss, because they are being watched. As the boys are trying to negotiate some privacy, one of the militia members rushes in and says some "rotters" are loose in the woods.

Bill is horrified to see his son with Ren, but Rick insists that Kieren come with them. Parked off a backroad, the boys are finally alone. They sit in the cab of Bill's truck and are in pain. Rick wants to know how Ren died, but is not prepared to hear that he killed himself because of Rick's death. Rick is angry; distraught; he pounds the steering wheel. Ren asks why he abandoned him. Rick evades the question with vagaries about how he thought it would be best for Kieren. Ren doesn't buy it. He wants to know why Rick never answered any of his letters. Rick never got them. He realizes his father must have intercepted them at the village post office. He warns Ren to stay away from Bill.

In the woods, Bill sees a chance to dominate his son. He orders Rick to execute a man and a child. Kieren intercedes and puts himself before the rifle. This is a poignant moment representing the fact that the most self-repressed Gay people are the most destructive homophobes. Bill is incensed that Rick listens to Ren and plots his death.

The next day, before they can see each other again, Bill orders his son to kill Ren. He says he will, but goes to a phone to warn his partner. He cannot get ahold of him, and fears the worst. He is guilt-ridden.

Rick returns home. He has decided to give his dad one more chance before he walks out on him forever, and he goes and finds Ren.

Alone in the house, Rick partially removes his make-up and contact lenses. He has wanted the love his father his whole life, and he goes to him in the living room to confront him. He tells him he is who he is, and that his dad can accept that or not.

His father rises, and opens his arms. Rick falls into them sobbing. He feels he has finally gotten his father's love and acceptance. Bill asks Rick if he is sure. Through his tears, Rick affirms that he is. Bill tells his son that it is not right, and stabs his boy in the back of the neck with his hunting knife.

To punish Kieren – as if it were all his fault – Bill takes Rick's body, props it against Kieren's garage, and uses his son's blood to write "PDS" on the garage door. He knows Ren will be the one to find him.

And when Ren does, he withdraws the knife and seems to be thinking about using it on himself.

The final scene is where Ren, his sister and their parents, gather in the living room. They are devastated for Ren losing Rick a second time and are terrified that Kieren will kill himself again. Ren's splintered psyche is healed as he listens to the way his dad found his dead body. In contrast to Bill's father, Ren's dad loves him immensely. He comforts them that he will not commit such a rash act again, that somehow, it is not what Rick would want.

 

What it all means:

The flashes of brilliance that Dominic Mitchell wrote into his work are mind-blowing. The use of "PDS" reminds one instantly of "HIV" – and the visual of seeing it scrawled on a garage door is an awesome tribute to a classic of Queer cinema. The 1961 British film, Victim, is about an up-and-coming barrister being blackmailed by the same people who drove the young man he loves to kill himself. The title character is named Farr, and he came out to his wife in college, before they decided to get married. At a pivotal point in the film, she comes home, parks, and sees "Farr is Queer" painted on their garage door.

Here is the scene. Jump to min 6:00 for the start of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeahWKrI68c&list=PLgjdokGCxmb-fbRw-YyLgfRnxn_PQIeR4

 

If you have the time, I highly recommend you watch the entire film on youtube. It is surprisingly good – a thriller, a suspense movie – I have the notion that its creator wanted Alfred Hitchcock to direct it.

In the Flesh is heartbreaking. Ultimately, Bill 'takes down' his son not because he is dead, but because he is Gay. That is clear. He makes it clear by placing his remains where the young man who loves his son will be 'punished' for 'making him that way.'

The use of make-up and contacts to 'pass' in society is poignant. Unfortunately many Gay men and women still make this choice everyday of their lives.

The presence of a religious figure who fans the fires of fear and hate, and a little man (Bill) who capitalizes on this to rise in a political sense, are also clear reference to our society at large.

Ignorance and fear win the day, but Ren has some reconnection with his family. A series two is now underway. We will see if Ren is able to find a love like Rick's again. I long for a happy ending – he deserves it. We as Gay people all deserve happy endings, and we as Gay writers and creative people should see that our children and young people have hopeful examples of ordinary lives lived in exuberant love and quiet peace. That is our duty to them.

Dominic Mitchell's choice of title probably has greater spiritual significance than is commonly realized. For me it echoes with hope. It touches the longing for life as a perfect state as written in the Book of Job:

For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (19:25-26)

Handel set these words as part of Messiah, and the sweet and otherworldly strains seem to waft over In the Flesh as that beckon of hope that our suffering has meaning towards making a better world. If the notion that God is Love can allow the simple substitute of Love in the above verse, than Rick and Ren had the chance to see Love in the flesh again.

 

 

So I ask, does homophobia matter in 2013? Yes, but powerfully brave works of expression like Dominic Mitchell's make it less and less likely that fear-based bias can sustain itself by simply shouting slurs; writing things on our garage doors. And now, I humbly ask for your opinion. Do you think, as Dominic and I do, that the recent zombie revival is a subconscious manifestation of homophobia?

Let me know.

In the back of my mind, I am also vaguely aware that the very first 'modern' zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead, came out in 1968, right when Gays were first gaining wide-spread notoriety in the popular press as 'monsters.' Perhaps you know more and can make other observation on this and other films as well.

Now maybe I can get some sleep.