| This film is filled with implications of class and gender. For example, the manner in which Susan Vance attempts to "trick" Dr. Huxley into loving her is very masculine, involving lies, car thefts, deceit and leopard hunts. All of these adventures code her as a very masculine character, while Huxley's indecision and irresoluteness shade him as a feminine character. This film uses a plot convention similar to other films: the idea of fighting for the person you love. In most films, however, the character in question is female, surrounded by two male suitors. In this film, however, Dr. Huxley is the man in question, further coding him as feminine. Another interesting way that gender is encoded in this film is the scene where Dr. Huxley's clothes have been sent to the cleaner's, and he must wear Vance's feathery robe. When Vance's Aunt Elizabeth random (the philanthropist mentioned earlier) inquires about Huxley's clothes, he responds "Because I just went gay...all of a sudden!" This exclamation is the first time that the term "gay" was used in this context (as opposed to meaning happy) in a film. |
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