Beautiful time to be here with you !

For anyone unfamiliar with Sedgwick, in 1985 she published Between Men (which I haven't had the chance to read entirely yet but have read some excerpts) an amazing book which analyzed homosociality in men's relationships and interactions in English literature, though I think a lot of her theories work much more broadly than just English literature. One of the points that she makes is that often in fiction the traditional love triangle is rarely ever about the men's desire for the woman but simply a way to establish a bond between these two male characters, and therefore the female character becomes only a conduit through which the male characters can safely form connection/express homosocial desire for each other through the safe masculine pretense of objectifying a woman. And when you think about it that's like... literally what happens on the Katharina scene. Ofc, it's never an actual fully blown love triangle or anything like that, but when you actually watch the scene with more attention you realize it's not about Katharina or the boys' desire for her, she's barely a character at all, it's just a pretense through which Friedrich and Albrecht can further connect with each other, where they are able to touch/hold and be somewhat physically affectionate with each other in ways they usually wouldn't through the act of helping each other climb over to the window, etc. When Albrecht asks Friedrich how he knew Katharina was there, his answer is "you suddenly stopped breathing" while smiling tenderly at him from his bed and that just cements the whole thing for me, spying on Katharina was a pretense. Even the scene leading up to it, when Albrecht says he wants to show something to Friedrich, that entire exchange is sooo playful and flirty lmao (I remember watching the movie for the first time and when that line left Albrecht's lips I was like "oh!") like truly not the sort of bro-y ribbing you'd expect from two hormonal teenage boys planning to spy on some innocent woman. And Katharina, as stated previously, is never really a character or a love interest to either of the boys, though she could easily have been, instead her most prominent scene in the entire movie just exists as a device to further deepen the emotional bond Friedrich and Albrecht were starting to form (and before you mention the deleted scene where she kisses Albrecht, I saw it, and it's so awkward it really just cements how he had no actual interest in her to me like imo he truly just wanted to be held by Friedrich's hot muscular self honestly Albrecht you ain't slick).

For anyone unfamiliar with Sedgwick, in 1985 she published Between Men (which I haven't had the chance to read entirely yet but have read some excerpts) an amazing book which analyzed homosociality in men's relationships and interactions in English literature, though I think a lot of her theories work much more broadly than just English literature. One of the points that she makes is that often in fiction the traditional love triangle is rarely ever about the men's desire for the woman but simply a way to establish a bond between these two male characters, and therefore the female character becomes only a conduit through which the male characters can safely form connection/express homosocial desire for each other through the safe masculine pretense of objectifying a woman. And when you think about it that's like... literally what happens on the Katharina scene. Ofc, it's never an actual fully blown love triangle or anything like that, but when you actually watch the scene with more attention you realize it's not about Katharina or the boys' desire for her, she's barely a character at all, it's just a pretense through which Friedrich and Albrecht can further connect with each other, where they are able to touch/hold and be somewhat physically affectionate with each other in ways they usually wouldn't through the act of helping each other climb over to the window, etc. When Albrecht asks Friedrich how he knew Katharina was there, his answer is "you suddenly stopped breathing" while smiling tenderly at him from his bed and that just cements the whole thing for me, spying on Katharina was a pretense. Even the scene leading up to it, when Albrecht says he wants to show something to Friedrich, that entire exchange is sooo playful and flirty lmao (I remember watching the movie for the first time and when that line left Albrecht's lips I was like "oh!") like truly not the sort of bro-y ribbing you'd expect from two hormonal teenage boys planning to spy on some innocent woman. And Katharina, as stated previously, is never really a character or a love interest to either of the boys, though she could easily have been, instead her most prominent scene in the entire movie just exists as a device to further deepen the emotional bond Friedrich and Albrecht were starting to form (and before you mention the deleted scene where she kisses Albrecht, I saw it, and it's so awkward it really just cements how he had no actual interest in her to me like imo he truly just wanted to be held by Friedrich's hot muscular self honestly Albrecht you ain't slick).