A Day In Falsettoland!

i mean, he didn’t have Stephen sing happy birthday like Chip did, but that’s just my own interpretation

rock and roll meant so much more than just music for an entire generation. for many people living under conservative expectations, it represented freedom. It gave them permission to become “wild,” to openly embrace their desire for change, express their sexuality, acknowledge their boredom with conformity, and engage with counterculture and politics

to me, Whizzer embodies that same free and rebellious spirit. despite struggling to love himself beyond his appearance and constantly craving to feel desired—a need that often made him bend to what his lovers or other people wanted from him—he was always searching for his own freedom and trying to live according to his own ideals.

of course, that freedom came with its own unhealthy side. he developed a deep fear of emotional vulnerability and of losing his autonomy. whenever he felt trapped, it wasn’t usually because of other people alone, but because of the expectations and rules he imposed on himself, something he practically describes in The Games I Play

ask me to arouse you, i will rise and obey

even so, he constantly pushed back against what was expected of him. you can see it when he refuses the “housewife” role marvin tries to force onto him

he rebels, embraces his sexuality without shame, and insists on living life on his own terms

i also think this had a huge impact on his relationship with jason. who was surrounded by adults who, in one way or another, were living according to what society expected of them

trina had been expected to become a housewife

marvin, although he challenged those expectations by divorcing his wife to be with whizzer, was still trapped within many of those same ideals.

that left Whizzer, who seemed to be the only adult who wasn’t constantly trying to shape jason into someone else. he wasn’t afraid of being different, and I think that’s a big part of why jason connected with him so deeply.

jason shared a bit of that same spirit. He liked speaking his mind regardless of what his parents thought, preferred locking himself away to play chess, or blasting music instead of paying attention to his hebrew lessons.

unlike marvin who had a internal conflict , whizzer never seemed to struggle with being homosexual. he was completely comfortable showing how attracted he was to men—sometimes almost to the point of seeming indiscreet.

Stephen Bogardus once said that he believes Whizzer was a fighter and that he would never regret the life he lived.

that makes me imagine whizzer as someone who was always challenging the system and never lost the courage to do so, even during his final days. He searched for a way to accept that it was his time to leave.

even as AIDS slowly takes his life, he creates an unconventional way of looking at death, almost reshaping it to fit his own worldview as a way of coping with his fear

or i don’t know. maybe I’m just projecting my love for both of these things onto each other.