@alratan replied to your post āCan I just say how glad I am that you've got in your rules that you...ā
But there was nothing like this in the film... He said he never toched them, right?
ooc;; hey! so what the movie says isĀ āand though i never touch the boys, itās always a struggleā and it puts this right after saying that heās basically the inheritor to hectorās legacy. so you are correct that he does not actually touch anyone, but framing it asĀ āi have to try really, really hard not to abuse my position and give in to those Dark Gay Thoughtsā still supports the idea that gay men are naturally prone to preying on younger boys. it shouldnāt even have to be mentioned asĀ āa struggle,ā you know? because what itās saying is that david has the desires, regardless of whether or not he acts on them, and thatās frankly not a real improvement. our representation of gay men shouldnāt have to featureĀ āoh, and i have to make a concerted effort not to sexually harass boys,ā especially not when the original version of the show did not give any indication of predatory impulses in this characterās conclusion.
david in the play even tries to make irwin feel guilty by sayingĀ āyou donāt want to seem like hectorā in reference to his relationship (or non-relationship) with dakin. itās clear that as an adult david thinks what hector did was wrong, and is implying irwin should be ashamed of and motivated by this comparison to prove he did not touch the boys. david is also seeing a therapist at this point in his life, and almost certainly the therapist has led him to understand the full weight of hectorās actions in a way in which david had not seen them in school.Ā turning around and saying that he would share hectorās impulses and desires in the filmās ending is kind of..... mmm it reads like itās there because āhector was gay, and heās gay, adn thatās what gay teachers feel,ā not because itās a reasonable progression of his character.Ā
some people are a lot more sympathetic towards this ending, and thatās okay like iām not on a witch hunt or anything, but to me it feels like it would be a big disservice to the character and to the representation of gay men to keep in this bizarre, out of character, and harmful tidbit tacked on at the end of a secondary version of the story.


















