I have so many feelings about your post re: the backlash around liking CMBYN. After what came out about Armie Hammer, I don't personally feel comfortable revisiting or posting about that film (though I understand some people do and that's fine), but before that, I was a big defender of the movie and still have no issue with the film itself (divided from what we know about the cast members). IMO, the film captures something so important about what queer culture was like in the 80's and the problematic age gap is, like it or not, true to what many queer people have and continue to experience re: formative sexual and romantic relationships. There's a way to read the film as Elio's romantic and sentimental perspective on something the audience can easily read as predatory; whether you read the film as simple romantic tragedy/coming of age or a story of romantic and sexual exploitation told through the lens of a young man who doesn't see it as such until, perhaps, too late, I think CMBYN is still one of the best queer films in recent history. People don't have to agree with me, like it, or watch it, but -- like you -- i was accused of some weird and offensive shit for watching the film back in the day and I find that so offensive and reductive, especially as a CSA survivor myself.
i hear you!!! the armie hammer stuff was very disturbing & it did kinda sour the film for me but also i dont think it should affect people's perceptions of the film specifically given all that shit came out years after the movie & the rest of the cast & crew had no fault in it nor were aware as far as we know. as for the different readings of the movie i for one dont agree with ppl who claim the entire movie was depicting something Bad & that youre meant to only read it as such because thats just.... not true. like yes the relationship was questionable to say the least & in the end the reason it ends the way it does is bc oliver is older than him & as such has different expectations & responsibilities but elio gained so much during that summer + the subsequent heartbreak & that, for me, is the whole point of the story. obviously i am not gonna force anyone to agree with my interpretation but imo pretending that its just a tragic love story or a story of a boy being taken advantage of without his knowledge is equally reductive. idk i was so very enamoured with that movie when it came out & it easily became a big part of my personality & my taste in art & the way it was talked about in supposedly queer progressive spaces really rubs me the wrong way to this day
