Sorry to be redundant, but to Mr. (Dr.?) O'Neill's criticism about the
flaws of identification with straight characters:
 
  I believe that it would have been too easy to mark everyone in the
film that was straight as 'anti-gay.'  All too often we find that we need
'bad guys' in our films, and these villains are simply one- or two-dimensional
cardboard cutouts of people, not complex personalities with independent
values and belief structures.
 
  By concentrating on the complexities of the problems of Miller, as well
as the sympathy and understanding and caring of Beckett's family, the
writer/director was able to show the *true* conflict Beckett was confronted
with.  It can't be believed as a 'real' problem unless there are 'real'
adversaries.
 
  It made the film just that more involving to me.  I would not have wanted
to see plastic villains in yet another "let's feel sorry for the victim"
movie.
 
J Metz
Department of Telecommunications
University of Georgia
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JMETZ@UGA       [log in to unmask]   |"Wisdom does not give you the
CMSJMETZ@UGA   [log in to unmask] | answers, it just redefines
JSCAR@UGA       [log in to unmask]   | the questions."  -Dave Duncan