The latest installation, though, went from odd to offensive. In it, Wallander's policeman partner is killed. Wallander investigates and discovers that his partner was gay and having an affair with a cute young transvestite who turns out to be the killer.
Naturally I'm annoyed that the transvestite did it, because in my experience they're more likely to emcee bingo at the local piano bar than shiv some dude with a pointy lipstick. Still, I recognize that this is television, and heterosexual housewives can't kill everyone.
The part that really pissed me off, though, was the end. After the transvestite is thrown in jail, somebody tells Wallander something else he didn't know:
His partner was madly in love with him.
Now, if you think about this for a second, you'll realize it's ridiculous. Kenneth Branagh is nearing sixty. He's saggy and craggy and -- in this portrayal, at least -- butch as Jason Statham's left testicle. Which means his dead gay partner liked (1) lithe young men who wear pert blonde bobs, and (2) butch old cops about twelve minutes from retirement.
Which, you know, is pretty close to saying that gay dudes go for just about anything with a dick.
In my mind, that's offensive, and it's easy to see it if we draw a parallel in the heterosexual world. On Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen isn't going to date a Brazilian supermodel one night and then a German shotputter the next. On Moonlighting Bruce Willis didn't sweet-talk Cybill Shepherd all afternoon and date Wanda Sykes at night. On Three's Company, Jack never tried to catch a glimpse of Janet in the shower, then tossed a bucket of water on Mrs. Roper so he could see her boobs.
No, heteros have types they find attractive. News flash to PBS: gay people have types too. We like either butch or femme. We like either smart or stupid. We like either tall or short. We can cut prospective partners a little slack, but not go crazy. If, for example, a gay dude likes transvestites, he's probably not going to get a hard-on when Wilfrid Brimley walks by.
According to the folks at Wallander, though, all that really matters to us is dick.
Speaking for myself and probably a few transvestites, they can shove it anywhere it fits.
3 comments:
Couldn't agree more !
Come on, this is a horrendous misreading of a fantastic piece of television and fiction.
Firstly, Branagh is the best Wallander there has ever been.
Secondly, Svedberg's affection for Wallander is built up through every single book, which it's no crime that you haven't read. But there really is a relationship there, one which is unrequited in a really fantastically portrayed way.
And thirdly, Wallander is all about the total lack of motives or meanings for anything at all. It's a modern piece on alienation and social decay. Crimes happen for no reason, they're solved by accident, and the people who committed the crimes don't know why they did it. See Faceless Killers, when Wallander finally gets the chance to ask the killer why he did it after 500 pages of detective work, and the killer shrugs and then the book is done.
All in all, I find your review capricious and arbitrary!
Regards.
Hey, I love the show. But I hesitate to praise something with such a fundamental flaw, like "Aside from the crows eating watermelon, I thought it was a really great film."
Sorry, but the gay character was preposterous. Of course, I'll backtrack, on one condition:
Name any heterosexual -- real, fictional, live, dead -- who loves both opposite-sex gender-conforming people his/her age but also opposite-sex gender-ambiguous people half his/her age.
Even Humbert Humbert knew what he liked.
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