Additional Thoughts on the Cleansing Hour (2021) [006]
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Spoilers for The Cleansing Hour (2021), Avengers: Endgame, Robin Hobb's The Tawney Man trilogy, and all of the tv show Supernatural.
One other thing I was pondering about The Cleansing Hour (2021) was its use of heterosexual romantic relationships as a shorthand for emotional maturity, particularly for men.
By the end of movie, I'd argue we're supposed to see Drew as somewhat more sympathetic and mature than Max. One aspect of that is Drew's relationship with Lane: they're not just dating but engaged, and the ultimate break between Drew and Max comes when Drew not only learns Max and Lane slept together he met her, but Max kept a video of their night together against Lane's wishes. Max is the immature dude who hooks up with hardcore fans of "The Cleaning Hour," as we see after the night at the bar, caring more about getting some tail than the women he sleeps with, up to keeping a sex tape of his best friend's fiancée despite telling her he'd deleted it ages ago. Drew, for his own faults -- stealing most of the profits from the show instead of sharing it with Max, and arguably conjoling Lane into stepping in as the possession victim when the actor didn't show instead of canceling the show & dealing with Max's anger about it -- ends up being the one who recites the final exorcism, driving the demon out of Lane & saving her (well, until the devil twist), with their relationship strengthened and Drew at least drawing some emotional boundaries around, if not outright rejecting, Max's friendship. At the end of the movie, Max, on the other hand, is shown alone, smiling at his phone as he sees he now has 4+ million followers -- until a more ambiguous expression comes over his face and we cut to credits.
It works within The Cleansing Hour... and it also made me think of other plots where a male character's maturity is represented through ending up in a romantic relationship, often in contrast to a very strong friendship with another guy. Steve Rogers's story in Avengers: Endgame ends with him going back to the 40's to marry Peggy Carter. I confess I haven't seen Endgame, so I'm speaking purely about the plot ideas themselves, but if the writers wanted to get Steve out of the movies, they could've done a plot where Steve retired in the 21st century. They didn't have to send him back in time. It seems to undermine the tragedy of Steve/Peggy and Steve's "death," not just an act of self-sacrifice (or so Steve thinks) but also the death of his and Peggy's relationship. ...Then suddenly none of that matters anymore! Steve gets to time-travel back to the 40's and marry the woman he loves and, uh, don't worry about all of the shit going down in the 2nd half of the 20th century and why Steve didn't try to do anything about it. The Steve/Peggy relationship also contrasts with how important Steve's friendship with Bucky had been over the first 2 movies. It's the emotional core of The Winter Soldier, and perhaps it ended up being too strong, because the emotional intensity of the Steve-Bucky relationship was much more toned down in Civil War and I'd guess in Infinity War and Endgame as well. So Steve's ending up with Peggy also has major No Homo energy.
Something very similar happens at the end of Robin Hobb's Fool's Fate, the last book in her Tawney Man trilogy. After Fitz brings the Fool back to life, the Fool says they can never be together again, both because Fitz is the Fool's Catalyst and they'll continue to change history, but also because the Fool can't deprive Fitz of his relationships back home, particularly with his long-lost love, Molly. The Fool is written explicitly in romantic love with Fitz, while Hobb frames Fitz's love for the Fool platonically (although many fans interpret Fitz as in romantic love with the Fool and yeah, I can totally see it). It's pretty explicit: the Fool's relationship with Fitz wouldn't be enough, whereas Fitz will be OK if he and the Fool part and he returns back to Molly and her children (and his, in Nettle). A heterosexual romantic relationship, children, and family are ranked higher/more satisfying/more vital to life than a same-sex friendship (and perhaps more). The tragedy of the situation fits Fitz and the Fool's relationship, so their ending works, but again there's the framing around a same-sex relationship as inferior to a heterosexual one. And, frankly, just given the time spent on Fitz and the Fool's relationship, I cared much more about them than Fitz and Molly, even if I could see how Fitz getting back together with her worked thematically.
Finally, Supernatural. This trope actually occurs twice in the show: during the season 5 finale, where Sam sacrifices himself to take down Lucifer and Dean goes back to his past flame Lisa and her son Ben, and during the season 15 finale, where Dean dies and Sam quits hunting to get married, have a son, and then finally pass and reunite with Dean in Heaven. Of all the examples, I'd say this one is the most ambiguous, because Sam and Dean's relationship remains the core of the show throughout -- over the course of season 6, Dean's relationship with Lisa falls apart, and he ends up back hunting with Sam, while in 15x20, Sam's wife is almost nonexistent in the montage of Sam's life, with the emphasis being on Sam's relationship with his son, Dean II, and then the final scene of the show being Sam and Dean together in Heaven. Both of these ending make a sort of sense -- for the first 5 seasons, we've seen Dean yearn for a normal life outside of hunting, while the 2nd half of the show saw Sam quietly yearning for a normal life -- although it's framed for both Dean and Sam as something they cannot have while their brother is still alive. Again, the dichotomy between strong platonic friendship/brother-hood and heterosexual romantic relationship: choose one.
Don't really have a "so what?" about all this yet, beyond the obvious of that Yes, getting married and having a wife & family are standard stepping stones in how society views emotional maturity and responsible adulthood.
Until next time & wishing you ease,
Cordelia