Ask the Flying Monkey! (June 03, 2008)

Q: Last week you mentioned John Lennon. I have this memory of him posing nude. True? Did any of the other Beatles ever pose nude? – Jon, Rapid City, SD

A: Lennon caused a huge stir by posing naked on the cover of Two Virgins, an experimental album he did with Yoko Ono in 1968 (cleverly, the front of the jacket shows him and Yoko nude from the front, while the back shows them naked from behind).

Interesting, long before she was famous, actress Sissy Spacek recorded a protest song regarding the “shocking” album cover, “John, You’ve Gone Too Far This Time.”

John had a penchant for doing controversial things: in 1966, he masterminded the original album cover for Yesterday and Today, which showed the Beatles covered in doll parts and butchered meat; a few months later, he created another controversy by saying that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus.

As for the other Beatles, there is no actual nudity, but there is a film clip that exists of them all stripping down to their tighty-whities in a dressing room. The Monkey was certain it was from Magical Mystery Tour, but apparently he was wrong (so this is what it feels like!). Anyone know where it’s really from?

Q: I was wondering why any person in a same-sex relationship on television appears to jump immediately from being straight to gay...what about bisexual? I can understand with As the World Turns' “Nuke” storyline, since Noah appeared to have feelings for Luke fairly early on and appeared to be dating Maddie to simply please his father. However, the “Ollian” storyline on Verbotene Liebe has had Christian go from being in a serious heterosexual relationship one minute with Coco to suddenly being gay the next. This relationship was taking place even before Olli arrived, so why isn't he bisexual for falling out of love with Coco and in love with Olli? – Andrew, Vancouver, Canada

Christian (left) & Olli from Forbidden Love

A: You’re very perceptive! The Monkey thinks the reason is twofold: simple-mindedness and politics. In our dualistic western culture, people think in black and white: gay or straight. Bisexuality, like transexuality or multi-culturalism, has always been difficult for some people to wrap their minds around.

But the Monkey thinks another part of what’s going on here is politics. One of the hoariest and most insidious stereotypes about homosexuality is that it’s a “choice” (and because it’s a “choice,” we’re therefore not deserving of legal protections). As a result, many writers have been reluctant to delve into bisexuality, for fear that ignorant readers will latch onto the storylines as confirmation that their prejudices are true (obviously bisexuals can’t “change” their orientation—their sexual orientation is just as established as a gay person’s—but that nuance can be lost in a storyline that has a character shifting from a same-sex partner to an opposite-sex one).

But times have changed. The Monkey thinks we’re long overdue for authentic, well-written bisexual characters, and that viewers, especially younger ones, would really embrace them.

Q: Two gorgeous, tragic French gay films: at the end of one, two teenagers commit suicide on a motorscooter (I think one of them is already dead?); the other is about an escaped French mental patient and a German soldier. Ring any bells? -- Bud, San Diego CA USA

A: You’re not giving the Monkey much to go on. Then again, since the Monkey knows all (yet isn’t a know-it-all), he doesn’t need much to go on!

The first movie may be Presque Rien, or Come Undone (France, 2000), a depressing, but effective little film with hot sex scenes and lots of motorscootering about (though it’s attempted suicide in the movie, not an actual one). The second movie is definitely Nous étions un seul homme, or We Were One Man (France, 1978).

Is the Monkey good or what?

Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!