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Sigourney Weaver to star as the mother of a gay son in "Prayers for Bobby"
Three time Oscar nominee Sigourney Weaver is set to co-produce and star in the Lifetime TV movie Prayers for Bobby, about a woman whose gay son commits suicide. It's based on a 1996 book by Leroy Aarons about Mary Griffith, whose life was forever changed when her son took his own life. From the publisher's comments: Bobby Griffith was an all-American boy ... and he was gay. Faced with an irresolvable conflict -for both his family and his religion taught him that being gay was "wrong"- Bobby chose to take his own life. Prayers for Bobby, nominated for a 1996 Lambda Literary Award, is the story of the emotional journey that led Bobby to this tragic conclusion. But it is also the story of Bobby's mother, a fearful churchgoer who first prayed that her son would be "healed," then anguished over his suicide, and ultimately transformed herself into a national crusader for gay and lesbian youth. As told through Bobby's poignant journal entries and his mother's reminiscences, Prayers for Bobby is at once a moving personal story, a true profile in courage, and a call to arms to parents everywhere. The movie will be directed by Russell Mulcahy (who directed a few of the early episodes of Queer as Folk, including the pilot). While looking up info about the movie, I ran across this supposedly humorous blurb from New York Magazine: Sigourney Weaver makes the long-dreaded move to Lifetime Original Movie territory by producing and starring in Prayers for Bobby, about a conservative woman who questions her beliefs after her gay son commits suicide. Alternate titles eventually rejected: Not Without My Dead Gay Son, and Mother, May I Sleep With Men? No? Well, Then I Shall Commit Suicide. Way to mock a dead guy, New York Magazine! Submitted by on Tue, 2008-05-20 10:46. |
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Yikes!
Jeez, I have a pretty good sense of black humor myself, but making jokes about a suicide victim and his heart-broken mother goes way over the line.
When I saw the headline about this movie, I thought "oh no, not another movie about a gay guy who kills himself". That's been done so many times, and usually is way too earnest and predictable, and tells us nothing we don't already know (while reinforcing the idea that being gay is depressing and awful). After reading the story, though, I have some hope for this one. First, Sigourney Weaver isn't the sort to settle for trite, run-of-the-mill TV movies, nor is Russell Mulcahy. Second, the biggest impediment BY FAR that we face in our fight for equality is conservative Christians. There are huge numbers of them, and they're not going away anytime soon. Therefore, it's important to get their thinking to evolve to where they are accepting. Some members of my family are in that group, and because of my existence they've had to open their minds. The same is true of people I work with. Several are conservative Christians, and just knowing me has mellowed and changed them. A movie like this can be another step on that journey of altered perceptions.
That situation is also why I persist, despite widespread disagreement here, in supporting ATWT and the Nuke storyline. As entertainment for gay people it's weak, and it's also deficient in it's equality. But it exposes conservative Christians to likeable young gay people who come eventually to feel like family. As such it can be another part of what inevitably will be a slow evolution in the thinking of conservatives. Whether we like it or not (and I certainly don't like it) that evolution is absolutely essential to ultimate equality.