Bearcity
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EvanKeel
Posts: 1,904 Member
I just streamed this on netflix. I'll try not to go into too much detail for those that want to see it. Overall, I want to say I wasn't impressed, but my expectations weren't high to begin with. Take that as you will. However, there is something I wanted to go into.
I felt like there was some body image subtext going on. We're talking about bears so this doesn't surprise me. The bear community was founded on people who didn't fit into "mainstream" gay culture because of their behavior and/or body types. We're big furry guys. At this point, I kind of feel like the community is holding onto those body types for the wrong reasons. I got the impression that there was actually some resistance to some characters making efforts to lower their body weight. Disregarding the feeder/eater subculture out there, I don't understand that resistance.
Embracing body types, and only those body types, that makes us outcasts in our larger community doesn't make for emotionally healthy or physically healthy lives. It seems as if the bear community has transformed from a place that valued acceptance of everybody to a place that values being obese for the sake of being different. Muscle bears seem to be an exception, but that's a whole other bucket of crazy that can have its own issues.
I think we bears need to take a step back and realize that we need to love ourselves for who we are, not what we are. If we're fat, fuzzy, and happy, then awesome. If we're fat, miserable with joint problems, diabetes, and sleep apnea, for God sake don't hold onto a body type because you feel like you're betraying yourself or the bear community.
I felt like there was some body image subtext going on. We're talking about bears so this doesn't surprise me. The bear community was founded on people who didn't fit into "mainstream" gay culture because of their behavior and/or body types. We're big furry guys. At this point, I kind of feel like the community is holding onto those body types for the wrong reasons. I got the impression that there was actually some resistance to some characters making efforts to lower their body weight. Disregarding the feeder/eater subculture out there, I don't understand that resistance.
Embracing body types, and only those body types, that makes us outcasts in our larger community doesn't make for emotionally healthy or physically healthy lives. It seems as if the bear community has transformed from a place that valued acceptance of everybody to a place that values being obese for the sake of being different. Muscle bears seem to be an exception, but that's a whole other bucket of crazy that can have its own issues.
I think we bears need to take a step back and realize that we need to love ourselves for who we are, not what we are. If we're fat, fuzzy, and happy, then awesome. If we're fat, miserable with joint problems, diabetes, and sleep apnea, for God sake don't hold onto a body type because you feel like you're betraying yourself or the bear community.
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Replies
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I had to look up Bearcity on IMDB, so I can't comment on the movie. I did think it was interesting that a grand total of one guy in the poster even conforms with my mental image of a bear, which probably says more about the demands of gay movie audiences than bears.
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I had to look up Bearcity on IMDB, so I can't comment on the movie. I did think it was interesting that a grand total of one guy in the poster even conforms with my mental image of a bear, which probably says more about the demands of gay movie audiences than bears.
Interesting
I saw 4 bears. 0 -
Maybe my definition is too narrow! The one I count is #3 from the left. I'm guessing you're also including #6 and #8. But I just can't get to four.0
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I count #1 as well.0
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Fair enough! I'd say too thin and too smooth, but perhaps my opinion would be different if I'd seen the movie and wasn't going off a tiny internet photo.
From what I've read, the main character is not a bear, but a twink bear chaser. I think that's an interesting analog to the days when one couldn't make a movie or TV show with a gay protagonist but could have a straight protagonist interacting with gay people. Grace was probably the last major character of that type. Even a narrowcast movie like Bearcity apparently needed to have a twink star to bring in the crowds.0 -
I must admit I've got this on my Amazon wish-list, but haven't got round to buying it yet.
If I remember rightly it got good reviews in the UK Gay press.0 -
Y'all got something like Netflix over there, Kyle? (DVD rental by mail or streaming.)0
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Yeah I'm not sure I'd want to own it. It's possibly worth a rental, and I didn't feel guilty streaming it.0
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I think we do have Netflix now. Then there's umpteen film channels on cable & satellite but all at premium prices.
DVDs are often cheaper to buy on Amazon than the cost of a subscription to the movie channels :laugh:0 -
At least here, you can subscribe to netflix for a month for less than the price of a single DVD. So you can watch 10 or 12 (or even more if you stream rather than mail) for the price of owning one. Plus I don't have to story something I'm never going to watch again!0
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Haven't seen it. Looks interesting enough to check it out. yea, a couple of those are questionable bears....0
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Spookily enough - thank you Google ads - I just got a Netflix promo on my iGoogle page. I clicked on it, but it's giving me USA rates (our work e-mail it routed through a server in Dallas - go figure! - so at work I appear to be i the US when I'm so obviously not :laugh:)At least here, you can subscribe to netflix for a month for less than the price of a single DVD. So you can watch 10 or 12 (or even more if you stream rather than mail) for the price of owning one. Plus I don't have to story something I'm never going to watch again!
Methinks in the UK it'd be priced at £4.99 a month or thereabouts but as I'm unlikely to watch one maybe 2 movies a month it isn't really worth it for me to subscribe and I can usually pick up DVDs in the supermarket or off Amazon for £5 or less, and if I don't want to keep them, I give them to charity.
It's a pity there aren't more bears (or even otters and cubs)
on TV/movies nowadays... way too many smoothy twink-types for my liking :laugh: 0 -
About the bear - thing. I guess the definition is quite different depending on whom you ask. Some people who aren't hairy identify as bears, as do a lot of what most would consider chubs. Then there are cubs, and 50 year old men still calling themselves cubs. :0 lol
I think it's a very fluid sort of identity. It usually means one of the following : hairy, fat, over 30. It does not necessarily mean "masculine" in my experience. Of course there are also muscle bears, but usually bear means either fat, hairy, and or over 30.
It's quite funny that a lot of the people in the bear community seem to be so big on "masculinity" and yet it is those same individuals who are the biggest flamers ever seen. Rather funny.0 -
You're right to spend your time in the pool, on the bike, and walking the dogs instead of sitting on your *kitten* watching movies just because you've already paid for them, Kyle. That was the problem with Netflix, the movies kept coming so I'd watch them!0
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About the bear - thing. I guess the definition is quite different depending on whom you ask. Some people who aren't hairy identify as bears, as do a lot of what most would consider chubs. Then there are cubs, and 50 year old men still calling themselves cubs. :0 lol
I think it's a very fluid sort of identity. It usually means one of the following : hairy, fat, over 30. It does not necessarily mean "masculine" in my experience. Of course there are also muscle bears, but usually bear means either fat, hairy, and or over 30.
It's quite funny that a lot of the people in the bear community seem to be so big on "masculinity" and yet it is those same individuals who are the biggest flamers ever seen. Rather funny.
Yeah it's a little weird. There's quite a few gay men at my office who would tell me they don't really think of me as a bear. At the time was 5'10" 260lbs with a beard, and (as my father would say) enough hair on my *kitten* to weave an Indian blanket. Who, pray tell, would qualify if not me? They never really had an answer for that. I'd guess their view of bears involved hyper masculinity which is really more of a recent addition when we talk about defining characteristics for the community.0 -
About the bear - thing. I guess the definition is quite different depending on whom you ask. Some people who aren't hairy identify as bears, as do a lot of what most would consider chubs. Then there are cubs, and 50 year old men still calling themselves cubs. :0 lol
I think it's a very fluid sort of identity. It usually means one of the following : hairy, fat, over 30. It does not necessarily mean "masculine" in my experience. Of course there are also muscle bears, but usually bear means either fat, hairy, and or over 30.
It's quite funny that a lot of the people in the bear community seem to be so big on "masculinity" and yet it is those same individuals who are the biggest flamers ever seen. Rather funny.
Yeah it's a little weird. There's quite a few gay men at my office who would tell me they don't really think of me as a bear. At the time was 5'10" 260lbs with a beard, and (as my father would say) enough hair on my *kitten* to weave an Indian blanket. Who, pray tell, would qualify if not me? They never really had an answer for that. I'd guess their view of bears involved hyper masculinity which is really more of a recent addition when we talk about defining characteristics for the community.
Yeah people don't seem to get that affectations of any kind are a form of drag. LOL
I say let people self-identify as they wish. Right?0 -
I used to be a dreadful couch-potato. I'd come home from work, turn on the TV, make dinner, eat it in front of TV then fall asleep on the couch and wake up at 2am and crawl into bed. All this while my *kitten*-ex would be online chatting to all his online f*cuk-buddies and while I was watching TV I was snacking like there was no tomorrow.You're right to spend your time in the pool, on the bike, and walking the dogs instead of sitting on your *kitten* watching movies just because you've already paid for them, Kyle. That was the problem with Netflix, the movies kept coming so I'd watch them!
And that's when I became a bear, only insofar as I was fat, hairy & gay. Strangely enough, I've never really identified as a bear - probably a bit too prissy, esp in personal-hygiene stakes :laugh:0 -
About the bear - thing. I guess the definition is quite different depending on whom you ask. Some people who aren't hairy identify as bears, as do a lot of what most would consider chubs. Then there are cubs, and 50 year old men still calling themselves cubs. :0 lol
I think it's a very fluid sort of identity. It usually means one of the following : hairy, fat, over 30. It does not necessarily mean "masculine" in my experience. Of course there are also muscle bears, but usually bear means either fat, hairy, and or over 30.
It's quite funny that a lot of the people in the bear community seem to be so big on "masculinity" and yet it is those same individuals who are the biggest flamers ever seen. Rather funny.
Yeah it's a little weird. There's quite a few gay men at my office who would tell me they don't really think of me as a bear. At the time was 5'10" 260lbs with a beard, and (as my father would say) enough hair on my *kitten* to weave an Indian blanket. Who, pray tell, would qualify if not me? They never really had an answer for that. I'd guess their view of bears involved hyper masculinity which is really more of a recent addition when we talk about defining characteristics for the community.
Yeah people don't seem to get that affectations of any kind are a form of drag. LOL
I say let people self-identify as they wish. Right?
Wooooooord. Word. Seriously. You get to pick what you want to call yourself. It really doesn't matter if other people agree with you or not (I mean, it might cause you to change your mind at some point but its still YOUR choice).0
