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Thread: Angry son in "Terms of Endearment"

  1. #1
    Skypilot Guest

    Angry son in "Terms of Endearment"

    I just found out about this site and I'm very happy to have found it. Now that I have I'd like see what some of you think about a theory I have about a character in a movie that I'm sure most of you have seen.
    Remember Tommy, the angry son in Terms of Endearment ? For the longest time I couldn't figure out why this character was so angry and withdrawn. When I talked about it with a friend of mine he suggested that Tommy was angry because his mother, Emma (Debra Winger) was dying. However, Tommy was very angry and difficult before Emma got sick. Then I noticed something peculiar in one particular scene. Tommy is about 4 or 5 years old and Emma and Flap (Jeff Daniels) are arguing about how Flap is never around. Flap puts on his coat a goes out the door and Tommy goes to the window to watch him as he walks away. Tommy is grinning. Flap decides to turn around and come back into the house where he and Emma have what I presume is a "quickie". At this point a dejected looking Tommy puts on his coat and sits outside on the porch. It occured to me that Tommy is jealous of Emma; not jealous of his dad but jealous of his mother. He seemed perfectly content to hear them arguing and to see his dad rush off but the idea of them reconciling seemed to bother him. This is a boy who doesn't want to share his father. That is why, I think he is so hostile towards Emma, his mother. You've probably figured out where I'm going with this but I'll say it: I think Tommy is gay. I'm not basing that theory on just the one scene. There is a scene later in the movie where Flap is talking to Emma on the phone while cooking in the back yard. The youngest child, Melanie, starts saying, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" and Tommy shoots her a look that could kill. Later still, when Emma is in the hospital and she summons both of her sons to tell them goodbye and to give them some life advice, she tells them to "be nice to girls". When she says this, Tommy stiffens and when he speaks his voice cracks. He says to Emma, "We're not afraid of girls. What makes you say that?" (Emphasis mine). In fact, Emma had said nothing about being afraid of girls. She simply advised the boys to be nice to them. Whenever I watch this movie I pay special attention to that character and I think I'm right about this. Movies have come a long way since the '80s in dealing with homosexuality in children but I think that for its time this was the films way of alluding to the issue without stating it outright. The sequel (whatever it was called. It was so awful) doesn't touch on the grown Tommy's possible gayness. It simply has him grow up to be something of a delinquent. I was disappointed that they didn't pick up the thread that I think the original movie provided.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    4,843
    Tommy is a secondary character featured in a few scenes. Most critics did not mention him in their reviews. There is not enough material to support or reject your interpretation. Regarding his feelings towards Flap, I think Tommy is simply fed up with the cyclical nature of his parents relationship and wishes Flap would simply stay away. After all, Flap has not been around enough for Tommy to feel strongly attached to him. Regarding the bedside scene: couldn't he simply be assuming that's what his mother meant based on a previous comment about girls made by Emma herself, or by somebody else. Anyway, since when is fear of girls indicative of latent homosexuality?

  3. #3
    Skypilot Guest

    I stand by my interpretation

    I don't think Tommy wanted Flap to stay away . If you watch Tommy's behavior around Flap it is apparent that he is starving for Flaps attention. I also don't think that he was simply fed up with the ups and downs of Emma and Flap's relationship. That is why the one scene where Tommy watches Flap leave the house after arguing with Emma and then sits dejected on the porch after they "make up" raised a red flag with me. He didn't seem at all happy or relieved to see or hear his parents reconnecting. As far as fear of girls goes, no, it doesn't have to necessarily mean the existence of latent homosexuality in the real world but in cinematic terms it could be one way of implying homosexuality with a broad stroke rather than confronting the issue head on. This is America after all and we are nowhere near, say, Europe in dealing openly with homosexuality; especially homosexuality in a person of Tommy's age. We've gotten better over the years but we weren't quite there yet in the '80s. Just because Tommy was a secondary character doesn't mean the writers couldn't give him some hidden depth. I think there is something going on there besides your typical "angry young man".

  4. #4
    Skypilot Guest

    Also

    I tried posting this a few minutes ago but I think that I screwed up.

    Regarding the bedside scene, I don't understand how "be nice to..." could be misinterpreted as, "don't be afraid of..." unless there was in fact some deep fear present that would manifest itself at the very mention of girls or women. Note the way his voice cracks in this scene and the addition of the line, "What makes you say that?" I really think that that particular exchange was there for a reason.

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