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Holden: Banky doesn't hate gays, you know that.
Hooper:
But I do think he is a bit homophobic. And this latest episode between
you and Ms. Thing has tapped into that. In his warped perception, he
lost you to the dark side -- which is she.
Holden:
You make it sound like me and him were dating.
Hooper:
Don't kid yourself - that boy loves you in a way that he's not ready
to deal with.
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If you've seen Chasing Amy, this plot summary will jog your memory...
(and if you haven't it will ruin it for you so get out of here and come back if you rent it!)
Chasing Amy
is fundamentally about love across categories (categories with lines that are supposedly never blurred or crossed). It's marketing sells the love story between a straight male and a lesbian, and this is the relationship that audiences focus on after seeing the film.
Though that love plot is controversial, it is way out in the open, comfortable enough to provide the marketing approach, and comfortable enough to be retold by viewers. The relationship between Holden and Banky, however, a fully conscious and foundational aspect of the script, is controversial in a way that keeps it undiscussed. It's in the film -- It's all over the film -- but it's not a part of the movie that was marketed and it's not a part many people discussed after seeing Chasing Amy.
The Holden/Banky friendship -- and the tendency to not really talk about that part of Chasing Amy -- illuminates key ideas for www.straightwhitemale.com. Looking at that relationship illustrates aspects of masculinity and male friendships that this site has considered in previous sections.
So while there is much to be said about the relationship between Holden and Alyssa, and about Chasing Amy's representation of lesbianism, feminism, sexual categorization, etc., the focus will be on the important but mostly ignored themes of Chasing Amy which lie within Holden and Banky's characters and within their friendship.
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