Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a re-watch.
The Horseplay: Equus
Playwright Peter Shaffer caused a sensation back in 1973 with this play about a psychiatrist treating a teenage boy after he blinded a stable full of horses. The conversation about the premise and “meaning” of Equus continued when the movie adaptation, directed by Sidney Lumet, hit screens in 1977.
The plot: a neurotic psychiatrist named Dysart (Richard Burton) begins to treat 17-year-old Alan (Peter Firth) after the latter blinds the aforementioned horses. Dysart becomes intrigued by the convoluted way in which Alan mixes Biblical theology with his love of horses, eventually worshiping an all-powerful horse god named Equus. Dysart also discovers that Alan has some kind of sexual fascination with horses–riding them naked at night, or self-flagellating and masturbating while reciting strange horse genealogies. Treating Alan brings new excitement to Dysart’s mundane practice, though as he wanders deeper into Alan’s psyche, he begins to question his own medical ethics.
Equus scored Oscar nominations for Shaffer, Burton and Firth, as audiences and critics continued to debate the symbolism of the plot. Should it be taken at face value–that Alan is a zoophile? Or, given that Shaffer is a gay man, does Equus criticize sexual shame around homosexuality? Kink? Does Dysart’s disillusionment come from knowing the futility and evil of conversion therapy?
Dear reader, we don’t know. Equus has a smoke-like quality to it–every time it seems like we can grasp the story’s deeper meanings, they seem to just slip away. In this case, that makes it all the more compelling. It helps, of course, to have two sublime actors such as Burton and Firth (who reprised his stage role for the film) carrying the material. It helps too that Shaffer is one of the great playwrights of our time–his dialogue gives the proceedings a poetic urgency, while never coming off obvious or didactic. We recommend the film as an intriguing mediation on sex and shame–something we queers know all too well. Here’s a film that captivates with its performances and dialogue. What it all means is as intriguing as it is elusive.
Available on DVD and Blu-Ray. Hey MGM/Amazon, isn’t it time to get this one on Prime?
twomen4u
Tell me, what is wrong with riding a horse naked? The early Native Americans did it all of the time and it wasn’t until the introduction of the Roman Catholic missionaries that guilt entered the picture. Perhaps this young man had more going on in his head than riding a horse but do not condemn him for him being naked. I am a nudist and have an eight-foot vinyl fence around my backyard so I can enjoy being naked.
dynamic33
Native Americans did not ride horses naked all the time. #saddlesores How offensive. You have offered us a fine example of the perpetuation of the noble savage myth. Please spend some quality time reexamining your racist precepts before posting more nonsense comments on the internet.
HenryCameron
The Spaniards introduced horses and missionaries to the American continent around the same time in the early 1500s.
Chrisk
I dunno. I’d go with the bestiality angle before anything.
ingyaom
This article speaks of Peter Shaffer in the present tense, but he died in 2OI6.
Doug
???T This play and film isn’t about bestiality, lol, it’s about homosexuality. The horse has almost always been a symbol of the male. I can’t believe Queerty took this so literally.
greekboy
Nah! I think the horse is straight.
Mack
Maybe, maybe not. Did he have a unicorn horn?
cuteguy
Anyone else bothered by the animal abuse of blinding innocent animals in the name of religion? I can’t wait until there comes a day when there is no more cults aka religions
Gordon of the Bassets
Is there anyone else here old enough to remember either Carson McCullers’ novel “Reflections in a Golden Eye” or the Sidney Lumet’s 1967 film with Brando and Taylor?
To quote from memory “Riding Bare-back bare-arsed” was a key trope about repressed/emergent homosexual desire.
Gordon of the Bassets
Sorry. John Huston directed “Reflections in a Golden Eye”. My memory is definitely going.
Gadfeal
For any male who has rode horses, unless you have undescended testes, or are masochistic, trotting and jumping could be excruciatingly painful.
TomG
I’ll bet practically EVERY guy who lives in farm country with horses has rode a horse naked. It just seems like a normal thing that everyone tries once.