Asylum

[scribblinlenore]

So last night chatting with pun and rhiannonhero, we were discussing how this episode really screams "gay!" And how both Ma and Pa Kent seemed terrified that they're going to end up with a gay alien son and are willing to compromise almost any value to see that he doesn't.

And then all these parallels started coming to mind, and I started thinking: This could totally be a story about homosexuality in our society.

Lex and Clark are both different from other people, not normal, "freaks" as Lex puts it in "Extinction." (Read, gay)

Lex carries his difference openly. Clark hides his, out of fear. He can blend in, seem normal, even if that's a lie that ties him in knots. (In the closet)

Lex and Clark instinctively recognize themselves in each other. They have a bond, a "destiny." (They're in love!) Yet, Clark can't bring himself to admit his difference to Lex, even though Lex already knows, even though Clark knows he knows. Clark wants the relationship, but the fact that he can't own up to who he really is gets in the way.

Lex gets sent to Belle Reeve for insisting on the truth, for trying to bring family skeletons out into the plain light of day, for not being the same kind of man his father is (heterosexual). He, in effect, gets forced back into the closet.

Belle Reeve is a state institution, a metaphor for society's rules and what happens to people who openly violate them. The inmates, other freaks, are "treated" until they learn to conform.

Clark's dilemma about whether to go to Lex's rescue is a conflict about whether to expose his true identity. Is it more important to keep his secret and be safe? Or to be authentic?

Everyone in Clark's life, except Lex, pressures him to keep his secret.

His father: Lex is different. (Because he's gay!)

His mother: You have another friend in the hospital. (And she's a girl!)

Pete: Lex can't be trusted. (Because he's gay!)

Chloe too, although I can't remember exactly what she said.

They all see Lex as a threat because he wants Clark to be honest about who he really is. Because he just wants Clark, period.

When the drug therapy fails to "cure" Lex, his father (patriarchy) insists on more cruel, more violating "treatment." Because no matter what the psychic or physical costs, Lex must be brought under control. (Turned straight)

Eventually, Clark just can't pretend anymore. The pressure is too much. He has to be true to his nature. He goes to Belle Reeve to liberate Lex from the closet and finally, openly shows Lex who he is. Lex is touched, awed, approving, and Clark experiences profound joy (the expression on his face when he's using his powers in front of Lex!) that he can finally show this person who is so important to him his truth. In this one moment, they are both free and united. (And so in love!)

After the rescue fails, Lex is sacrificed by his father, who tells him all the while that it's for his own good. (Like therapists who think they can turn gay men straight) Lex's dangerous honesty, his spark of individuality is erased along with his memory (at least seemingly), and in the end, he's parroting the party line. "My father just wants what's best for me." (To be like him, to be straight, no matter what the cost.)

Clark's parents refuse to acknowledge the horror of what's happened. They're just relieved that Clark's secret is safe. He's back to lying about who he is, and they can finally be comfortable again. The fact that a young man was tortured by his own father to achieve this state of affairs is less appalling than it might be in other circumstances. (Because Lex is gay and in danger of "turning" their son gay, and that somehow makes it a lesser crime.)

Clark is left with overwhelming guilt, not just because he failed, but because he feels both relief and disappointment that he can hide once more.

Comments

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

I think the Luthorcest can still work for this reading in light of men who deny their homosexuality, go around straight in society, yet molest their own sons. What do molesters do? They blame their victims. "You seduced me. It's YOUR perversion, not mine. You lured me in, but it's not who I am."

This is my favorite read of the ep so far, not just because it feeds my slashy obsession, but because it's logical. Someone above said they didn't think the ep was intentionally written this way, but of AlandMiles, isn't Miles gay? And wasn't part of the original buzz about this show that it had gay overtones? I swear the producers DO let at least a couple of eps get through every year that purposely read gay to those who know how to break the code.

I want to believe.

[scribblinlenore.livejournal.com]

Good point about the Luthorcest! Homosexuality and patriarchy is complex. Fooling around with a buddy in private (or molesting your son when no one else is around) is somehow different than being openly, freely identified as gay. Also, it seems to make a difference whether a man is the active party or the recipient. To many men, it's being the passive recipient that's gay, not simply the act of having sexual contact with a man.

I really do think all the parallels to homosexuality are, at least in part, intended. To me, it just seems to pervasive to be a complete accident.

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

When I reread my original comment about your read being "logical" I worry it sounds like the others aren't to me. That's not so. I just admire the way you lay out your facts -- very a+b=c. I like the other reads, too, and they've all certainly enhanced my enjoyment of th ep. But yours, I guess, convinces me.

[scribblinlenore.livejournal.com]

I didn't take it that way at all. When I was thinking over this argument, it was like an equation in my head and that's how I wrote it down. I figured that's what you meant.

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

Cool.

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

I think the Luthorcest can still work for this reading in light of men who deny their homosexuality, go around straight in society, yet molest their own sons.

You're right, of course. That's another reason for Lionel to have to nearly kill Lex to "cure" him -- he's hoping, in his twisted way, that curing Lex of being gay will make him, Lionel, stop having these inappropriate feelings.

[devin-chain.livejournal.com]

I have to take back what I said about Miles. I don't know where/when I got the idea he's gay, but I got thinking about it, and I have absolutely no grounds to make such an assertion.