The Pornography Of Ice-Dancing: Is Blades Of Glory Homophobic?
No. Its not. No more than the society that spawns it. Which would actually make it homophobic, so less so than the society which spawned it. Indeed the fundamental idea behind the film is only funny in a homophobic society. A society which allows a sport to exist which deliberately promote heterosexual relationships in opposition to other types of relationships seems more homophobic than a film where two straight men find putting their face in another mans balls unpleasant. Not least because of the personal hygiene of said ball owners.
Unfortunately the male/female make up of the dancers is laid down almost on page one of the rules* as laid down by the International Skating Union: And I quote:
Rule 303
(previous Ice Dance Rule 500, paragraph 2)
Content of Ice Dancing
a) Ice Dancing consists of:
i) Compulsory Dances (skating of prescribed dances);
ii) Original Dance (with required rhythms);
iii) Free Dance.
b) The composition of an Ice Dancing Couple must be one Lady and one Man
Indeed this is not the only omission Blades Of Glory makes. It slims its running time down by missing out crucial plot scenes. Luckily they are all statutory yet boring scenes. So where the two enemy skaters finally bond and become mates: SNIP. When they fall out: SNIP. Even the requisite third act calamity seems to be done merely because of convention, and no-one takes it seriously. Which allows more dumb fun. Not a joke dense as I expected, it is still tremendously stupid fun.
*Page 12 of 184, where the first eight pages are the contents list.
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Greg Fanoe on April 13th, 2007
Rule 303 comes right after rule 500??
FT's CarsmileSteve on April 14th, 2007
haha, i thought you’d altered the “one lady and one man” bit, can’t believe it actually says Lady…
ted on May 18th, 2007
um… you do know that they were Pairs skating not Dancing?
HUGE difference.
that is all.