Boys Beware

An anti-gay short. It makes it clear that gay men are mentally ill and prey on young guys. It "dramatizes" two stories. It's all narrated by some guy. Full of homophobia and misinformation. If it weren't so sick it could be funny. I realize back in 1961 that homosexuality was still considered a mental illness but that doesn't excuse this. Supposedly this is still being shown in certain countries in the deep south and that's just sad. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age people would actually take this seriously. I really feel bad for closeted kids who see this and believe it as being the truth.

Western societies have come a long way in their tolerance and understanding of gay people. This film, which one poster disturbingly tells us is STILL shown in schools in some backward parts of the country, is the REEFER MADNESS of homosexuality.

What might have been a harmless, even helpful warning to kids about pedophiles becomes ridiculous and ugly by its pretense of revealing what all *homosexuals* are like. The despicable smear that gay men tend towards pedophilia (about as factual as the ancient anti-Semitic lie that Jews kill Christian infants and drink their blood) is what this "educational" cheapie is all about.

That one poster actually commends this absurd gay-bashing propaganda as a worthy film that should be remastered and shown to kids today suggests how much ignorance and unexamined bigotry is still out there.

Reactions to the recent Tom Foley scandal showed how easily some on the political left as well as the right can fall back into the old know-nothing equation of homosexuality with pedophilia. Every educated person knows homosexuals are no more likely to be drawn to children than heterosexuals are.

This 10-minute short is worth viewing to remember how recently this kind of ignorant calumny was considered "conventional wisdom".

(this is part of an essay I wrote for my FHSS Sexuality Class on the film)

"Boys Beware", a film produced in 1959 and later shown around many American schools in 1961 has a catastrophically strong anti-Homosexual message attached to it. In a nutshell, it follows three 'sick' men who prey on young boys, sexually abusing and in one case, killing them. Had "boys beware" used the right logic, it could have been helpful to children and teenagers in preventing pedophilia and rape. Instead it hides behind bigotry and hatred, perfectly depicting the social attitudes of it's times.

"That looks innocent enough doesn't it? A lot of young people hitch hike. But sometimes there are dangers are involved that do not meet the eye. Jimmy didn't like walking home so he decided to thumb a ride. He'd done it one hundred times before and he didn't think anything was unusual when the driver struck up conversation. The stranger was a good listener too and it only seemed minutes before they pulled up in front of jimmy's house. When jimmy pulled out the stranger gave him a friendly pat." The opening moments of the film seem coherent and meaningful. Shots of a shady man offering a young boy a ride home are accompanied by omniscient voice over which is full of hints that the man is a pedophile or rapist and that the character Jimmy is of course in potential danger of harm both physically and emotionally. Any half educated person watching this film in todays times would be asserting that "Boys beware" was exploring a pedophilia sexuality and it's dangers. Had the film followed from its original connotations it would have made sense, but then of course it would not be folly for analysis on its promotion of heteronormativity. As the next scene begins, "Boys Beware" begins to erode in its coherence. Homophobia, and lack of understanding of other sexualities (which both exist inside of the heteronormative paradigm) will rear it's ugly head. "The following Saturday they went fishing together. By then they were using first names. Ralph said it was more friendly. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. What Jimmy didn't know is that Ralph was sick. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox but no less dangerous and contagious. A sickness of the mind. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. A person who demands an intimate relationship with members of their own sex." Homosexuality is denounced here for the first time in the film, full of hysterical assumptions and fears that are so absurd one finds it impossible to believe any audiences even took the film seriously. Having defined the term "homosexuality," the film successfully promotes male/female relationships without even showing any. It does this simply by comparing homosexuality to a disease, labeling it dangerous and contagious going far enough to separate any form of sexuality that does not fit in with the heterosexual paradigm as sick. While media in popular culture in today's world tend to shy away from upfront and direct criticism of homosexuality, "boys beware" sheds light on the fact that the media can be a factor in how the unthinking masses come to conclusions. In the 1950s, most people were disgusted with Gay people outright- as shown and maybe in part because of this film. Today, most people are okay with Gay people but so long as they are not a close friend or family member. Popular culture reflects this, as evidenced by huge amounts of Gay characters used for comedic (but not dramatic) effect in television shows. What this hints is that heteronormativity will always be around any society until a sweeping majority of it's people accept other sexual orientations unconditionally. The heteronormativity in "boys beware" is just a testament to the hatred felt at the time, as is the passive heteronormativity shown through todays use of stereotypical Gay characters that are hardly ever made to connect to audiences on a meaningful level.

One should feel deeply sorry for the amount of Gay or confused teenagers who were shown this film after its release (as it was distributed for over twenty years). In promoting heteronormativity as the only accepted norm, the film magnifies how much Homosexuals are the "other." This would have been damaging to impressionable Gays: "But all homosexuals are not passive," the narrator begins, "The stranger agreed to give Mike a ride home. The companionship, the praise, the friendly attitude dispelled any misgivings about going with a stranger. He probably never realized until it was too late that he was riding in the shadow of death. But sometime that evening Mike Merric traded his life for a newspaper headline." "In the shadow of death"? Whoever made this film obviously learned scriptwriting lessons in hyperbole. 'I am going to become a killer'-- is what many young boys can not be faulted for thinking upon viewing this film fifty years ago. If one ever wondered why so many Homosexual men married into straight relationships and lived lives of lies, one has to look no further to this film, and films such as this that force Heterosexuality as the only human relationship by a hardline default. Anything else are labeled illnesses that can lead a homosexual to become a murderer. Comparing such a ludicrous film to most media today, we are quite tame. It is true that Gender opposites continue to be the overwhelming norm, and that heteronormativity (at least subconsciously) is hard to escape. However, being homosexual is no longer so separated from the heteronormative paradigm that it once was. Viewing historic, albeit, stupid films such as "Boys beware" is important in understanding that as a society we have made progress in our acceptance of things outside the heterosexual norm, but also sends a chilling reminder of the times we missed only by a few decades.

"Boys Beware" would be comic if it wasn't painfully tragic. I'd like to think this was one of those community projects directed to schools that were watched by a bunch of students that later grow up bigoted, full of prejudice and whatever they learned from the film was spread to many others, and by that standard I'd like to think only 500 people have seen it and forgot it. And the problem in saying "that was then, this is now" and we have evolved a hell of a lot doesn't change because we still have cultures and people who spread the pedophilia and homosexuality are a common link. And that's why "Boys Beware" hits a nerve and is a tragic piece because lots of people saw it and reinforced the notions of homophobia, prejudice and violence. The movie calls the attention of viewers by whenever a similar situation happening (of a man offering a ride home to a teenager or a kid) to call the cops; but the movie makes a full generalization saying all homosexuals are alike, always going for boys and what the paranoia develops on "frightened" folks: let us be violent and kill them. Too bad I'm not allowed to say what I think about this movie in pure and simple words.

This ridiculous waste of celluloid is one of those projects destined to warn children of the dangers of meeting strangers who want to have sex with boys. But the film keeps saying ad nauseam that those kinds are homosexuals, big emphasis throughout the film, and that they're ill. Comes a colorful and happy presentation of the life back in the 1960's, jolly music and it was all hilarious until the narrator goes by saying that homosexuality was an illness of the mind and you already have an idea on how far behind humanity were (still is, I'm afraid). The clueless creators don't know how to make the distinction between pedophiles and men who feel sexual attraction for other men. The failure of providing a distinction when already there was one available is what kills this dreadful and horrid film. And if there's the goal of saving lives, the movie only hits 10% right: if you're young don't go out with friendly strangers. If someday some guy say they watched this thing in high school and the recommendation was helpful because they escaped from a certain fella named Jeffrey Dahmer, or someone similar then I'll say a word of praise to this - but doing the math correctly, this kid would be too old to have met Dahmer but you get the point.

And it's so strange that a film like this came out at the same time when "The Children's Hour" was released, a movie that portrayed a gay character in a great humanistic light (despite the low outcome of the story, blame it on that era), and many other great films of the decade that were allowing more and more decent presentation of gay characters on the screen - far from the heaven of flicks and series we have these days but a good ladder up to go. But comes this wreck to ruin everything. It's not a total disaster because the so-called production values and presentation are strangely well-made. The voice-over works, the acting is relevant and it's nicely put together. What makes this unbearable and lame is the ideas conceived, the lack of discernment and the total disregard of truth, an incoherent and damaging short film. Careless and harmful project at its worst. 2/10

"Boys Beware" is an educational film created by the Inglewood California Police Department. When seen today, it's pretty obvious that the film is crap...but back in the day this sort of misinformation was the norm. What misinformation am I talking about in the film? Well, the short talks about the dangers of homosexual men murdering and doing God knows what to boys. Today, these folks aren't seen as gay men but more correctly pedophiles. Because of this, I am sure the short film did a lot to confuse people and scare them into thinking gay men were all predatory and dangerous. I could go on and on about this, but the film simply presents misinformation again and again.