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bedlamsbard*sighs* Sometimes I think there should be a male equivalent of the Bechdel Test* wherein, if there is a love triangle involving two male best friends, they talk about something other than the love interest and in which they decide their friendship is, you know, also an important part of their lives! Possibly more important than the love interest!
Or decide on a long-term threesome, because that would also solve a lot of problems.
*grits teeth* I think Pearl Harbor is better at it than The Four Feathers (the movie, not the book), though not by much, but Pearl Harbor establishes the relationship between the two male leads better than Four Feathers does. The Four Feathers is absolutely infuriating, because they keep saying over and over again that Harry's friends are Very Very Important to him, but the emotional context isn't really present, and it's hard to see the Harry/Jack relationship because it's all bound up with Ethne. Of course, Pearl Harbor is a longer movie, thus they can provide more emotional context, etc., but it's really annoying. Because the films generally try and establish that male friendship is an Important Thing, and then quite often they don't show it; they immediately throw in the female love interest and from there on out, the two male leads revolve around her, and very seldom interact with each other except by competing.
I think Pearl Harbor actually does it fairly well, because the relationship between Rafe and Danny is established to be one of the focal emotional points of the whole movie, and the relationships between Rafe and Evelyn and Danny and Evelyn are both well-established, and hey! They talk to each other about things other than Evelyn! And they do it damn well. The Four Feathers completely falls apart on that note -- the only thing Jack and Harry talk to each other about other than Ethne is about two seconds of conversation before Jack ships off and Harry resigns, and then never again. Harry doesn't talk to his other friends at all; the movie shows him trying to save their lives, but the emotional context isn't there. It has to be constructed by the viewers, which is always a failure on the part of the PTB. (Not to mention that Ethne isn't given much of a personality at all; it's been a while since I read the book, but I seem to remember her having vaguely more personality? I do remember that she pulls a white feather out of her fan and gives that to Harry, and since that's, like, the entire point of the book/movie, it makes no sense that the fourth feather is a throwaway line. WAY TO FAIL ON EMOTIONAL RESONANCE, GUYS.)
* Yes, I know what all the parts of the Bechdel Test are and it obviously does not line up or qualify in the same ways; I am thinking of the "two women have a conversation about something other than a man" bit of it.
Or decide on a long-term threesome, because that would also solve a lot of problems.
*grits teeth* I think Pearl Harbor is better at it than The Four Feathers (the movie, not the book), though not by much, but Pearl Harbor establishes the relationship between the two male leads better than Four Feathers does. The Four Feathers is absolutely infuriating, because they keep saying over and over again that Harry's friends are Very Very Important to him, but the emotional context isn't really present, and it's hard to see the Harry/Jack relationship because it's all bound up with Ethne. Of course, Pearl Harbor is a longer movie, thus they can provide more emotional context, etc., but it's really annoying. Because the films generally try and establish that male friendship is an Important Thing, and then quite often they don't show it; they immediately throw in the female love interest and from there on out, the two male leads revolve around her, and very seldom interact with each other except by competing.
I think Pearl Harbor actually does it fairly well, because the relationship between Rafe and Danny is established to be one of the focal emotional points of the whole movie, and the relationships between Rafe and Evelyn and Danny and Evelyn are both well-established, and hey! They talk to each other about things other than Evelyn! And they do it damn well. The Four Feathers completely falls apart on that note -- the only thing Jack and Harry talk to each other about other than Ethne is about two seconds of conversation before Jack ships off and Harry resigns, and then never again. Harry doesn't talk to his other friends at all; the movie shows him trying to save their lives, but the emotional context isn't there. It has to be constructed by the viewers, which is always a failure on the part of the PTB. (Not to mention that Ethne isn't given much of a personality at all; it's been a while since I read the book, but I seem to remember her having vaguely more personality? I do remember that she pulls a white feather out of her fan and gives that to Harry, and since that's, like, the entire point of the book/movie, it makes no sense that the fourth feather is a throwaway line. WAY TO FAIL ON EMOTIONAL RESONANCE, GUYS.)
* Yes, I know what all the parts of the Bechdel Test are and it obviously does not line up or qualify in the same ways; I am thinking of the "two women have a conversation about something other than a man" bit of it.