Schmid suggests that most novels/films portray the killers as sexual deviants
On p. 221, Schmid suggests that most novels/films portray the killers as sexual deviants, but they do so in a way that implies that serial killers are somehow “not normal” in their appetites. This quickly leads to questions of homosexuality or bisexuality as easy targets. If the killers are heterosexual, their sexuality is never mentioned. How does this argument play out in The Talented Mr. Ripley?
During the Talented Mr. Ripley film, sexuality is never brought up. I immediately threw up a red flag when I saw Tom wearing what most would call a “man purse”. From that point on you could start to piece together that Tom was in favor of another gender. It was obvious that Tom was in love or obsess with Dickie, from the bathroom scene to the scene where he was wearing his clothes and impersonating him. The way Tom looks at Dickie is something everyone wishes; you know to be stared at like a delicious candy bar. According to Schmid, D. (2005). “The true-crime treatment of Jeffrey Dahmer presents a very different situation. In Dahmer’s case, as with other “gay killers,” it is precisely his sexuality and the “gay lifestyle” that are condemned for contributing to and in many ways being practically identical with serial murder. Queerness and/as Violence Richard Tithecott has neatly summarized the appeal of the Dahmer case to a heteronormative culture: “For a heterosexual culture, the Dahmer case represents an opportunity to explain acts of savagery by referring to his putative homosexuality, to confuse homicidal with homosexual tendencies, confuse ‘sexual homicide’ with homo sex” (73). True crime is one of the most influential media in which this association of homosexuality with violence takes place in contemporary American society, but obviously it did not inaugurate this serial murder in American popular culture association.” People noticed Tom and his ways but never mention it. For example, Peter knew Tom was a homosexual, never said anything but pursued him. Whenever heterosexual killers are caught there are no labels except for gender and race. If Tom wasn’t as careful as he was, and people found out about him. People would put a label across his name and then homosexual would probably be consider high risk for becoming mentally unstable/killers. As far the argument sexuality was not mentioned in the movie but if things turned out different, I’m sure sexuality would have been the first thing people read/noticed.
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