I remember this speech, delivered by John Goodman’s Coach Harris toward the end of Revenge of the Nerds, as being much longer, but it’s testament to Goodman’s skill as an actor that he was able to make these 77 words so resonant, so iconic. It’s like a poem, the purest distillation of macho-father-patriarchal-Nietzschean evil that I’ve ever seen. [I can’t find a clip of the just the scene, but it’s from 9:05 in the first of these you-tubers and then finishes in the beginning of the next.]
I got to thinking about this scene because of Jamie’s recent post about men and homophobia, and because of Tom’s addendum to Jamie’s post, in which he talks about how his own father told him "being a faggot is the worst thing you can be" (and how dear old dad even went so far as to hire a prostitute to try to fuck his son straight).
I just assume, as Jamie does, that men are by and large the most vicious homophobes, and although I don’t have any statistical evidence either, I don’t know how you can watch John Goodman and not come to the same conclusion. I’m sure women can be vicious homophobes, but I don’t think it comes from quite the same depth of existential fear and loathing.
On a mildly related note, Revenge of the Nerds was formative for me. Looking back on it, from the perspective of a politically-minded adult, it was pretty bad about women (though in certain ways enlightened), but actually pretty good for its day (1984) on gay issues. Its one gay character, Lamar Latrell, was positively if stereotypically depicted; the tri-lam fraternity was explicitly against discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation; and the whole movie was about a kind of coalition of the marginalized fighting back against the force of white male patriarchy.
