“Equality means more than passing laws. The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community, where it really counts” said Barbara Gittings, an American activist fighting on behalf of the LGBTQ* population. LGBTQ+ equality has been promoted to different fields for years and years with the rising consciousness of society, especially in the media industry. As Barbara said, “The struggle is really won in the hearts and minds of the community”, the victory can be seen easily now at the box office.
“ Your Name Engraved Herein” and “ Call Me By Your Name” are so-called queer films and both won awards nationally and internationally. The former one is a Taiwanese movie released in 2020. It tells the story of the affection between young males under the pressure of martial law shortly after that period. A shy high school boy, A-Hanenjoyed his adventures with his high school friend Birdy who's rather bohemian, they share many secrets and develop a relationship beyond friendship. However, Birdy catches the eye of a female classmate, who offers the hope of socially-acceptable heterosexual romance, but A-han holds onto his affection for Birdy. Repeated incidents of quarrels and reconciliation draw the two boys together and break them apart, before fate finally takes them in different directions. The latter movie is set in 1983 in northern Italy, chronicles the romantic relationship between a 17-year-old Italian boy and the 24-year-old graduate-student assistant to Elio's father, Elio and Oliver. The sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between these two young talented males starts with the arrival of Elio, and then ends ironically with the engagement of Elio with a woman he has been seeing for years. Regardless of the same “gay theme” of these two movies, there are also three main things they have in common.
First of all, the background setting in “ Your Name Engraved Herein” is somehow similar to “ Call Me By Your Name”. In the former movie, the whole nation is living under the pressure law shortly after the period of martial law. During the martial law period, a monolingual policy is implemented and assemblages are prohibited, not to mention same-sex relationships. In the latter movie, although homosexuality is more commonly seen in western culture, Italy was at a much slower pace than other European countries when it came to changing attitudes towards LGBT+ at the beginning of 20th century. In short, society’s attitude towards LGBT+ people was coles-mined during the 1900s in both movies.
Secondly, the main characters chose to avoid revealing their true identity by dating someone who’s not the same gender with them, a socially-acceptable romance, as escape can be seen in both movies. To some point, the main characters' attitudes towards each other in both movies are alike when they were both struggling in their feelings towards each other as soon as they realize they are falling for people with the same gender. In “ Your Name Engraved Herein”, Birdy starts dating a girl when he notices the affection of A-Han. While in “ Call Me By Your Name”, Oliver has an engagement with a female in the very end of the movie, while Elio is still apparently falling for him. The similar emotional struggles and point of views toward social adaption of the main characters are both revealed in either the turning point or ending of the films.
Lastly, both movies are open-ended. The story of the characters was not shown in detail but gave the audience a chance to use their imagination. In “ Your Name Engraved Herein”, the two main characters met each other abroad after they grew up. They never contacted each other after graduating high school, but it seems that they never forgot each other. The film ends off with the older pair watching their younger selves singing with each other and skipping through the alley together. In “ Call Me By Your Name”, Oliver married a woman after heading back to the US. In the end of the movie, the audience were left with the scene of Elio crying in front of the stove. In each audience’ thoughts, the ends of the stories are different. In the former movie, some think that the two grown main characters get together eventually, while some think that they become friends and leave all the things in their past. In the movie“ Call Me By Your Name”, the audience has no clue whether Elio will still keep Oliver in his mind or go on with someone else, whether it’s male or female, as the other part of his life. This is because the two films both left an open ending with vague descriptions telling how the stories are going to end or what kind of life the characters are going to have.
In summary, “ Your Name Engraved Herein” and “ Call Me By Your Name”, the two homosexual theme films have three main similarities: background setting, the viewpoint of escape of socially-acceptable romance, and the open-ended plot design. The two movies both won various prizes and are famous internationally for they are not only films with outstanding traits but contribute to LGBT+. The most precious part of these is probably to let the world realize that their love is nothing different than most people's, for love is equal in front of all human beings. “ Being gay is normal '' is the way homosexuality is portrayed in both movies; there are no drama queens and no pathos but only a dreamy atmosphere that’s beautifully presented. In my point of view, the two movies also give the question to the audience, “Is it better to speak or die?”. This is also one of the main questions posed by Guadagino's 2017 movie adaptation of Call Me By Your Name. What the question is really about is whether it is better to pour one’s heart out and confess true feelings at the risk of rejection or as an alternative, would “dying”, the fading of one’s affection, be easier and much less painful?
LGBTQ+: An acronym used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning persons or the community.
Francesco Dama (2023, July 22), A Brief History of Homosexuality in Italy from Ancient to Today. Italy Segreta
(2016, May 17), Why we fight: campaigning for LGBT Equality, United Nations: Latest/ Stories