We all like to play in the dirt

March 23, 2010 9:57 PM

Straight Acting [57m] is a first-person documentary about one man's journey from Mormon missionary to comfortably gay rugby player.

Filmmaker Spencer Windes’ debut documentary film tells the story of how he evolved from a Mormon missionary into a comfortably gay man by playing violent contact sports.

On the rugby pitch, hockey rink and rodeo circuit, Windes encounters the subculture of queer athletes busting stereotypes - including their own. Bruised and bloodied, Windes emerges from the scrum having rediscovered a trait common to all men, gay or straight: the need to play.

"Windes’ well-meaning and sweet film is part personal narrative and part exploration of brutal gay mens’ sports like rugby...Windes’ sincerity and the films’ empowering portrayal of gay men make it worthwhile."
= Washington Blade

posted by hippybear (21 comments total)

2nd rugby fpp in a row. let's get a scrum going!
posted by the aloha at 10:18 PM on March 23, 2010 [1 favorite]

Awesome!

Having just got back from a Ladies' Rugby Tour, there was much discussion about how women's rugby is strongly, strongly linked to lesbians. Pretty neat that it's slowly becoming a gay men's sport too -- the sociology part of my brain is really interested in why we seem to like linking a rather brutal, physically-demanding sport with gay and lesbian players. But anyway -- this looks wonderful, and thank you for posting it.

(Right, the aloha, we've got a prop and a hooker so far, who'll be tight-head? :) )
posted by kalimac at 2:41 AM on March 24, 2010

let's get a scrum going!

not sure about that, but i really feel like a ruck.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:56 AM on March 24, 2010

Let's do a metafilter haka.
posted by joost de vries at 3:04 AM on March 24, 2010

Ka matt-e, ka matt-e! ka ortex! ka ortex!
Ka matt-e, ka matt-e! ka ortex! ka ortex!
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:16 AM on March 24, 2010 [7 favorites]

there wasn't a whole lot i could milk out of:

Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:18 AM on March 24, 2010

there wasn't a whole lot i could milk out of:

Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru
Nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā

If you go for a MeFi equivalent of the loose translation, you could get something like

'this is pb, the great technician
who fixed the JRun error and made the Blue work again'
posted by Infinite Jest at 3:47 AM on March 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's not exactly the kind of thing that inspires fear in your enemies, though, is it?
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:10 AM on March 24, 2010

I'll definitely have to watch this one when I get home. I was amazed at how cool the rugby club at my (relatively conservative, in the grand scheme) university was when I joined up as an out gay college student in the early 2000s. I was friends with most of the women's rugby club (who, as it happened, were mostly lesbians), so I wanted to try it out. I've never had so much fun, and I've never been so terrified...

It makes me wish I lived in a place with a rugby club (or any organized sports) that would be so accepting, gay or otherwise.
posted by This Guy at 4:46 AM on March 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

'this is pb, the great technician
who fixed the JRun error and made the Blue work again'

'this is pb, the great technician
who fixed killed the JRun error monster* and made the Blue work again sun return to lighting the Earth'

* Or demon? Don't know if the cosmology includes demons or not.
posted by rtha at 5:28 AM on March 24, 2010 [1 favorite]

It's not exactly the kind of thing that inspires fear in your enemies, though, is it?

It's all in the delivery, though...given that the original is about hiding in a pit from your enemies.

Pretty neat that it's slowly becoming a gay men's sport too

Yes, although the number of well-known, out, gay male rugby players is incredibly small (one, I think?). I can't think of a single New Zealand example. There are a number of grassroots gay teams, and I'm sure plenty of gay players (who may or may not be out to their teammates) but clearly there's enough prejudice still around at higher levels that players don't feel comfortable being out.
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:54 AM on March 24, 2010

In the States (or ..on the east coast) there does seem to be more of a wink wink gloss over Rugby. It's not popular and seems really popular with beefy guys who want to tackle other guys in lots of different ways. That french nude rugby calender being a smash hit with the gays over here helped reinforce that.
posted by The Whelk at 6:26 AM on March 24, 2010

We play these guys regularly. They used to be the goat of the league and we'd regularly beat them by 70 points or so, but over time they've developed into a respectable club and now it's anyone's game. Their after parties used to be at a leather bar called Titan's Ramrod.
posted by electroboy at 7:37 AM on March 24, 2010

A Seattle-based art photographer and I ended up geeking out about gear and looking at online portfolios at an event last week. One of his portraits was two naked dudes creatively posed to remain barely work-safe. "Oh, those are the gay rugby players!" That was my first exposure to that meme, but judging by this post and The Whelk's experience (plural of anecdote is not data, etc) it's present on both ends of the states.
posted by Alterscape at 8:34 AM on March 24, 2010

* Or demon? Don't know if the cosmology includes demons or not.

On a Unix box, JRun would be run as a daemon.
posted by me & my monkey at 9:56 AM on March 24, 2010

Pretty neat that it's slowly becoming a gay men's sport too

You have, like, seen a scrum, right? It's like a chorus line crossed with an orgy. In short-shorts. There's no "slowly becoming" about it; rugby has always been the gayest sport ever. Or, at least it was, until UFC came along.

That players are openly gay is relatively new, but, yeah.
posted by Sys Rq at 10:28 AM on March 24, 2010

Well, sometimes you see what you want to see.
posted by electroboy at 11:56 AM on March 24, 2010

es, although the number of well-known, out, gay male rugby players is incredibly small (one, I think?). I can't think of a single New Zealand example.

They may not have been out, but there's no doubt about players like Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke, Tana Umaga & Jonah Lomu.

(that should be enough to set off a war with NZ; NSW will be able to reclaim its former territories & bolster the Waratahs while the entire Kiwi defence forces are buggering around in Antarctica for some unknown reason...)
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2010

Well, sometimes you see what you want to see.

Sometimes you don't see nearly enough.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:08 PM on March 24, 2010

I like what I see and would like to subscribe to your nudie magazine newsletter.
posted by msbutah at 9:24 PM on March 25, 2010

I can't help but see gay rugby as over compensation for a stereotype. I freely admit that I am highly biased against team sports, and so I could be way off mark. Intellectually, I have no problem with the idea that some folks love such things, and at least they form an attractive (!) spectacle.
posted by Goofyy at 1:13 AM on March 27, 2010