Oh, Pork and Leeks?

If you have traveled, you've found yourself in the situation of being the 'exotic' one. When we are not in our own country, we always have that sense of being a little fish-out-of-water. Even when I'm not abroad, sometimes I feel like just driving from Chicago to Springfield gives me culture shock. It's a feeling I have not been able to shake, no matter how many times I tell myself that it's just my imagination. It's the little things the locals do and the way they think that put me in that state of mind.

It takes a minute to understand other cultures -just try to understand small town living, for example- and this short film gave me pause to think about how we perceive others and the way others perceive us. It's a fun, simple short movie, don't get me wrong. Coppola is not gonna call them any time soon to do a collab. But it did nail something that I have seen and that it is not pretty: classism. And that translates into other cultures, especially ones deeply seated in colonialism: the definition of others by what they do. The thing is, classism -as in social class expectations, usually tied to race- is something that can still be seen in the gay community. Don't believe me? Just ask any gay man with Repuglyclown friends. Kidding!

But it is true. Some gay men (and people in general) tend to judge others based on our perceptions of where they stand in society. It's a bias we need to shake in order to gain insight into other people's lives. Intersectionality. It goes with empathy. This short film has a cute ending and it leaves the door open to interpret the growth of the protagonists, but it's not always that simple. It usually takes more than a crush to crush bias. 

XOXO