The Bowling Alley: Daniel's sexuality

I wasn't saying you didn't, I was pointing out the difference to E. W. Marland.  But yeah, I know the point you're making, I just think Daniel didn't have a woman in his life for a reason.  PTA isn't a director I'd think would have omitted the female influence as an oversight.  Frankly, I think Daniel Day-Lewis needs to take more sexy roles. 

It would have been interesting to see how Daniel Plainview would have acted around a woman, but I don't think the film suffers from it.  And power is sexy, no doubt.

(Ever see a guy in the store, wearing Birkenstocks, buying tampons for his w/gf?  Does that turn you on (ladies)?  That type must appeal to some women, but not me.)  A lot of women, who are educated and independent still like men who take some sort of control over situations.  But I digress from discussing the great and wonderful TWBB.

This struck me the moment I watched the final scene. (And I've only seen the film once.)

Milk is one of the most iconically sexual images in the universe. We suck milk from our mother's breasts, and we are created, sexually, via a milk-like substance. Hence, "I drink your milkshake!," coming from the confirmed bachelor Plainview to the androgynous boy-faced preacher, is about as sexual as you can get.

And don't forget Eli's confession to Daniel just prior to the final explosion of violence -- that he (Eli) has done terrible things -- things he's ashamed of. I took this to be an admission of homosexual acts on the part of Eli.

In exclaiming "I drink your milkshake!," Plainview then mockingly takes on the persona of the Devil, himself. What he's really saying is, "I am the temptation that has led you to Hell." Everything about Plainview -- his immense wealth, his overpowering masculinity and finally, his ability to dominate -- tempts Eli. And in the end, Eli pays dearly for being so tempted.

Also, think about Daniel characterizing Eli as a freak, something that should be kept in a glass jar.  What is it that makes Eli "freakish"?  His religion?  His weakness?  Or something else?

Plainview has the two things most attractive to American women:  Money and a big long straw.

Yes, E. W. Maryland! The scene to which you refer was brimming with sexual violence, as was the one where Eli forces Plainview's confession in the church (on his knees, natch).

 

At the end of the day, the whole film's about which one gets to be the "top." D.P. wins.

There was definitely something weird going on with Mary Sunday. I don't know exactly what it was, but DP treated her... over-affectionately? That's not a word, but I think it conveys what I mean. The hug he gave her after saying "no more hitting" was so utterly creepy that I couldn't stand it. After that I was almost convinced he was going to molest her or something, but I don't think he'd be capable of that having seen the whole thing. Bludgeoning people with bowling pins, sure, but not that--he has at least some sense of decency.

I don't know if any of you noticed it, but the girl who (voluntarily) gives Plainview a hug after the baptism is Mary Sunday. Plainview even says (almost inaudibly) something to the effect "My sweet Mary" when this happens. I wouldn't have noticed it myself, but it is in the movie's official Finnish subtitles. While the hitting scene between the two was undeniably creepy (and an indication that Plainview does have in him, deep down, a soft spot for the fairer sex), this hug seemed spontaneous and quite sweet. Was Mary simply expressing her gratitude because Abel had stopped hitting her? Maybe. Plainview, for his part, seems genuinely comforted, perhaps because Mary is not wife-material, just an innocent child and thus her extended hug cannot be considered improper or flirtatious.

The impression I got from Plainview is that he has never even considered a female companion. All the love and affection he needs is provided to him by his male companions. If he is, as PTA intended, impotent, it explains why he has no need for sexual gratification and thus his need for companionship does not reflect to his sexuality. His insult to Eli Sunday is also interesting, as he clearly considers Eli something of a freak, which could be interpreted as a reference to homosexual tendencies. Plainview is thus revealed homophobic, which would make sense as he is a rough, tough alpha male in a conservative time and place, inhabited by similarly tough men. It does not matter if Eli actually has engaged in homosexual acts or not, his effete manner may have condemned him in Plainview's eyes right from the start. As Plainview taunts Eli, the preacher seems crushed by this affirmation of his weakness (he may not even have gotten a taste of manly love, a simple game of trouser-tennis to thoughts of the handsome Bandy-boy would have been enough to make Eli a sinner in his own eyes).

I don't see sexual desire directly informing the men's rivalry, though. Plainview has nothing but disgust for Eli, while Eli wants nothing but money from the older man.

I wouldn't call him gay. I'd lean more towards asexual, also a virgin.

I should say I didn't think that Eli was gay in 1911, but I strongly suspect he had picked that up by 1927. There was just something in the way he said young Bandy was very good looking. And something about the disgust he expressed when hinting at the sins he'd participated in.

And that would've annoyed DP. But again, all this is a very far stretch. I don't think it was overt--more a buried element that may've added to DP's murderous rage.