i agree with scottitude that "the people and personalities" behind the songs can be super important to interpreting the meaning. i saw the video of "calling all girls" for the first time recently (in the dvd box set), and i have to say, the video sure looked to me like a metaphor for homosexuality -- you know, a plea for freedom and tolerance for male-male love couched in the image of a repressive future world where all love's forbidden (the robot love police, etc.) (this is kind of a classic way of talking about this issue, by the way... i don't know if any of you remember an unfortunately lame-ass episode of star trek the next generation that did the same thing. why am i bringing up star trek in the context of queen? only because we're talking about science fiction and metaphor, dudes. ;)
anyway, you did notice how the girl who freddie's talking to about love looks exactly like a boy from the perspective of the people coming into the room, and you actually can't tell she's a girl until the close-up on her overly-made-up face? and how freddie then gets beaten up, imprisoned, and sent for "reconditioning" because he's a "criminal"? i'm not sure everyone knows how commonly all these procedures were used against gay men well into the 1960s -- including electroshock therapy, like what is apparently being done to freddie on the table -- but i bet freddie knew pretty damn well.
anyway, personally, when i think about the personalities involved, it seems to me pretty clear how to interpret the video and the song. i don't see it as really being about STDs, although since as scottitude says that shadow had appeared over gay male communities by that time, it might well be reflected in there somewhere.
hey there, all:
i agree with scottitude that "the people and personalities" behind the songs can be super important to interpreting the meaning. i saw the video of "calling all girls" for the first time recently (in the dvd box set), and i have to say, the video sure looked to me like a metaphor for homosexuality -- you know, a plea for freedom and tolerance for male-male love couched in the image of a repressive future world where all love's forbidden (the robot love police, etc.) (this is kind of a classic way of talking about this issue, by the way... i don't know if any of you remember an unfortunately lame-ass episode of star trek the next generation that did the same thing. why am i bringing up star trek in the context of queen? only because we're talking about science fiction and metaphor, dudes. ;)
anyway, you did notice how the girl who freddie's talking to about love looks exactly like a boy from the perspective of the people coming into the room, and you actually can't tell she's a girl until the close-up on her overly-made-up face? and how freddie then gets beaten up, imprisoned, and sent for "reconditioning" because he's a "criminal"? i'm not sure everyone knows how commonly all these procedures were used against gay men well into the 1960s -- including electroshock therapy, like what is apparently being done to freddie on the table -- but i bet freddie knew pretty damn well.
anyway, personally, when i think about the personalities involved, it seems to me pretty clear how to interpret the video and the song. i don't see it as really being about STDs, although since as scottitude says that shadow had appeared over gay male communities by that time, it might well be reflected in there somewhere.