When Everything Feels Like the Movies

Last updated
When Everything Feels Like the Movies
When Everything Feels Like the Movies (2014 cover).jpg
First edition
Author Raziel Reid
Cover artistPhotograph copyright Getty Images (by Frank P. Wartenberg)
Cover design by Gerilee McBride
LanguageEnglish
GenreYoung Adult
Published2014 (Arsenal Pulp Press)
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (paperback)
Pages171 pp. (1st paperback edition)
ISBN 978-1-55152-574-7

When Everything Feels Like the Movies is the debut young adult novel by Raziel Reid. The novel is narrated by the protagonist, Jude Rothesay, from a first-person perspective, and details his experiences and difficulties over a few days as a gay teenager in school. Reid was inspired by the events leading up to the 2008 murder of Larry King in Oxnard, California, as he perceived parallels between his life and King's life.

Contents

Plot

Jude Rothesay struggles with relationships at school (where he has unrequited crushes on boys, which he discusses his best friend, Angela) and at home (where he steals tips and clothes from his exotic dancer mother and tries to avoid his uninterested stepfather, Ray). The story, as narrated by Jude, recasts his reality as the set of a movie starring Jude, with other students playing bit parts ("The Extras"), as central to his life and fantasies ("The Movie Stars"), or as heckling bullies ("The Paparazzi").

Major themes

The novel is notable for its frank treatment of a gay youth's first sexual experiences, the consequences of homophobic bullying, and the difficulty faced by gay youth growing up in a small-town environment. [1]

Development history

Reid recalled being bullied about his sexual orientation as early as kindergarten, and by Grade 6, "was leaving school in tears pretty much daily." [2] An opening monologue by Ellen DeGeneres on her show in 2008, when she described the life and death of Californian gay teen Larry King, [3] planted the seed that he would later develop into the novel, [2] although Reid said that Jude is not a self-portrait. [4]

Publication history

Reception

National Post book editor Emily M. Keeler was effusive in her praise for the novel, calling it "a fun, glamorous romp ... like a contemporary, teen reference to Djuna Barnes's modernist queer masterpiece Nightwood ." [5] Judi Tichacek, reviewing the novel for the American Library Association, praised the story and pacing, noting "the book's relatability [sic] is one of the reasons why Jude's story is so compelling." [6] The Guardian also praised the novel as unique and stylish because of its origins from the murder of King: "It's incomparable, and it's completely unlike anything you've ever read before ... Raziel's writing style is again one of those things which I've never seen the like of before ..." [7]

Though admitting he had only "read the first chapter and some excerpts, enough to get a taste", Brian Lilley criticized the novel's "nonstop stories of sex" and "[glorification of] casual sex." [8] Barbara Kay criticized the main character as "sexually adult, but socially infantile" as the "'authentic' narcissism of queer/transgender identity exempts one from the obligation to mature." [9] Kay also criticizes the central structure of the novel, saying that "life as a movie begins as a clever trope, but after hundreds of references ... it wears thin." [9] Reid shrugged off Kay's criticism, noting that many jurors serving on the first trial of King's murderer felt more sympathy for the murderer than the victim, and asserting that society "can't feel sorry for a murdered queer unless he lived as a saint." [10] Jude was deliberately written as a "detached and damaged digital youth," precisely "values-void" to take Kay's term. [10]

Author Kathy Clark started an online petition asking for the revocation of the Governor General's Award due to the "graphic nature" of the novel. [11] [5] In response to the Clark petition and Kay's column criticizing the novel, Steven Galloway noted, in surveying Canadian writers, that the prevailing sentiment was "a mixture of support for the writer, the desire to forcibly extract Ms. Kay and Ms. Clark's heads from their rectums, and shame that we are actually having to have a freedom of expression debate in 2015." [12] Despite gay marriage being legal in Canada since 2005, J.B. Staniforth noted "the full-throated [gay] lust that the heterosexual majority takes for granted" was "still ... considered shocking." [1]

Keeler rejected the petition to strip the award, noting that such efforts were akin to the jurors who deadlocked during the first trial of King's murderer. [5]

The book along with five others were banned in Malaysia as a "preventative measure to stop the spread of ideologies and movements" that conflicted with the country's values. [13]

Awards and nominations

When Everything Feels Like the Movies received the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature in 2014. [4] [11] [5] Despite the Clark petition, the Canada Council backed the judges' award and refused to rescind the prize. [12]

The novel, defended by Elaine Lui, was a runner up in the CBC Canada Reads competition in 2015. [14]

Adaptations

Raziel Reid has adapted the novel into a screenplay; the movie option is held by Random Bench.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Shawshank Redemption</i> 1994 film by Frank Darabont

The Shawshank Redemption is a 1994 American prison drama film written and directed by Frank Darabont, based on the 1982 Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The film tells the story of banker Andy Dufresne, who is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murders of his wife and her lover, despite his claims of innocence. Over the following two decades, he befriends a fellow prisoner, contraband smuggler Ellis "Red" Redding, and becomes instrumental in a money laundering operation led by the prison warden Samuel Norton. William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, and James Whitmore appear in supporting roles.

<i>Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow</i> 2004 dieselpunk film by Kerry Conran

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, often shortened to Sky Captain, is a 2004 science fiction action-adventure film written and directed by Kerry Conran in his directorial debut, and produced by Jon Avnet, Sadie Frost, Jude Law and Marsha Oglesby. It stars Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie. It is an example of "Ottensian" (pre-WWII) dieselpunk.

William Condon is an American director and screenwriter. Condon is known for writing and/or directing numerous successful and acclaimed films including Gods and Monsters, Chicago, Kinsey, Dreamgirls, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, and Beauty and the Beast. He has received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Gods and Monsters and Chicago, winning for the former.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uwe Boll</span> German filmmaker (born 1965)

Uwe Boll is a German filmmaker. He came to prominence during the 2000s for his adaptations of video game franchises. Released theatrically, the films were critical and commercial failures; his 2005 Alone in the Dark adaptation is considered one of the worst films ever made. Boll's subsequent projects, released during the 2010s, were mostly released straight to home media. After retiring in 2016 to become a restaurateur, Boll returned to filmmaking in 2022. His films are financed through his production companies Boll KG and Event Film Productions.

James Berardinelli is an American film critic. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ReelViews. Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of reviews of movies on DVD and video. He is also a fantasy novelist, publishing a trilogy from 2015 through 2016 known as The Last Whisper of the Gods.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBTQ themes in horror fiction</span>

LGBTQ themes in horror fiction refers to sexuality in horror fiction that can often focus on LGBTQ+ characters and themes within various forms of media. It may deal with characters who are coded as or who are openly LGBTQ+, or it may deal with themes or plots that are specific to gender and sexual minorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ann Bannon</span> American author

Ann Weldy, better known by her pen name Ann Bannon, is an American author who, from 1957 to 1962, wrote six lesbian pulp fiction novels known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles. The books' enduring popularity and impact on lesbian identity has earned her the title "Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction". Bannon was a young housewife trying to address her own issues of sexuality when she was inspired to write her first novel. Her subsequent books featured four characters who reappeared throughout the series, including her eponymous heroine, Beebo Brinker, who came to embody the archetype of a butch lesbian. The majority of her characters mirrored people she knew, but their stories reflected a life she did not feel she was able to live. Despite her traditional upbringing and role in married life, her novels defied conventions for romance stories and depictions of lesbians by addressing complex homosexual relationships.

<i>Desert Hearts</i> 1985 film by Donna Deitch

Desert Hearts is a 1985 American romantic drama film directed by Donna Deitch. The screenplay, written by Natalie Cooper, is an adaptation of the 1964 lesbian novel Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule. Set in Reno, Nevada in 1959, it tells the story of a university professor awaiting a divorce who finds her true self through a relationship with another, more self-confident woman. The film stars Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau with a supporting performance by Audra Lindley.

<i>The Mist</i> (film) 2007 film by Frank Darabont

The Mist is a 2007 American cosmic horror film directed, written, and co-produced by Frank Darabont. Based on the 1980 novella of the same name by Stephen King, the film stars an ensemble cast of Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher and Toby Jones.

<i>Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives</i> 1992 Canadian documentary film directed by Lynne Fernie

Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives is a 1992 Canadian hybrid drama-documentary film about Canadian lesbians navigating their sexuality while homosexuality was still criminalized. Interviews with lesbian elders are juxtaposed with a fictional story, shot in fifties melodrama style, of a small-town girl's first night with another woman. It also inserts covers of lesbian pulp fiction. The film presents the stories of lesbians whose desire for community led them on a search for the few public beer parlours or bars that would tolerate openly queer women in the 1950s and 60s in Canada. It was written and directed by Lynne Fernie and Aerlyn Weissman and featured author Ann Bannon. It premiered at the 1992 Toronto Festival of Festivals and was released in the United States on 4 August 1993. It was produced by Studio D, the women's studio of the National Film Board of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Larry King</span> Murder in Oxnard, California

Lawrence Fobes King, also known as Latisha King, was a 15-year-old student at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard, California, who was shot twice by a fellow student, 14-year-old Brandon McInerney, and kept on life support for two days afterwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis-Georges Tin</span> French academic and activist

Louis-Georges Tin is a French academic, gay rights campaigner, and anti-racist activist. Tin is noted for initiating the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, now marked in over 130 countries across the world, and co-founding the Representative Council of Black Associations (CRAN).

<i>Spenser</i> (film series)

Joe Mantegna portrayed Robert B. Parker's detective "Spenser" in three TV films on the A&E cable network between 1999 and 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nadine Lustre</span> Filipino actress and singer (born 1993)

Nadine Alexis Paguia Lustre is a Filipino actress and singer. Known primarily for her performances in a variety of film genres, she rose to fame for playing the lead role in Diary ng Panget (2014). Her accolades include four FAMAS Awards, a Gawad Urian Awards, five Box Office Entertainment Awards and three Metro Manila Film Festival Awards, including nominations from MTV Europe Music Awards and Asian Academy Creative Awards. Preview magazine named her one of the 50 most influential personalities in 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welcome to Briarcliff</span> 1st episode of the 2nd season of American Horror Story

"Welcome to Briarcliff" is the first episode of the second season of the anthology television series American Horror Story, which premiered on October 17, 2012, on the cable network FX. In its original airing, the episode was watched by 3.85 million viewers, the largest audience of the franchise thus far, 2.8 million of which were from the 18–49 demographic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raziel Reid</span> Canadian writer (born 1990)

Raziel Reid is a Canadian writer whose debut young adult novel When Everything Feels Like the Movies won the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature at the 2014 Governor General's Awards. The novel, inspired in part by the 2008 murder of gay teenager Lawrence Fobes King, was published by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2014. Its launch was marked with a national book tour with Vivek Shraya, who was simultaneously promoting her new book She of the Mountains. In 2015, Reid became adjunct professor of Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults at the University of British Columbia.

<i>The Lego Batman Movie</i> 2017 film directed by Chris McKay

The Lego Batman Movie is a 2017 animated superhero comedy film, based on characters created by DC Comics and the Lego Batman toy line. It was directed by Chris McKay from a screenplay that is based on a Seth Grahame-Smith story. The film is a collaboration between production houses from the United States, Australia, and Denmark, the first spin-off in The Lego Movie franchise and the second installment overall. The film features Will Arnett reprising his role as Batman from The Lego Movie alongside Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes. The story follows Batman as he attempts to overcome his greatest fear while saving Gotham City from the Joker's latest scheme.

<i>The Dark Tower</i> (2017 film) 2017 American film by Nikolaj Arcel

The Dark Tower is a 2017 American neo-Western science fantasy action film directed and co-written by Nikolaj Arcel. Loosely based on Stephen King's novel series of the same name, the film stars Idris Elba as Roland Deschain, a gunslinger on a quest to protect the Dark Tower—a mythical structure which supports all realities—while Matthew McConaughey plays his nemesis Walter Padick, and Tom Taylor stars as Jake Chambers, a boy who becomes Roland's apprentice.

<i>Stargirl</i> (film) 2020 musical film by Julia Hart

Stargirl is a 2020 American jukebox musical romance film based on the 2000 novel of the same name by Jerry Spinelli that debuted on Disney+. The film explores the tense emotions, non-conformity and self-expression of teenagers in high school, and the exuberance of first love.

<i>Brahms: The Boy II</i> 2020 film by William Brent Bell

Brahms: The Boy II is a 2020 American supernatural horror film starring Katie Holmes, Ralph Ineson, Christopher Convery and Owain Yeoman. A sequel to the 2016 film The Boy, it is directed by William Brent Bell and written by Stacey Menear, the respective director and writer of the original film.

References

  1. 1 2 Staniforth, J.B. (29 December 2014). "Blazing the Trail". The Walrus. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. 1 2 Lederman, Marsha (6 March 2015). "When Everything Feels Like the Movies offers reflections of author Raziel Reid". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  3. Ellen DeGeneres on 15-year-old boy, Larry King, killed for being Gay on YouTube
  4. 1 2 "Newcomer Raziel Reid wins G.G." BC Booklook. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Keeler, Emily M. (27 January 2015). "On Raziel Reid, and when everything feels like a controversy". The National Post. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  6. Tichacek, Judi (22 October 2015). "Book review: When Everything Feels Like the Movies, by Raziel Reid". ALA: GLBT Reviews. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  7. confessionsofabooklover (5 March 2016). "When Everything Feels Like the Movies by Raziel Reid - review". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  8. Lilley, Brian (29 January 2015). "OPINION: Fifty shades of GG? No thanks". Toronto Sun. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  9. 1 2 Kay, Barbara (21 January 2015). "OPINION: Wasted tax dollars on a values-void novel". The National Post. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  10. 1 2 Reid, Raziel (28 January 2015). "Smells Like Teen Dispirit". The Walrus. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  11. 1 2 Flood, Alison (5 February 2015). "Canadian author condemns 'anti-gay' protest against his young-adult novel". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  12. 1 2 Darbyshire, Peter (28 January 2015). "Battle of the books turns into war of the words among authors". The Province. Retrieved 18 February 2017.
  13. "Government bans six books, including Asyraf Bakti's 'Punai', citing moral and socio-cultural risks". MalayMail . 7 January 2025. Retrieved 7 January 2025.
  14. "Canada Reads 2015 reveals finalists, panellists [sic]". CBC books. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 19 February 2017.

Reviews