I think Todd did a wonderful job, through Arthur, of showing how individuals are first and foremost inside their own heads, and not slotted into categories of "being." Arthur knows that to be a "poof" is somehow a bad thing (he ponders on it as he walks home), but he really doesn't even know what that means, he just knows he feels carried away when he looks at pictures of Curt and Brian.
I think it's perhaps hard now to remember (or know, for those born after, say 1975!) that the term "gay" was new, that being "queer" was underground, sinful, nasty, was considered a mental illness, and never talked about without derision in the kind of suburban setting where Arthur grew up. This was the general view in the culture (the mentally ill part anyway), not just a backwards political stance by bible-thumping conservatives.
Arthur's "That's me!, That's Me!" in front of the TV was not so much a proclamation to his parents as it was that "click" you get for yourself when all sorts of free-floating feelings and intuitions (not to mention hormones!) start to make sense.
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I think it's perhaps hard now to remember (or know, for those born after, say 1975!) that the term "gay" was new, that being "queer" was underground, sinful, nasty, was considered a mental illness, and never talked about without derision in the kind of suburban setting where Arthur grew up. This was the general view in the culture (the mentally ill part anyway), not just a backwards political stance by bible-thumping conservatives.
Arthur's "That's me!, That's Me!" in front of the TV was not so much a proclamation to his parents as it was that "click" you get for yourself when all sorts of free-floating feelings and intuitions (not to mention hormones!) start to make sense.