Tin man gay
Jack Haley, 79, who played the shy and diffident Tin Woodman in the film classic "The Wizard of Oz," died yesterday at the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after a heart attack. Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman or the Tin Man, is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L.
Frank Baum. He first appeared in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. That comes from interpreting the three central male characters Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) as gay men revolving around a campy heroine (Judy Garland’s Dorothy). People have written numerous stories positing various theories about how "The Wizard" symbolizes gay life.
They cite the rainbow, which has become the universally recognized gay-pride flag. John Joseph Haley (August 10, - June 6, ), was the actor who played the part of the Tin Man and Hickory in MGM's film, The Wizard of Oz. Haley's show business career began in the s as a vaudeville performer. It begins with a painting won in a raffle: fifteen sunflowers, hung on the wall by a woman who believes that men and boys are capable of beautiful things.
And then there are two boys, Ellis and Michael, who are inseparable. And the boys become men, and then Annie walks into their lives, and it changes nothing and everything. Occasionally I read a book that reminds me why reading means so much to me. Each decade of my life is marked by a few books that touch me and leave an indelible mark on my heart.
It is that rare thing, perfect and hauntingly beautiful. It tells of Ellis and Michael, who meet as children, become inseparable, grow into men and into their lives comes Annie. It deals with not only the fluid nature of their love and friendships, but confronts the reader with the reality of what it meant to be gay, as the Aids epidemic tore the Gay community apart.
Of Michael a writer, who follows the path he was marked out for, but seems always to be destined to settle for less than the love he deserves and yearns for. The joy of Tin Man is the simple way it deals with love and identity. I fell in love with both Michael and Ellis, my heart ached for them and Alice, to the point it became one of only a handful of books to make me cry. They are there, because this is a story about love and friendship and the very thin line that divides the two, not just because a character is LGBT.
When reading books that contain Gay, lesbian or bi-sexual people, it often feels that they are shoe horned into a story to fill some vague quota, not so in Tin Man. Ellis, Michael and Anna are caught up in the complicated feelings that define human love and this should not separate and define them just because of their sexuality. Read it because it will break you and then heal you. Because it is a story about what it means to love and the joys of friendship.
Because boys and men are capable of beautiful things and that love is not defined by the narrow confines of heterosexuality. Sarah Winman was born in Illford, Essex. A British actress and author, her first novel When God Became A Rabbit became an international bestseller and won Winman several awards. August 23, Review Occasionally I read a book that reminds me why reading means so much to me.
Sarah Winman can be followed on Facebook.
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was the tin man poisoned
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