Review: Breakfast with Scot

Introduction
Breakfast with Scot stars Thomas Cavanagh as Eric, a former Canadian hockey player turned sports reporter, and Ben Shenkman as his lover Sam. When Scot’s(Noah Barnett) mother dies of an overdose he comes to live with Sam and Eric and turns their lives upside down. As Eric is in the closet at work he worries about Scot’s effeminate behavior outing him.

In time Eric and Sam grow attached to Scot and form a family with him until Eric’s brother Billy comes to take Scot back with him to Brazil.

The Good
It was nice to see a story that wasn’t all about coming out or finding love. I also found the backdrop of Canada to be a nice change of pace from the usual locals of New York, LA, and San Francisco.

I also liked how Sam and Eric were already an established couple. So there was none of that will they or won’t they bs.

I also thought Scot was absolutely adorable and was glad to see Eric and Sam learn to accept his Christmas Carols in October singing, make up wearing, alphabet pancake making self after trying to snuff out his free spirit

The Bad

I was rather disappointed by how much internalized homophobia Eric had. Yeah I get he was a hockey star and fears how the sports world would react to him coming out, but I disliked how he projected on to Scot all his insecurities and tried to change the boy’s behavior to suit his closeted self.

I also disliked how rater than confronting the kids at school who were making fun of Scot, Eric thought it was a good idea to teach him how to fight.

The Verdict

Overall I found this movie to be enjoyable and would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a heartfelt tale that isn’t your typical gay movie.

 

The Quest for the Perfect Body

When you look out on to the landscape what do you spot? Ads as far as the eye can see depicting attractive people. The message is clear. Look like this if you want to matter or buy this product to look attractive. It’s often cited that women put themselves through hell to conform to the ridiculous standards of beauty expected of them. But what about males?

For every ad featuring a model skinny as a stick you have one depicting guys as muscle bound sex machines. Moreover from the time males are older enough to comprehend it they are told to toughen up and walk it off if they get hurt.

And when it comes to sex thanks to porn males think if they don’t measure up they’re not a real man. Especially if they happen to gay or bisexual. The concept of masculinity in western society, and America in particularly, is rooted in the number of females a male has slept with. The higher the number the more status he has among his peer group.

However when a male expresses a interest in his peers beyond friendship he is often ostracized for not being a “real man,” because only women should want to sleep with men.

Spurned the gay/bi male turns the LGBTQ community where he hopes to find inclusion. Instead what he finds is a fragmented network of groups that exclude people on such arbitrary criteria as being too hairy, dark, feminine, or not buff enough.

Every aspect of him becomes another box to be ticked off to see if he’s worthy enough to join the group. Seeking refuge from this mean girl mentality he turns to porn. Here too he is made to feel inferior for not having gargantuan genitalia or being the right color.

Distraught he begins dieting and exercising to conform to the body fascism placed on him by the wider community. At first it becomes about losing those extra pounds, which morphs into fitting into those skinny jeans.

Pretty soon he is spending most of his time at the gym and engaging in unhealthy eating patterns such skipping meals or having a severely reduce caloric diet. He has entered the world of male eating disorders.

Not unlike females who suffer the same disorders, his quest to obtain the perfect body has left him with a warped view of his body. However unlike most females, his preferred method of purging that slice of cheese cake is extreme exercise. If left unchecked he could suffer sudden cardiac arrest due to malnutrition.

So what is the solution to this problem? Remind him he is in good shape and should only exercise to stay in shape, not to conform to someone else’s idea of beauty and masculinity. Only by absolving him of this need to please others will he find happiness within himself and go on to form healthy relations with others.