ron

Dare

ah, the fond memories of watching this in 2010 after searching "gay short film" on youtube

ron

Dare

“Aw, never been kissed?” I’m afraid that if you weren’t a teenager in the aughts when you first watched this, you’ll never get it. There was a dearth of readily available gay representation at the time. Hell, gay marriage wasn’t even legal yet. So if you wanted to see yourself, your best bet was to search up terms like: “gay short film” on youtube (which felt both simultaneously revelatory and a bit terrifying) and hope that you’d find something good. Of course, it being the 00s meant that you weren’t like to find something with a happy ending—which made sense to closeted me at the time. To paraphrase Siken: “You knew that a boy who likes boys is a dead boy, unless he keeps his mouth shut.” It wasn’t a time for happy endings because they felt impossible. But there’s an argument to be made that that’s exactly why we needed them then. Still, films the DARE were formative and definitely rewired my brain and showed me that this kind of love was possible and that other guys, somewhere out there, felt like I did. So for that I’m grateful and look back on this fondly.