Basic Instinct: Fueling the Fire
The queerness in the movie Basic Instinct played a significant role in identifying the male paranoia Michael Douglas' character struggled with. When talking about how the movie portrayed queerness, I refer to the bisexuality seen in the film. In "The Margins of Pleasure: Female Monstrosity and Male Paranoia in Basic Instinct," Celestino Deleyto talks about the paranoia felt by men when they responds to a woman of intelligence. She goes on to say that Michael's character's paranoia is the cause rather than the effect of female monstrosity (Deleyto 2). Sharon Stone's character is the intelligent woman causing the internal struggle of male dominance that Michael's character experiences. Her bisexuality fueled the fire of the male paranoia. At times in the movie she blatantly chose a female sexual lover over him, making him feel secluded and powerless. When he does get involved with her sexually and her female lover, Roxy, confronts him, he portrays the male dominance when talking to her. As said in class, he infantizes her and basically taunts her about winning Sharon's sexual mojo. I think that Roxy's gender
gave him increased paranoia at first and then supplied a sweeter triumph when he did get to demonstrate his patriarchal power that was withheld for so long. The queerness of the movie was prominent and played a significant role in male paranoia.