Special Guest William Boyle // Sarahfest Bonus Episode

Welcome to another special Sarahfest bonus episode of Swerve South! In this episode, Theresa is joined by author William Boyle to discuss Vincente Minnelli’s 1956 “male-centric” melodrama, Tea and Sympathy. The film centers on Tom Robinson Lee, a sensitive young man who finds himself at odds with the hyper-masculine, conformist culture of his all-boys boarding school. Struggling to fit in with his classmates, Tom instead finds companionship with his headmaster’s wife, Laura, and over the course of the film, her role in Tom’s life evolves from maternal figure to romantic interest. Theresa and Bill dig into the film’s Lynchian qualities that reveal the violence and sordidness lying just beneath the surface of its idyllic 1950s New England setting. Often seen as a minor film in Minnelli’s oeuvre, this fascinating conversation pays homage to Tea and Sympathy’s searing indictment of toxic masculinity, tender exploration of identity, and covert depiction of queerness.