crossposted from cohost: transcript of james somerton thread (12/11/2023)
I did a twitter thread about james somerton (and nick herrgott) but twitter is blocking all the URLs for some reason. so here's a transcript of the whole thing (while correcting a couple typos) with the links, except for the tweets in the middle that are about how the links don't show up on twitter lol.
Edit: I have now created a transcript of the entire video, that also includes some fact-checking, including the fact-checking I originally did in the thread
Edit from 9/30/24: transcript of the video on github
I wasn't sure if I should say anything about james somerton since it's been over a week since the controversy broke and most everything in a general sense has been said. however, I haven't seen anyone bring this up so I figured I would.
it was live-streamed and archived on youtube and is probably the only publicly available video of james talking at length left. youtube link
first, I wanted to go over some of the strange things they said that I think are either made up or lies?
james claims that denis villeneuve wanted arrival (2016) to "take place in ontario" and "make it through the canadian system so that he could employ canadians" (13:29) but that the federal government turned him down, so it had to become an american-funded movie set in the usa?
I can't find anything supporting this and in fact, while the movie is set in montana, it's filmed in quebec and employed a lot of canadians. villeneuve is very proud of this.
"Denis Villeneuve says Arrival's Oscar nods recognize Quebec film scene" article link
he also claims james cameron wanted to get funding for titanic and avatar ("both avatar movies") from the canadian government (12:05).
also it just doesn't add up to me. why would he go to canada to fund avatar, which was extremely expensive at the time and required multiple investors, including his own money?
"A Movie’s Budget Pops From the Screen (Published 2009)" article link
somerton also talk about some scottish guy who immigrated to ontario during the 18th/19th century and had a "twinkie boyfriend" who was a werewolf who killed cops? and that the library of toronto was research this but the socttish government made them stop?
(sorry, timestamp for that is 19:21). I couldn't find anything and have no idea if this is just obscure or bullshit. feels like it would at least pull up some unsourced tumblr post if it was at all true.
there are other things he says that are true (such as canada decriminalizing homosexuality in the 1960s while it took the usa until the 2000s to do the same) and other ones I can't sort out clearly (such as margaret atwood having trouble getting published in canada initially).
anyway this video has less than 1000 views (it was under 500 when my partner first showed it to me). but I think it's worth flagging that he (and his co-writer) was not above just saying whatever outside of youtube.
I also think it's worth pointing out how an event hosted by a public institution like this can build social capital and an air of legitimacy for his self-appointed queer historian reputation.
it feels like at a minimum, they took a spot during a pride event that could've gone to someone else who has like. integrity and decency.
also there's a (very short) negative dig at forrest gump (!!) from nick lol? (1:15:30)
finally maybe my view is tainted, but doing a talk titled "canadian queer identity" and spending 70% of the time talking about the american cultural hegemony and how hard it is to get movies made in canada seems. odd!
neither of them bring up much historical or current canadian lgbtq+ media besides a mention of gingersnaps and "elliot page going around and doing his documentary" (edit here to add that that paraphrased quote is from the time stamp 32:15)
like this letterboxd list seems to do a better job of highlighting canadian queer identity
"LGBT Canada" letterboxd list link
I won't say the talk itself is bad (besides the stuff that is 100% not true) but it doesn't feel especially relevant to what it should be about. and it feels strange in retrospect when somerton himself never specifically focused on canadian queer media on his channel
even after gaining more subscribers and fames. (wow I wonder if he was just mining topics people made discourse about on twitter 🤔🤔🤔)
anyway kind of hope more people, especially canadians, see this video so they can better fact check it than me.
wait I forgot to add (edit: to this QRT of a thread tweet link) that the closest thing I could find about this was some merchant involved in a sodomy accusation sex scandal. wikipedia page for "alexander wood (merchant)"
I might come back and comb through more of the video for parts I missed (such as a lot of the canada-specific legal stuff) but if anyone else spots any weirdness, let me know.
wait, I also want to add this video by jessie gender. it's a good analysis of how somerton didn't really care about and exploited the lgbtq+ community and other marginalized people "James Somerton & Community Solidarity" youtube link
I think it contextualizes how slimy his presence at a local pride event is. he wanted to posture himself as an authority and trustworthy figure while doing all of that.
(I don't blame the library for this, I have no idea what their logistics were at the time and they obviously didn't know. I feel bad that they were associated with him.)
wait he just took that from a horror novel??? from a gay canadian writer??? QRT of a reply link
I checked out the ebook for "red x" from the library and this is definitely it. I don't have the knowledge or access to resources to say if this historical exposition is accurate (google turns up nothing), but weird that neither of them just don't mention this book at all!
I realized I could check this easily by just looking up her bibliography and verifying the publishing companies of her early books. which were all canadian (primarily mcclelland and stewart). this includes the handmaid's tale. QRT of a reply link
update: somerton did not do any intensive historical research and plagiarized the plot of red x and passed it off as obscure canadian folklore?
QRT of a previous tweet in the thread
it's both more devastating and predictable that he didn't just make some bullshit up, but just stole other people's writing. for the nth time.
