Who the hell is he to express so much anger in the world, espeacially when he runs out on his lover who is dying of AIDS? I'm glad Joe knocked him on his ass. He's just bitter, uncarrying, snobbish, insensitive, selfish and rude.
Joe may have supported characters that we not well liked by society but he was willing to look the other way and see the good in others.
I agree with that. I felt far more empathy for Joe than I did for Loius. I only disliked joe in the way he used his wife.
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I'm not sure if I hate Louis or if I hate the actor that plays Louis. Every scene he is in I just cringe and hope God strikes him down. I know it's a harsh assessment, but had the character been different, I would have liked Angels in America a LOT more. Such a pity that a near masterpiece is ruined for me because of such an annoying supporting character.
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Let's go the the beach tonight
with a bottle of wine
I've been cast as Louis in a production of Angels in America being performed this month, and I feel that by having the chance to sort of analyse the character and study him, I understand where he's coming from. I really like him, not one of the favourites, but still an interesting addition.
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
Louis always annoys me because he always thinks of himself first, and how things affect him. I agree he's very immature.
shareWell, there are people like Louis all over the place, so at least his character was authentic.
The only thing that bothered me about him was his voice. In some parts, he sounded like Bert from Sesame Street.
I'm sure you're only saying this because you've been cast as him dear. He's known as the weakest link in ANGELS IN AMERICA.
shareLouis is exactly the kind of guy I fall in love with and regret it. I think he has every right to his righteous political indignation and his anger at Joe for his hypocrisy, but of course what he does to Prior is absolutely unforgivable. In the end he does the right thing by asking Prior's forgiveness, and Prior does the right thing by resisting Louis's pleas to return to him. But I do tend to be harsher on Joe than many of the posts here are, so I admit my take is mostly subjective. Prior, on the other hand, is one of the more beautiful characters ever put on paper, stage or screen, and Spinella and Kirk both did splendid jobs.
"Footman...shine my shoe. Shine my shoe."
Joe had no hypocrisy.
He wouldn't be a hypocrite if he was the whipping boy who wrote those papers while he was having sex with men.
He would only be a hypocrite when he MADE those decisions and had sex with men. Which he didn't. He was a clerk. He collected the information.
As a gay man who grew up in the Southern Baptist church, Joe was possibly the least hypocritical character I could see.
Louis is hypocritical. Believe in freedom, but not freedom of thought and ideology.
Prior had some faults. How cynical he was? that is about it.
I find no fault in Joe however.
I LOVED all the characters (b/c it was acted SO WELL)!!! I thought Louis was charming, but yes- insecure! He was a chicken, but I'm not in his shoes, so don't know how I'd react!
shareYEEEEESSSS ..i really hated Louis!!!!!!!
he was so annoying, whiny, selfish and PATHETIC!!!
and all his political *beep* ..SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!
i was glad when Joe kicked his ass and also when Prior rejected him at the end..
and although Roy was a terrible person i actually liked him so much more than Louis
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I actually played Louis for an acting class, and I played Roy Cohn and Prior as well, and I do not hate Louis at all. What he did is justified. He could stay with Prior, the one he loves, and watch Prior die a slow and painful death when Prior won't go to the hospital to get help. Louis couldn't even touch him when he was bleeding because he could get AIDS as well. Though it may not have been the best thing to do, Louis is justified when he decides to leave Prior. Louis is selfish, and that is one of his flaws, but you must understand that he did not think he could deal with seeing the one he loved die in front of him, and he would have no way of helping him. He was childish and immature, but Prior can be the same, and quite often I might add.
I don't hate Louis, or Prior, or Joe, but I really do dislike Roy Cohn, and I think he is the sole character you are really supposed to hate.
zcid_litio47
What in the WORLD did you like about Roy???? He was a complete, HYPOCRITICAL, REPUBLIAN PIG-HEADED PRI*K from beginning to end. He was an A-HOLE who actually did deserve a slow, miserable death, in whatever form. You liked the fact that he put Ethel Rosenberg to death? That he castigated gays and homosexuals in his political policy, but was a closeted one himself??? What in the WORLD did you find appealing about that psychopath???? He was a far worse human being (if you can even call him one) than Louis.
I agree, I found Roy much more likable than Louise. Roy had no pretense, he was a selfish despicable man and he had no qualms about it. Lou judged people yet he could not live by the same principles he expected from others. I didn't even like the way he confronted Joe about Cohn, he was like a 5 year old throwing a tantrum.
sharePolitically, I agree with Louis, assuming he's a genuine Lefty. I don't know...he says he hates both Democrats and Republicans, but he doesn't say why (I just think that the Dems are often weak, and take too much crap from and coddle the Republicans). With all that said, I still can't stand Louis. He was mean and heartless. He should have never left Prior. He was a selfish, immature brat. Joe, while I HATE his politics and his writing his decisions, etc., that Louis eventually dug up, and while I HATE that he cheated on his wife, I also grant him the fact that he was a repressed homo his entire life with a bible-toting mother. So, at least he came out of the closet, finally, at the great expense of his marriage. But, you can't live such a big lie for so long...you only kill yourself and everyone else around you in the process. So, I did feel sorry for him as well. But Louis, I find very little redeeming quality in him, even when he asked for Prior's forgiveness...if I were Prior, I would not have taken him back.
shareI loved Louis. Of course if I knew him in real life I would want to kill him, but he was a great character. Extremely flawed.
shareI thought Louis was very annoying. One of those people who think the entire world is against him and keeps talking non-stop. He was my least favourite character. I really thought he'd end up being miserable, but I guess he did ok for himself. It was funny to see the others were really annoyed by him in the last scene.
Still, hands down for being around him, I couldn't bare listening to him for that long.
"You cannot find peace by avoiding life"
There's a difference between being extremely selfish and just not being extremely brave. Louis hates himself for what he does to Prior, aside from being a generally self-loathing person. He spends most of part 1 trying to punish himself for what he knew he was going to do as soon as he found out Prior was sick but still couldn't help doing. I was never able to hate him.
shareI think in the scene where he yells at Joe for his relationship with Roy Cohn, he is actually more angry at himself for dumping Prior for a relationship with Roy Cohn's "butt boy". Also, I think Louis WANTED Joe to hit him so he could come back to Prior with "visible scars". He later calls the incident "Expatiation for my sins".
shareYeah, I really disliked Louis. I wanted to like him, I tried to like him (I keep re-watching the film, trying not to loath Louis), but he made himself utterly unlikeable to me. Not only with how he treated Prior. Actually I can understand where he was coming from. And it's important that he DID come back, he DID repent, and he had to suffer the consequences of his actions (losing Prior). What really bothered me was the constant smug and arrogant political rants. I know too many people who do that in real life (from both main parties, mind you). Simply obnoxious. When Belize shut him down I wanted to cheer (though he got a little smug and ranty too, imho).
"Blending is the secret"
re: What really bothered me was the constant smug and arrogant political rants.
YES, but at the end, he is STILL AT IT, though I think (just imho) that by that point we (duh audience) were supposed to find it "cute" or "endearing." PJ O'Rourke has a term for people like Louis: "Mastercard Marxist," someone that's clearly benefited from the Evil Capitalist System that he now wants to see destroyed. I don't hate capitalism, but I hate the EXCESSES of capitalism...as for the "excesses" of Marxism, look at Cambodia (under Pol Pot) and North Korea, not to mention Albania and Romania.
Right. I thought a lesson would be learned after Belize went after him, but nope. No, still the same Louis, Authorial Avatar who practically becomes a Gary Stue for me.
(three years later I still dislike him)
"Blending is the secret"
re: Who/What means "Gary Stue"?
shareIt's the male form of a Mary Sue, though I guess more and more people are using the term "Mary Sue" regardless of gender.
In case you don't know what that is (not everyone does), it refers to a character the author thinks is perfect and rounded despite flaws which are glaring to the audience. These characters are often author-inserts.
"Blending is the secret"
re: In case you don't know what that is (not everyone does), it refers to a character the author thinks is perfect and rounded despite flaws which are glaring to the audience. These characters are often author-inserts.
Is that a playwright-ing type of term/device? (I'm more of a film guy myself.)
(Thanks!)
I think it comes from the youth culture (now in their 20s). People use it to critique characters in all mediums, though I think it originated amongst people who read fanfiction before spreading to other written entertainment and then visual media. I've used it in college courses to describe characters in books and on screen.
"Blending is the secret"
I just watched AIA and couldn't believe how horrid Louis was. He is a self-righteous hypocrite who preaches -- endlessly -- about justice and then behaves in the most inhumane way. What struck me was that I kept thinking he must be the character most like Tony Kushner, and I wondered if he intended him to be so unlikeable. The other thing that struck me was my disbelief that two men who seemed more mature and balanced would have fallen for him. Anyway, the others were all great and I loved the interplay between Pacino and Meryl . . .
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