"Swoon"

In the 1990s reading, I read about Queer Theory’s politics, its concern for expressing sexuality “as multiplicity and not as fixed or essentialized.” Queer theory encourages the reader or viewer to view the work “from a new and different angle.” In the first ten minutes, voiceovers of Leopold and Loeb reading letters and diary entries are paired with them showing affection, exchanging rings, having sex and planning their crimes; the text alone could be understood as straight, but when combined with these homosexual images the meaning changes.

Like Compulsion and Rope, Swoon emphasizes Leopold’s aloofness. The scenes of him in the fields alone, transfixed in the taxidermy shop looking at new specimens and looking grim in his room with his collection of dead birds all speak to his remoteness from the real world. Loeb, however, is playful, sociable and constantly grinning. Non-diegetic images of birds and non-diegetic sounds of flapping bird wings throughout the film suggest Leopold is the protagonist even though Loeb receives more attention and esteem in social settings. After Loeb’s death, Leopold’s screams are heard echoing down the hall as the camera works its way to Leopold’s cell. Leopold’s anguish is so great he must be physically subdued. Leopold’s story closes the film—he is the last thing the audience focuses on.