Boomer Logic 2: BOOMER’s Son

"Boomer Logic 2: BOOMER’s Son" is the 61st video in the MillenniaThinker series, following "Life of a Doomer".

## Plot

On a backstage set, Boomer is getting light makeup done by a makeup artist while discussing the homosexuality of another actor, and how big of "a scandal it would be if it turned out that such a man has got an Oscar". The artist asks him how Boomer would feel if his son turned out to be homosexual. Boomer rejects this idea, saying his son plays baseball, and that if his son were to be gay, he "would not have a son anymore".

Years pass, and Boomer is now on stage, accepting an Oscar. He thanks his family for their support and his team for their work. He then invites his son Alex and his partner Mark to the stage. Mark is asked by Boomer if he wants to say anything to Alex. Mark proposes to Alex, who accepts, and while the crowd cheers, Boomer expresses pride at being Alex's father. At that point, the whole scene is revealed to be a dream- a nightmare to Boomer, who wakes up from it, shaking. He goes into Alex's room (who is awake and on his phone, but hides it as Boomer walks in), and apologizes for disturbing him this late at night. Alex asks if Boomer has had a nightmare "again", and Bomer replies in the affirmative. After being asked what the nightmare was about, Boomer says that when you get older, your fears change from being afraid ghosts to being afraid of your loved ones hurting you. Alex asks if he hurt Boomer in his dream, and Boomer says no, that Alex could not hurt him, for Alex loves Boomer as much as Boomer loves Alex. Alex then worries about hurting Boomer unintentionally, in a scenario where it would not be up to Alex. Boomer says Alex could not hurt him because they are a family and they support each other.

Boomer and Alex say "goodnight" and "I love you" to each other. When Boomer leaves, Alex gets on his phone again, and is shown to be reading yaoi, homoerotic manga.

The ending quote reads, "When we keep silence in order to belong to the collective".

## Analysis

The video, while having a seemingly wholesome change of views by Boomer, could hide something after a deeper look at Boomer's feelings. From the start, the viewer gets a glance at how laughably conservative (not politically) Boomer's views are- a staple to a young mans childhood is having played baseball, as opposed to playing with dolls or something traditionally feminine. Boomer implies that he would disown Alex if he turned out to be gay. Years pass, and when he has his dream about Alex being gay, he wakes up shaking, and when speaking to Alex, he refers to it as a "nightmare", which has negative connotations. After talking with Alex after his dream, he says that he would love Alex no matter what, and says so with confidence. This could come from one of two points of view. On the one hand (keeping in mind the years passed since Boomer expressed anti-homosexual views, allowing for a change of view), Boomer knows Alex is gay, and pretends to not know, and suggests that being gay changes nothing. On the other hand, Boomer could be so confident that Alex is straight, that he can't phantom Alex possibly hurting him because the idea of him being gay is outlandish to him and not a possibility, so he simply brushes off the dream as impossible and smiles thinking his son would never come out as gay.

A detail about the conversation Alex and Boomer have is that, despie what Boomer says, he never tells Alex what his dream was about. This, coupled with the fact that he woke up shaking and referred to his dream as a nightmare, along with the fact that he said a fear of his is that his loved ones could hurt him (implying Alex as a gay person would hurt him), can serve as an argument that he really is against his son being homosexual, regardless of anything he's said that suggests contrary to the matter.

Something else worth noting is that the ending quote can apply to both Alex and Boomer. Boomer could keep silence about his sons sexuality out of fear of being impacted negatively in his career because of it, while Alex could keep silence to prevent any sort of outcasting. However, the quote states that silence is being kept by the parties involved "to belong to the collective", but in Alex and Boomers case, they are both more motivated by fear of the possible outcomes of not keeping silence.

## Tie-Ins

* This video is an indirect sequel to "Boomer Logic".

## Trivia

* The Dolby Theatre was shown to be the theatre where Boomer accepted his Oscar.
* The manga Alex was reading is called, "Awkward Silence".