Well, I think the viewers at the time weren't very well-informed about what it meant to be gay and they didn't have very many -- if any -- other resources to help them. So they didn't have to be passive or stupid to get, at the very least, a slanted impression from the film. It's like if there is only ONE MOVIE about lesbians and it's Monster. I loved that movie but I don't know how I would have felt if it was most people's first look at lesbians.