Inside the Circle, Inside the Closet?

B-boy Culture and Male Homosocial Desire

Michael Meeder

MHL 598: Hip-Hop

Professor Mook
December 15, 2009
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Abstract

My detailed analysis of Marcy Garriott’s second feature length film, Inside the

Circle, follows my own reading of the cipher as a homosocial, homoerotically charged

space. The film follows three b-boys who are in the throes of discovering their emerging

sensualities, sexualities, sensibilities, and identities.

Usually thought of as a defiant culture, breaking and b-boys are at a loss when they

cross from male/male social bonds and boundaries and move into male/male romance,

love, or sexual interest. However, the boys find ways of meaningful, emotional, sweet,

and aggressive physical exchange, which seems to help them bond. The limitations of

these bonds are inscribed within the history of masculinity itself.

Building my main argument on the theoretical writings of Eve Sedgwick, Michel

Foucault, and other historic cultural waves of influence, I trace the cipher (a pseudo-

dynamic space where b-boys battle each other) back to the metaphor of the “battle” one

must throw himself into, seemingly against his own desires. This battle metaphor is how

one gains control over one’s self. The film’s tagline, “if you can hold yourself down in

battle, you can hold yourself down in life,” speaks to Foucault’s metaphor of the battle as

an internal struggle one must endure to be a man.

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Introduction

The cipher gives breakers an outlet to battle out their desires in a socially

acceptable arena where masculinity is performed, observed, and judged, both on a group

and one-on-one level. However, the deviant proclivities of the homosexual align

themselves with the defiance of breaking and b-boy culture. Breaking and hip-hop

condone graffiti and other actions of defiance. “I think b-boying, the definition is just

raw, it’s a defiance of dance, it’s a defiance of what you wanna see, defiance of

everything.” This is one of the first lines in the film, Inside the Circle.

“Defiance of everything,” is a hyperbole. The b-boys and breaking culture do not

defy heteronormativity and masculinity, for one. Breaking culture bases itself around

masculinity and appreciation of the male body, but deeper motivations are at work as

seen in the bonds that develop among crewmembers.

Although the cast of Inside the Circle is defiant of their cultural roots and to some

extent, society at large, homosexuality seems an unspeakable factor. Yet for homosexual

breakers, breaking is also a way to assert dominance and gain respect. The prospect of

winning in a battle may be tied to a homosexual breaker’s goal of overcoming potential

shame he feels in the face of a heterosexist society, with its many juridical and societal

means of scrutiny and punishment. “Coming out” may entail “disempowerment and

sheer pain.”1

As such, the cipher is a space where males can come together under the guise of

acceptable homosocial relations, but this bonding can potentially develop into

homosexual desire for a small percentage of b-boys. I argue that this is the scenario at
1
Eve Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990), 68.
 Meeder 4

play in Marcy Garriott’s award-winning2 documentary. This unspoken homosexual vibe

pulled me into the film, and my reactions are similar to the filmmaker’s own (first-hand)

experience with the boys:

I didn’t have the knowledge yet to interpret what exactly was happening. It really

pulled me in! I wanted to know what was happening. And you can’t learn that by

just having one conversation or shooting a competition once. You really do learn

by absorbing it and being around it for a long time. After a while, I understand

the context of the relationship between people. It’s a slow process but then you

have that day where you realize you know exactly what just transpired in a certain

exchange.3

Similar to Garriott, I too needed time to gauge the personalities of the b-boys in

her film before I experienced my realization, which I will describe below at length. I see

the cipher as a masculine space that fosters the development of a b-boy’s own personal

masculinity—gay or not gay. Romeo Navarro, the true poet of the film, sums up the

value of b-boying, “If you can hold yourself down in a battle, you can hold yourself down

in life.” Holding oneself down, a slang term for “stepping up” should not be read as a

negative metaphor like “holding myself back,” but this reading may serve as an ulterior

way of repressing one’s self in order to become a masculine, heterosexual male. I will

discuss the historical construction of masculinity and announce some positive and

negative ramifications of this construction, with regard to b-boy culture, (which, of

course, is a part of a larger culture as well). I will also discuss, necessarily then, the
2
Official acclaim includes the following: New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival 2008
(Audience Award: Best Film), SXSW Film Festival 2007 (Audience Award Winner), San Diego Film
Festival 2007 (Audience Award Winner). The film has been recently screened on MTV and MTV2 as well
as made its way around the Philippines in October of 2009.
3
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion, January 20, 2008,
http://stillinmotion.typepad.com/still_in_motion/2008/01/interview-marcy.html.
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ulterior reading of “holding one’s self down” as an expression that can be interpreted as

“staying in the closet.”

In the film, the cipher affords the most dedicated and victorious breakers to

overcome various adversities such as low-income backgrounds, broken homes, shame,

and low self-esteem. A b-boy’s hard work in his practice and dedication does indeed win

battles. The victory of holding one’s self down earns the b-boy self-esteem, money,

group and individual identity. I argue that homosocial bonds between two characters,

Josh and Omar, must have developed into homosexual desires one at least one of their

behalves. This led a rupture between the two best friends. This rift never fully repairs

itself, and my thesis explains one possibility: that Josh is a closeted homosexual and

Omar is undecided, at least in the film.

Ultimately, breaking becomes a vehicle the best b-boys to escape their rural roots,

and pursue international travel, success, and the means to relocate to a major urban

center. This path is analogous to that of any gay male, who seeks out the big city in order

to fully embrace himself as a homosexual. If “to embrace homosexuality…is to embrace

the city, [then] to embrace the city is still to embrace homosexuality.”4

I will be discussing the film Inside the Circle with regard to homosocial desire,

homosexuality, and the closet. I will ground the ideas I present on previous work on

sexuality by Michel Foucault and Eve Sedgwick, as well as historical gay work and

writers, namely Proust. Literary critic Julie Abraham’s Metropolitan Lovers has helped

me in the literary and cultural history of LGBT people and those who wrote about them:

Magnus Hirschfeld (d. 1935), a sex researcher and gay rights advocate, and Havelock

4
Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2009), xv.
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Ellis (d. 1939), a sexologist and physician.

Theoretical Background

Foucault traces the regulation of “the pleasures” in volume two of The History of

Sexuality: the use of pleasure. Literary data from Classical Antiquity amounts to the

theory that, Foucault theorizes, beginning with classical antiquity, a man needed to be

moderate in terms of indulging in sexual pleasures, or anything for that matter.

Moderateness was esteemed, as it led one to good things, namely masculinity and the

responsibility of bearing children. Being able to control one’s impulses and desires, in

essence being able to withstand temptations of excess, gave a man esteem that made him

fit to rule over others, or if not rule over others, then at least rule over himself and thus

function productively in the city. The opposite of this moderation—indulgences in the

flesh and other extravagances like sexual gratification, fancy dress, over-eating, and over-

sleeping, led to a passive, feminine identity. This was generally seen as a weak man, one

to not associate with socially. The reproductive responsibility and self-restrictions a man

followed allowed for the continuation of the city, and therefore being masculine was

considered to be of high priority in the face of petty, feminine indulgences and other

nonproductive pleasures.

The metaphor of the battle had, in Antiquity, developed to describe a man’s

relationship with his desires and pleasures, as “either according to the model of the

fighting soldier or the model of the wrestler in a match.”5 Battling against “the

pleasures,” was a way to think, in a man’s sensibility, as Foucault reminds us these

maxims were written for men by men. Let us think of this metaphor as we encounter the

boys of Inside the Circle. I will return to this battle metaphor later.
5
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 2 (New York: Random House, 1990), 67.
 Meeder 7

We must also address the metaphor of the closet. The closet is a Victorian

construction: a small room to hide the things one does not wish to visibly share—items

one is unable to dispose of, yet items that seemingly have no other place. The perfect

place to hide something secret. In contrast to this is the cipher, a place to bring energy

and defiance. Yet even within the cipher, the closet may be present—an invisible and

theoretical wall around the self-knowing homosexual. I believe this to be the trouble

with Josh, “the struggling screw-up,”6 and this is what I feel the film Inside the Circle has

shown yet cannot speak about directly. Foucault writes about silence, “silence itself—the

things one declines to say, or is forbidden to name, the discretion that is required between

different speakers—is less the absolute limit of discourse, than an element that functions

alongside the things said…There is not one but many silences, and they are an integral

part of the strategies that underlie and permeate discourses.”7

It’s not clear if any of the dancers in the film are actually gay. The understanding

of the word “homosexual” is, according to Sedgwick, “organized around a radical and

irreducible incoherence.”8 Sedgwick’s Epistemology of the Closet notes, “for many gay

people [the closet] is still the fundamental feature of social life.9 The closet functions not

only as an oppressive force affecting gay men and women, but anyone aware of another’s

secret.

As for Josh, the outcast, it remains to be seen one way or the other. For the risk of

coming out, Sedgwick warns, has been from a juridical standpoint, both punishable and

stigmatizing to the point where the “out” gay can lose his career, family, friends, house,
6
Member Reviews, Netflix: Inside the Circle, http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Inside_the_Circle/70104597?
trkid=190393.
7
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 1, (New York: Random House, 1990), 27.
8
Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet, 85.
9
Ibid., 68.
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and even his Constitutional rights.10 In this way, “[t]he closet is the defining structure for

gay oppression in this century.”11

Another descriptive term I have used without defining explicitly also comes from

Sedgwick. Her work Between Men defines homosocial as the “social bonds between

persons of the same sex,” and she defines desire as “the affective or social force, the

glue . . . that shapes an important relationship.”12 She goes on to explain that homosocial

bonds can take many forms, and that there is a “continuum between homosocial and

homosexual.”13 She also points out that the “glue” of desire can affect “an important

relationship” in positive or negative ways.14

Josh and Omar seem to fit this model, as their male-male bond becomes ruptured

before the filming had even begun, for unexplained reasons. I will return to this specific

rupture later, as the saga of Josh and Omar remains my strongest evidence of an escalated

homosocial relationship that perhaps was destroyed once it approached the level of

homosexual desire or love. Filmmaker Marcy Garriott noticed the homosocial aspects:

They’re very physical with one another and comfortable with that physicality,

which I really love. And people see it for what it is which is just a beautiful

bonding that happens between them. I’ve seen that universally in breaking

environments—it’s wonderful.15

This conception of male/male bonding also stems from Victorian society. Victorian

cultural norms encouraged men to develop intimate homosocial bonds with each other,

10
Sedgwick, Epistemology of the Closet, 67-75.
11
Ibid., 71.
12
Eve Sedgwick, Between Men, (New York: Columbia University Press, 1985), 1-2.
13
Ibid., 1.
14
Ibid., 2.
15
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
 Meeder 9

but at the same time, they were not permitted to cross over into feelings of homosexual

desire (romantic love).16 This can cause a great deal of stress in male relationships, and

Sedgwick posits how this stress gets directed into love triangles, or ciphers in the b-boy

culture. “Men can interact with each other as rivals and thus fulfill their homosocial

needs without appearing homosexual.”17

Before I saw this film, I honestly had not thought of ciphers as homosocial spaces

and places where male/male contact is at once acceptable and raw. The b-boys in the

film are just discovering themselves as sexual beings, as bodies of desire. “The B-boys

show so much love and affection towards one another. There are the macho stances and

all that, but there’s a lot of physical displays of affection, too.”18

It’s evident that the cipher is a homosocial space. What I seek to prove is the

possibility that Josh and Omar flirted too near the danger zone of being actively

homosexual with one another. B-boys at this age (mid teens) must be a bit confused

about new hormones and just might rather enter a cipher than come out of the closet.

Background: The B-Boys

Now that I have introduced the concepts, which I feel dominate the film (the

closet, the subjugation of “the pleasures” for the benefit of society—described and

enacted as if one were at battle, and the homosocial desire in the cipher), I will introduce

the film’s principal b-boys: Romeo, Josh, and Omar.

Romeo Navarro got into b-boying through graffiti. He got kicked out of all the

high schools in Austin. His mother called him crazy, but Romeo denies this accusation,

attributing his behavior to a rebel phase. He is defiant of following in his mother’s

16
Male Homosocial Desires in Thomas Hardy, http://www.csub.edu/~acaetano/mgen.htm.
17
Ibid.
18
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
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footsteps, wanting instead to follow “nobody’s footsteps [but his] dreams and [his]

footsteps.” He organizes B-Boy City, an annual battle in Austin, Texas. This gives

younger b-boys the chance to earn respect and prove themselves, as well as a way for

Romeo to make sure there are “youngsters coming up,” so that the culture can continue to

survive. “You can go anywhere in the world that you want to, but there’s so much to

discourage you. That’s what we’re givin, we’re givin’ hope,” says Romeo.

Romeo can be seen as the straight male figure, wanting to perpetuate the culture.

This is what drives him to annually organize B-Boy City. By giving hope, he realizes

that breaking culture is one way for youths of adverse backgrounds to accomplish

something meaningful, as well as the “hope” that these boys will “hold themselves down

in battle,” meaning: adhere to society’s maxims as the Ancient Greeks did mentioned in

the above.

Josh “Milky” Ayers is from Austin. When we meet him, he is already on

probation for assaulting a teacher at his high school. He admits he has a self-esteem

problem. The teacher must have said something insulting to Josh pertaining to his

intelligence, hence the book-throwing retaliation. The film clearly shows Josh to be in a

position of helplessness, coming from a broken home—his father’s example of violence

and jail, and then death—seem to be what Josh himself fears his own destiny to be. His

mother does not support Josh; she never attends any of the B-Boy City battles. Josh says

he has a lot of anger towards her for things she’s “always ridin’ [him] about.”

However, he smiles when he shows the camera his “guns [biceps].” He counts

dance as the only activity where people have given him positive attention. He’s not very

good at school, and his mother states that if he would only use the computer in his room,
 Meeder 11

that “he would get to where he wants to go.” He defies the stereotype that white people

don’t have rhythm. His good friend Omar, also appreciates Josh as a dancer and says,

“he [Josh] is just a great break-dancer.” And, Josh says of Omar, “He’s [Omar’s] always

in my heart, my inspiration.”

At the film’s beginning, Omar Davila lives in the rural outskirts of Austin with his

working class immigrant parents who are from Mexico. “I want to push myself because I

wanna be somewhere where I’m not,” he says vaguely. Omar used to be in the same

crew with Josh. Omar describes the way he and Josh would practice together with a

video camera, watching tapes of themselves “over and over all the time.” This method

helps the boys achieve correct positioning in moments where their limbs may be bent

instead of straight. Josh spins clockwise and Omar counter-clockwise. Omar says, “It’s

kinda like watching a mirror of yourself, like we do everything the opposite of each

other.”

In the literary world, Proust describes his homosexuals as “pursuing a perilous

intimacy, “seeking out those who are most directly their opposite, who do not want their

company, forgiving their rebuffs, enraptured by their condescension.”19 This speaks to

the relationship between Omar and Josh, to which I will return below. Omar rebuffs Josh

continually in the cipher, and Josh plays almost exactly to Proust’s character type. He

forgives Omar’s rebuffs continually, as we shall see.

The rest of Josh’s crew call themselves the Masterz of Mayhem. This young

group of boys from the valley, a rural area above the Rio Grande in the southern tip of

Texas, has to drive five hours to Austin just to battle. When the boys practice, which is

19
Marcel Proust, Cities of the Plain, vol. 4 of Remembrance of Things Past, trans. C. K. Scott Moncrieff
(1921; repr., New York: Vintage, 1981), 638-39, quoted in Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers, 106.
 Meeder 12

sometimes five hours a day, their shirts come off, or fall down during moves that place

the dancer’s body upside-down. Little moments like this, of exposed skin, is akin to a

strip tease. Some of the boys who are not as fit or uncomfortable showing their skin wear

two shirts or tuck them in, to avoid the aforementioned torso flashing and the possible

gay associations this action may inscribe. The Masterz admire Josh’s talent, but point out

their queer reading of him, saying, “something’s wrong with [him]. Just pull out the holy

water and--” one of them gestures throwing holy water on Josh.

Displaying and Viewing the Male Body

In the film, Omar and other b-boys routinely mime the hyperbolic sizes of their

genitals, even going so far as to strip down to their underwear, in both a display of

dominance and masculinity, which both can be seen as attractive to homosexuals in the

crowd or even in the crew.

Many of the b-boys simply love to dance, and those who achieve good standing

and have developed an impressive repertoire of power moves and freezes make them all

the more attractive to the opposite sex. The freeze is a breaking move where the dancer

stops in motion, “as if someone was taking their picture” says Omar. Often during a

freeze, the male dancer’s shirt will fall down (as they are often upside down), and this

moment of exhibition can be read as a willing, yet fleeting, moment of showing off.

As I have discussed with Fabel, one need not be gay to vogue and equivocally,

one need not be straight to break.20 Breaking, a new sport, is a way to get girls, and Fabel

agrees with this motivation for breakers. One on the Masterz hears of a crewmember’s

interest in a girl and offer, “Instead of taking her to prom, you should take her to B-Boy

[City] Ten!” The Masterz are indeed interested in girls, all except for Josh. Josh and
20
Jorge “PopMaster Fabel” Pabon, interview by the author, ASU, October 3, 2009.
 Meeder 13

Omar who are at the top of their game, do not pursue girls in the film.

Plot: Act I

The young Masterz crew drives up to stay at Josh’s place for B-Boy City 9. Josh

has five young, attractive boys as guests. Although Josh is seen as an outsider to the

group, the Masterz need him and his talents.

B-boy city 9 occurs during the first days of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Josh is in

jail now (not prison) after free riding in a go-kart. So the Masterz of Mayhem miss him.

“He’s not our race, but he’s our other brother,” says one. (Josh is Caucasian (white)

while the Masterz are Hispanic and Christian). Romeo describes the Masterz as

“countrified.” However, the Masterz win the battle: the prize is $1,000.00. Romeo adds,

“and if you’re bored [in the country], you’re gunna go cause trouble, or create. And they

create. Those b-boys are poor. They ride fifteen of them in their van, starve for two

days, for something they love...and that’s deep.”

Josh is out of jail on bond now. The Masterz have to deal with Josh’s status as

loose cannon. Josh is frequently thinking of his crew as a motivational factor to stay out

of trouble. Unfortunately, Josh and his mother get into a fight and she kicks him out of

his (her) house. He apparently hit her in the face after she grabbed his throat. He flees

his home before the cops can arrive, but he is charged with domestic assault and now has

no place to lodge.

Meanwhile, Omar (who is 17) seems to have a good relationship with his mother,

His life seems to be taking him along the lines he desires. He’s a pro b-boy. Every

weekend he’s flying out of town. Now to L.A., Omar is making a little money here and

there. He notes his progress, “Just gotta keep working at it, and see where it takes me.”
 Meeder 14

Battle of the Alamo

Josh’s crew, Masterz of Mayhem, battles Omar’s crew, the Jive Turkeys.

“There’s mad tension between Josh and Omar,” someone says, probably Romeo. Josh

gets his hat taken away (for the second time in the film) which is a tactic that others

deliberately employ to make him mad, which is known to mess with his concentration,

and this affects his performance in the cipher. Josh retaliates by miming, “I love you,” as

he explains that this may throw his opponent off. The subtext now comes into view:

emotions are a weapon—“love” a way to scare an opponent, knock him off his balance.

This also relates directly to Foucault’s oft-cited metaphor of man battling his desires, his

temptations. Well here, it seems history is repeating itself, or that the cipher can bring

more than a competition of skill to the fore, but also homosocial anxieties, desires, and

heartbreak. Filmmaker Marcy Garriott reflects:

I felt the intensity of it. It felt very emotional; it felt very intense. But I didn’t

know how to interpret it. It was very intriguing to me because I knew they were

expressing something far deeper than just an athletic competition would bring out,

or a performance.21

My belief is that Josh is repeating the logic Omar used on him when the rift occurred: he

makes a mockery of love. Only his “I love you” gesture is only a pseudo-sarcastic action.

In reality, it may be an admission of pain, yet still a way of expressing himself

“acceptably.”

Josh performs well in the Battle of the Alamo, but afterwards, Omar knocks

Josh’s hat off again. In narration, Josh says that he not scared of anyone. “The only one

[he’s] scared of is [himself].” This reminds me of Foucault’s statement: “[being]

21
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
 Meeder 15

defeated by oneself is the most shameful…the worst of all defeats.”22

Omar gets forcibly removed from the battle, exposed as the one causing the

trouble, even when he may not have taken off Josh’s hat the first time. Perhaps he

directed a crewmember to. Josh says, “even though we’re not a unit anymore, I still have

his back,” (recalling Proust’s gay characters described above), but Josh decides not to

intervene so that he doesn’t implicate himself with Omar.

Josh was looking for Omar after the battle on camera, and Omar comes up from

behind and gives Josh a sweaty hug. Josh admits, “Damn that felt good, y’know, he’s my

brother, y’know.”

Omar says he has a “lotta respect for Josh,” and when he gave him that hug, “it

was like, you know, you’re my boy, I’m your boy, and that’s not gunna change for

forever.” Returning from the embrace, Josh looks into the camera, and with his finger, he

mimes a tear coming down his cheek.

Act II

Josh’s only stable identity revolves around his status as a b-boy. He moves from

city to city. Having no home, he must squat at any place he can find. Thankfully, he has

enough friends to avoid the streets. As Abraham points out, “the figure of the homosexual

[is] simultaneously a social outcast and a weaver of social webs; but the groups they are

now supporting are not their own [italics added].”23 Perhaps Josh thinks he’s “a bad

person” because he’s not helping his own group—homosexuals.

Meanwhile, an organizer from the Netherlands flies Omar to Europe for an

international battle. Omar is still nervous, “even though it’s like my hundredth time doin’

22
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 2, 69.
23
Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers, 108.
 Meeder 16

this, it’s still like, wow.” This placeless shock—the unknown—parallels Josh’s fears.

Both boys are the same age, and part of the same subculture, so parallels like this can be

read any which way. This sense of placelessness, however, is also present in queer

history, as evidenced by the need of gays and lesbians to create safe spaces and places of

their own (as public space is hetero-dominant).24

Omar arrives in Rotterdam. The organizer for this particular event, “International

B-boy Competition” comes to know Omar and his impressive tricks with airflares over

the Web at Bboyworld.25 Omar performs and pleases the crowd. “That day Omar gained

a bunch of new fans,” says the organizer. “A lotta kids started dancing like Omar,” he

adds, showing the role-model status Omar has reached, at least abroad. Omar begins

dancing without a shirt on, and he then pushes his pants down to his ankles, exposing his

legs and a pair of white boxers. Next, he does a move by putting his legs in the air and

punching between his legs—through a triangle formed by his legs and the pants that link

his two ankles together. Having accomplished this difficult, brazen move, he struts

around, and mimes that he’s holding his genitals: a display of masculine sexuality (or

dominance, or both).

Back in Austin, Josh is meeting with a guidance counselor who gives him legal

advice. Josh says he regards himself as a “bad person.” His guidance counselor says to

him: “You’re not a bad person, you’re not going to jail. I believe that. Do you believe

that you’re not a bad person?” It appears Josh has been having dreams where the cops

catch him and lock him up.

Josh then visits his crew in the valley. The Masterz admit: “not only has he [Josh]

24
See Gordon Brent Ingram and others, eds., Queers in Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of
Resistance (Washington: Bay Press, 1997).
25
See Bboyworld, http://bboyworld.com.
 Meeder 17

made our crew stronger in dancing, but he’s made our crew a lot stronger in the bond.”

This statement demonstrates that Josh isn’t a bad person at all. The outlet Josh seeks is

productive because, “[b]y nature, homosexuals are eminent[ly] social beings, striving

hard to grow and be productive while making efforts to participate in the advancement

and development of the whole by working together with others.”26 Anyone who watches

the film or knows Josh might easily observe his willingness to participate with others.

B-Boy City 10 approaches. Josh is sentenced to two years of probation, but he

fears he may end up failing this. Probation can be seen as a tricky test to some offenders,

who often take the jail time offered in lieu of dragging out a longer sentence of

probation.27 However, Josh doesn’t take the jail time they offer because he wants to be

around his crew. He missed the last B-Boy City; he was locked up for joy riding the golf

cart. “But more than winning,” he says, “I just wanna be around them [the Masterz].”

His sentimentality becomes a statement of sincerity when he gets a tattoo

“Masterz of Mayhem” across his belly. He lifts his shirt for all the boys to see. The boys

approve and make jokes about how tough it’ll make him seem in prison. “It’s family,” he

says.

The battle, organized by Romeo, happens that evening. “It feels good to dance,”

Josh says. “Keeps me positive, keeps my mind from breaking down all the way.” The

judges liked the “one-on-one rawness,” of the Masterz more than “the routine” of the

other crew, explains b-girl Lucky. The judged then decide the battle goes to the Masterz

of Mayhem. However, this upsets several of the other crews, who feel this decision is

26
Magnus Hirschfeld, The Homosexuality of Men and Women, trans. Michael A. Lombardi-Nash (1913;
repr., Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus, 2000), 725, quoted in Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers, 107.
27
The rules of probation state if the offender violates any of the terms of his supervision, even on the last
day of the suspended sentence, that the offender can be made to serve out the original prison sentence.
 Meeder 18

unfair and who then threaten Romeo that they will not attend future B-Boy City battles.

Josh’s guidance counselor connects him with a job teaching kids to break in the

AmeriCorps “Youth Advocates” program in Houston. “Days go by, months go by,

months go by,” says Josh, while he continues to make money and pay his legal fees.

Omar continues to travel, battling in Barcelona, Paris, Russia, and Mexico City.

Act III

Josh loses his housing again in Houston and receives a job offer to dance in

Florida. He visits Romeo. Romeo has grown into the role of mentor and counselor. He

holds himself down in a cool, calm, and dispassionate demeanor. However, his passion

for B-Boy City and the culture remains evident.

Josh moves to Orlando for the dance gig. Once there, he likes his new life,

saying, “it’s a new place, I have no drama here.” The new lifestyle he is describing has

been a positive influence, and he’s earned it. “it’s [moving for work] what’s kept me

alive; it’s what’s kept me from doing much worse things.”

Omar and his father have been arguing a lot, since Omar has decided not to attend

college. Omar moves out of his parents’ home, too. He leaves for Berlin the next day.

Josh tries to convince the camera and himself that he has resolved his relationship

with Omar. “Me and Omar, we’re straight [alright]. We talk on the phone every now

and then…it’s just not the same. I don’t think in his heart it could ever be the same. I

don’t think it could ever be the same in my heart.” This level of emotion is not in

keeping with the usually reserved attitude of masculinity.

Similarly, Omar continues to think of Josh. “I can imagine he’s going through a

lot, too.” Although they are never together, the boys seem to be holding an imaginary
 Meeder 19

conversation, perhaps mediated by the filmmaker. Josh predicts, “Over time, maybe

we’ll be working together. If I see him over seas getting tag-teamed by a bunch of

French guys, I’ll jump in and battle them while he takes a rest. I’ll always have his

back.”

Josh returns to Austin. Florida has no resources to take him into their probation

system, and for now he is in Austin, spending time with Romeo. Romeo asks, “Do you

miss Florida?” Josh does, “I’ve got my own bed, my own bathroom.” Then Josh pauses,

and adds, “Have a girlfriend.” Romeo’s interest picks up, “You do?” Josh hesitantly

reveals, “Well, actually, um she lives in Orlando. I haven’t met her in person…it’s not

official yet, but I don’t know what else to say.” Romeo can’t hold in his laughter. Josh

says he’s sent her lots of his pictures, and that they web cam together.

Resolving our fears that Josh may not be able to work professionally in Florida

due to legal constraints, the judge allows Josh to return to Florida and report to his Austin

probation officer via U.S. mail. B-Boy City 11 arrives. “Everybody was showin’ love,”

says one of the Masterz of Mayhem. “Hip-hop is love,” he adds. So, we have gone from

defiance to love. Or perhaps love comes from a shared value of defiance. Maybe there is

room after all for brotherly love to exist peacefully in these homosocial, sexualized

spaces of masculinity. At that point, the film ends.

The film’s epilogue tells us that Josh successfully completed probation in the fall

of 2005. “He has won breaking events in Switzerland and Luxembourg and is pursuing a

dance career in L.A.” Additionally, Romeo still promotes events in Austin, and B-Boy

city still takes places every spring in Austin.

Afterthoughts
 Meeder 20

Now that I have discussed the film, I would like to talk about the filmmaker, Marcy

Garriott. Inside the Circle is Garriott’s second feature, and she has taken the skills and

confidence gained from her first feature documentary to the next level. Working mostly

by herself, Marcy shot the film, which cut out the interloping presence of a cameraman.

This allowed her to become more intimately connected with her subjects: the Masterz of

Mayhem, Romeo, Omar, and Josh. She also edited the film herself, using only assistants.

I am forever happy that she does not accuse her subjects of homosexuality, and

that my own reading of the film is entirely debatable. I am equally relieved that

interviews with her do not disclose what she privately thinks about the boys’ sexuality.

For, outing them would destroy both the film and everything the boys have going for

them.28

The Battle Revisited

With young men, there’s this irresistible combination of vulnerability and

sweetness, even, mixed with the part where there’s a need to prove themselves in

a masculine and showy way. The fact that those two things co-exist at the same

time in the same person is just fascinating and very touching to me. They are just

trying to find their way in the world.29\

The boys battling in the cipher are also battling against their selves: “This combative

relationship with adversaries was also an agonistic relationship with oneself.” “The

battle to be fought, the victory to be won, the defeat that one risked suffering—these were

processes and events that took place between one and oneself…the adversaries the

individual had to combat were not just within him or close by; they were part of him.”30
28
Out of respect, I do not wish to have this paper published or publicly shared.
29
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
30
Michel Foucault, The History of Sexuality, vol. 2, 67.
 Meeder 21

Battling against the desires of the flesh might be the impetus for the b-boys to

“prove themselves in a masculine and showy way.”31 Another reason to battle is to

defend one’s alliance with the dominant culture, like heterosexuality, an idea that one

aligns himself with by challenging other (straight) males.

Proust “avoided any acknowledgement of his sexuality, although it was known in

his circle. He even challenged to duels people who dared to hint at his deviance.”32 This

is curious, as if physical battles are a way to claim honor and demand respect, even in the

face of one’s sexuality being called out.

Omar speaks to the Foucault theory that one must conquer all of “the pleasures,”

so that he may be the one in control. “There are so many aspects of this dance to be

conquered, why not conquer them all?” Omar asks.

Josh and Omar Revisited

The filmmaker’s knack for honing in on Omar and Josh’s relationship made the

film successful in its message. But why? Garriott’s instinct is remarkable:

Towards the end of that two years, I could tell that the most interesting dynamic

was between Josh and Omar, but I didn’t know at that time what was going to end

up happening with them.33

And what does the filmmaker, Marcy Garriott, mean when she says, “I didn’t know at

that time what was going to end up…with them”? Was she, too, hoping for a reunion, for

31
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
32
See Edmund White, Marcel Proust (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999) quoted in Julie Abraham,
Metropolitan Lovers (Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 2009), 100.
33
“Interview: Marcy Garriott, Director INSIDE THE CIRCLE,” Still in Motion.
 Meeder 22

their wound to heal? I still stand by my belief that the two were homo-romantically

inclined towards one another. Proust proposes that homosexuals are “sons without a

mother” (Josh) “friends without friendship” (the two of them), and “lovers who are

almost precluded from the possibility of…love.”34

Josh and Omar seem to have control over their passions, therefore Josh is allowed

back into society after brief jail time, and does not screw up his probation. Josh lands a

job dancing (breaking) and relocates to Los Angeles. Breaking is the vehicle that made

this move (from rural to urban) possible—a move that is similarly desired by many other

rural breakers. To escape the confines of one’s rural hometown and to travel, even live,

instead among his brethren in a densely populous city has been a repeating theme I’ve

noticed among breakers.

One look at Omar’s MySpace, and I see now that he is leading the life of a

heterosexual: “I have met a wonderful woman and she has been a blessing in my life! I

feel I made an impact on the B-boy scene, but now I get to leave my impact on another

being, flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood!” As Omar might have developed

homosexual tendencies with Josh, he seems to have since “reformed” himself:

I've extended my understanding of my belief in Christ and try my best to walk in

the straight and narrow path. As one saying goes, ‘well I'm not where I need to be,

but thank God I'm not where I used to be!’ I understand and look at life

differently than I once used to look at it. The Lord has opened my eyes and I have

come to realize that he has authority over everything. I try my best to carry out his

will on a daily basis. He is the potter and I am the clay. I know what he has

34
Marcel Proust, Cities of the Plain, vol. 4 of Remembrance of Things Past, trans. C. K. Scott Moncrieff
(1921; repr., New York: Vintage, 1981), 2:637, 638, quoted in Julie Abraham, Metropolitan Lovers, 101.
 Meeder 23

planned for me is much greater than anything I could ever achieve on my own.35

As he states, he has changed. His current mood on My Space is “DADDY then

BBOY.”36 So for now, Omar is clinging to a heterosexual lifestyle. This is fine by me,

but I worry for those who may be truly gay.

I am proud of Josh’s accomplishment, his successfully completing the probation

sentence, and who knows what’s in store for him. Josh’s my space page has very

recently posted photos of him (shirtless, professional photos, showing him sporting a new

cropped haircut, and plunging v-neck tee-shirt). Apparently he is touring with Forgive as

an opening act, dancing. Ayers can be seen in several commercials, various television

appearances including the Ellen DeGeneres Show.”37 Los Angeles seems to be working

out for him, so the film really does have a happy ending. After all, these are real people

that Garriott spent four years following.

Conclusion

I have offered my reading of the cipher as a sexualized space of masculinity and

backed this up with Sedgwick’s term homosocial, which implies a continuum between

homosocial and homosexual definitions. Through my analysis of Inside the Circle, I

have shown how this continuum exists not only between Omar and Josh, but potentially

any of the males in the cipher, and similarly, any of the males watching the males in the

cipher. The age group of these young men is a delicate time in the development of their

sexual identity, which Sedgwick argues, is based on both identifying with the homo- and

heterosexual binaries.
35
“OmarJiveTurkeysMZK,” MySpace, http://www.myspace.com/omarjiveturkeys.
36
Ibid.
37
Joshua Ayers, MySpace, http://www.myspace.com/lechegringo.
 Meeder 24

Foucault has theorized masculinity as having originated in Classical Antiquity as

the ability to refrain from indulgences, to not give in to “the pleasures” of the flesh, and

to be moderate. He likens this as a battle within one’s psyche, a battle with his

adversaries as well as parts of himself. In this light, battling in the cipher is both an

internal, individual battle as well as an external battle between crews. The victor claims

his masculinity, even in the face of being called a queer, as with Proust. It seems the

importance of battling can teach one how to “hold himself” and how to “hold himself

down.” Whether this reads as a positive-sounding or self-controlling practice, or both, is

up to the reader.

Bibliography

Abraham, Julie. Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality of Cities. Minnesota:

University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

Ayers, Joshua. MySpace. http://www.myspace.com/lechegringo.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 1, An Introduction. New York: Random
House, 1990.

Foucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 2, The Use of Pleasure. New York:
Random House, 1990.

Hirschfeld, Magnus. The Homosexuality of Men and Women. Translated by Michael A.

Lombardi-Nash. Amherst, NY: Prometheus, 2000.

Ingram, Gordon Brent, Anne-Marie Bouthillette, and Yolanda Retter, eds., Queers in
 Meeder 25

Space: Communities, Public Places, Sites of Resistance. Washington: Bay Press,

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“OmarJiveTurkeysMZK,” MySpace. http://www.myspace.com/omarjiveturkeys.

Proust, Marcel. Cities of the Plain. Vol. 4 of Remembrance of Things Past. Translated by
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Pabon, Jorge “PopMaster Fabel.” Interview by the author. ASU, October 3, 2009.

Sedgwick, Eve. Between Men. New York: Columbia University Press, 1985.

Sedgwick, Eve. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,
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