Tuesday, March 7, 2017
"How One Movie Changed LGBT History"
To Piggyback off of Abby's post about the first outwardly gay disney character, I decided to do a little digging on US lesbian and gay film history. I came across this article about the film The Boys in The Band (1970), which was one of the first US films centered around gay protagonists. The film takes place in New York (very relevant to our recent discussion). I was particularly interested in how the film was received. Gay audiences seemed to be hesitant, as it apparently portrays negative stereotypes about gay people. On the other hand, the film "was still a turning point, not least for suggesting that homophobic oppression, rather than some sort of innate pathology, is responsible for making gay men so miserable" and ultimately condemns the consequences of the closet. I was curious on how the film was received by the rest of society, and where the film was shown!
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Thanks for this post Zoe! I also found this article (http://time.com/4275937/seek-mccartney-china-lgbt-gay-movie-rohmer/?iid=sr-link4) about China's first "gay themed movie." I found it surprising that two very different countries such as the United States and China did not differ greatly in the quantity of films portraying gay characters. I wonder if the film will be criticized for portraying the two men in a stereotypical fashion or if it will be a positive turning point.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about that film, but that's very interesting. So many films that portray queer characters end in tragedy, even if they also demonstrate that this tragedy and pain faced by these characters is caused by societal oppression. It must have felt validating in some ways for gay men at the time to see other gay men on screen, but it is also bittersweet that it has to be such a grim story. I am hopeful that there will be more positive portrayals of queer characters with happy endings. I think the historical lack of this representation has been, in part, due to the desire of straight audiences to see tragedy befall queer characters, as a positive outcome would be at odds with how they perceive and expect the lives of queer people to unfold.
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