Gay-themed films

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Gay-themed films are films that intentionally or otherwise set the religious right (in several different countries) into hissy fits over the inclusion of homosexual themes, characters or content. In some cases, these films were among the first in their market or genre to break taboos concerning the depiction same-sex relationships.

[edit] Different Types

In a broad sense, there are four reasons why films involve gay themes:

  1. To help open people's eyes to the life of same sex couples using intelligent arguments and never uses stereotypes
  2. To exploit it as sinful, evil, or harmful in some way. These are usually made by Conservatives trying to show the world how bad same-sex couples are
  3. To exploit in a sexual manner, usually used with lesbian couples. Often used in College/teen movies.
  4. To win some Oscars by depicting struggling sympathetic minorities (can cross over with reason #1, but not necessarily).

[edit] Popular Examples

  • Anders als die Andern (Different From the Others) (1919) is probably the first feature film to deal sympathetically with homosexuality. Produced in Weimar Republic Germany, the film, about two musicans who fall in love only to be beset by scandal and blackmail, dealt with "Paragraph 175" which criminalized homosexuality. When the Nazis came to power, the film was banned and all known copies were ordered destroyed. Only one known copy survived as a 50 minute segment (missing a final montage calling for the repeal of Paragraph 175) and has been restored.
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) with its overtly cross-dressing, and bisexual themes. Around this time glam rock brought the first real acceptability of gay identity in rock music (e.g. Bowie, Queen, Mott the Hoople, T-Rex), this film was arguably part of that trend but outlasted the fad to become a midnight cult classic.
  • Cruising (1980) was a box office hit in which a straight cop (Al Pacino) goes undercover in the leather/BDSM bar scene to track down a serial killer who is murdering gays, and winds up struggling with his own sexual orientation. The religious right hated this one because of its frank portrayal of homosexuality, one of the first mainstream films to do so. The "mainstream" LGBT activists didn't like it either, and some of the gay community actively protested it, because it focused on the most outré aspects of the leather scene in the manner of an exploitation film (treating it more as a freak show rather than attempting an honest portrayal) and because the serial killer was a gay art student. Controversy aside it was groundbreaking for its time in touching that subject matter at all. While some LGBTs consider the film homophobic, those who were around the NYC leather scene at the time have a more positive view of it as a near-documentary of the leather bars pre-AIDS. YMMV.
  • The Celluloid Closet (1995) is a documentary of the depictions of gays and lesbians in Hollywood cinema. Narrated by Lily Tomlin, the film includes clips from various films, from the silent era to 1995, as well as interviews with Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, Shirley MacLane, Harvey Firestein, Susan Sarandon, and Tony Curtis.
  • Fire (1996) is an Indian film that was the first Indian film to explicitly portray a homosexual relationship. The two main characters, both in unfulling arranged marriages, turn to each other for support and eventually become lovers and best friends. Hindu fundamentalists and loons in India were on a roll after the film was released. Though the intent of the demonstrations was to shut down the film, in actuality the reverse happen, and a new discourse on homosexuality arose from the ashes of the flame. [1]
  • But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) follows a young girl sent to a gay re-education camp. Has RuPaul as an ex-gay man.
  • Brokeback Mountain (2005) is about two cowboys who fall in love - with each other. The religious right was not happy with this one becoming a box office hit. One Utah theater chain pulled the film two hours before it was to debut upon learning it was about a same-sex relationship, while Focus on the Family and Concerned Women for America went haywire denouncing it. The religious right's denunciations only served to drum up public curiosity and make it an even bigger success.
  • Milk (2009) is a docudrama about the first openly gay person to get elected to the San Francisco board of supervisors, and a cop who ate too many Twinkies. Its release coincided with the California Proposition 8 vote, but its depiction of the 1978 Briggs Amendment being voted down after leading in the polls didn't seem to help Prop 8 meet a similar fate.
  • ParaNorman (2012) is a stop-motion animated film produced by Laika, it has a sub-plot about Norman's older sister, Courtney, falling in love with a likeable jock named Mitch, who is revealed to be gay in the last five minutes as a gag. Some Christians have even petitioned to change the rating of it to R.
  • Dallas Buyers Club (2013) focuses on the early days of AIDS, and has several characters, gay and straight alike, struggling with that disease. Matthew McConaughey plays Ron Woodroof, who is depicted as heterosexual in the film but who was likely bisexual in real life, a change which has come under criticism from some LGBT critics. Likewise with the film's trans character, a woman named Rayon. Nevertheless the film was successful with awards groups, winning two Oscars for McConaughey and Jared Leto (Rayon), and a third for makeup, suggesting that the "gay agenda" doesn't have as much power as is often thought.

[edit] Footnotes

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