From the Closet to the Street: LGBT media activism online

One of the most memorable parts of "The Celluloid Closet" for me were the scenes from the film "The Children's Hour" in which Shirley Maclaine's character is so disgusted with herself for being a lesbian that she ultimately ends her life. Susie Bright's discussion of this film was very enlightening because it showed how even movies like this, which seem silly now, can have negative impacts on the LGBT community by portraying being gay as something so revolting that death is the only redemption. While a direct link between Hollywood and hate crimes against the LGBT community would be a bit of a stretch, "The Celluloid Closet" made it perfectly clear that negative depictions of gay people in movies can shape the way people view themselves and others. "With few exceptions, the homosexual characters in movies are creepy misfits or campy caricatures" and this works to perpetuates the perception that gay people are something to be feared or pitied.

If "The Celluloid Closet" had been made in 2010 I think it's distribution would have been greatly affected by social networking and on-line media. These tools have been used to help spread news for specific groups of the LGBT community, such as twitter groups for news and information for the transgender community. They have also been used to spread videos to show the impact that the passage of Prop 8 has on families (shown below) and others in which straight and gay people speak about issues of equality and are able to show the world how stereotypes are harmful . I think that these forums and outlets would greatly improve the publicity of a film such as "The Celluloid Closet", which is important for people regardless of their sexual orientation to watch to understand the ways in which Hollywood has portrayed gay people in the past and how this can affect our attitudes and perceptions.