The scene that impacted me most was when Armistead Maupin talks about first seeing Advise and Consent. He said that it gave him a glimpse of what might lie ahead for him. He commented on how it scared him because people had to remain in the closet. I had a similar experience (I was also a young virgin and still thought myself to be gay in theory) when I was seventeen. The first lesbian movie I had ever scene was Lost and Delirious. It is so depressing. Two girls are lovers in a boarding school and are found out by their peers. One runs off and starts dating the most grossly masculine meathead she can find and the other kills herself after failing to win back her love. Both were particularly gruesome prospects to me. I shared a similar dread with Maupin that being queer might end in suicide. It was difficult because even in the early 90's there were not a lot of positive portrayals of gays in movies or television. There were almost no portrayals of lesbians at all. I mean look what happened when Ellen first came out. Her show didn't last much longer. Her talk show is very tame and I feel she seems almost asexual. I know what a lot of narrators mean when they talk about trying to find glimpses, however brief, of ourselves in the dominant culture. It's getting better but I also live in San Francisco instead of the Floridian suburb I grew up in, so I have access to movies that definitely wouldn't screen in my mom's hood. Hollywood, please give me some hope. The gay cowboys sure didn't. One dies and the other is a sad, sad man.
Had the film been made in 2010, I could have gotten on BitTorrent sooner. It would have been easier to get it to the kids that need it: the ones growing up in suburbs and small towns with basic cable and Hollywood blockbusters, that, typically do not reflect back their existence. I'm sure it would have had a Facebook page counting down the days until its release, replete with raving fans and flaming trolls. More people would be aware of the film's release. It would have also had wider distribution because you could get it on Itunes, Netflix, or even via torrent.
These are a few of my favorite queer political sites.
The Queer Zine Archive Project
I did grow up in the 90's amidst zine/riot grrl culture.
The Queer Insurrection
Radical queers: assimilation is not liberation.
Bash Back!
More radical queers. My favorite kind.
Athens Boys Choir
Awesome transman musician.
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Thanks for posting those great websites for us. I would not have found those on my own and I think they are great. I agree with your comments about Ellen, and it bothers me that alternative sexuality sometimes is diminished to the point of asexuality so that the general public can "tolerate" it. It's disappointing but hopefully it will change.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your personal story, it helps contextualize what was being discussed in the film. I too came of age during the riot grrl scene and remember how any movie/book/band/zine that had gay positive images quickly spread like wildfire among the community because there were so few available in the mainstream. Great links also.
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