Did anyone else feel that the limited homosexual portrayals seemed to more reflect the then current social/political climate regarding homosexuals? Specifically haunting to me was The Boys in the Band's screenwriter Mart Crowly's touching quote noting that all the characters in his movie were some form of him and that he did have low self-esteem and used self-depreciating humor to cover that because it reflected a time where "there were laws against being the core of one's being". In other words there were no "regular gays" in cinema where a viewer could watch and learn from someone like themselves because it was impossible to be a "regular gay" in real life. (years later, at the revival of the play on which the movie was based, he expressed a similar sentiment)
And that kind of sums up the Catch 22 Hollywood Approach to Storytelling. Hollywood doesn't have much interest in reflecting "real" life unless real life is somewhat spectacular: Most of our lives (regardless of sexual proclivities) aren't. But that homosexuality was represented (to a limited degree) in the context of the then political realities is kind of an amazing, if biased, record: the fifties hush hush (how incredible is the Rock Hudson meta observation - "Here is a gay man, pretending to be a straight man, pretending to be a gay man"), the sixties emerging liberation, the seventies perceived debauchery, the eighties extremes, the nineties emerging humanities. So now I wish someone would do a sequel in the same tone and with a similar historic approach: How has homosexuality been depicted in movies over the last 20 years? Especially given that many issues concerning homosexuals (most recently including Prop 8, Prop 8 again, DADT, ex-RNC Chair is Out, Duke College Republicans are also out) are being debated in the media. Deserving serious props (no pun intended) is Brian Moylan, one of the more astute pop culture writers on Gawker, who does a great job of promoting gay rights by "educating" straight folks to gay ways. And while I'm not sure what helps or hurts the cause, his piece on helping straights navigate a Gay Pride Parade is hilarious as is the Marc Jacobs is the Perfect Gay Poster Boy article. But as noted in the The Celluloid Closet, movies take a while to reflect the realities they are trying to imitate.
In terms of interpretation, I'm fascinated with Shirley MacLaine's and Susie Bright's take on MacLaine's portrayal of Martha Dobie in the 1961 movie The Children's Hour. In the scene Martha is devastated that her feeling for Karen (played by Audrey Hepburn) and the ensuing rumor to that effect have destroyed the school they founded and their respective reputations.
Reflecting on that scene and how it would be presented in the then present day, MacLaine claims that her character would have fought the then prejudices while Susie Bright, lesbian and self proclaimed "big pervert" relates to that self doubt and hatred. As Sophay points out, this is why organizations such as LYRIC are vital to helping folks better understand themselves and their environment.
I agree. I thought about it for a little while and I majority of the gay characters I thought about in film were portrayed as what they called the Sissy, or stereotypical "Gay" characters. It's funny we think we are becoming more progressive but that really hasn't changed too much.
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