The production code may have come down but we still aren't mainstream

Originally published on www.biggaypictureshow.com

After the production code was brought in during the 1930s it became much harder to show several different things on the Hollywood Screen.

There were restrictions on the length of time a couple could be seen kissing, whether you could show a couple in bed together, even a scene from Disney’s Snow White had to be cut because she was shown in bed with the seven dwarfs, and then there was the restriction of showing homosexuals on screen due to what was know as sex perversion.

However after existing in Hollywood for over thirty years the final part of the code, which just happened to be the section concentrating on sex perversion, came down in 1968, finally allowing homosexual characters to be shown in Hollywood films.

There had been gay characters shown in films prior to 1968, but these films were from countries such as Italy and Great Britain, but with the dominance of the Hollywood film they hadn’t made enough of a global impact.

After the production code had fully come down gay people were finally being shown in some films, but we had a very odd portrayal as throughout the 1970s and 80s we were mainly shown in a negative light, usually as villains or victims.

As the 1990s came around gay people finally began to get a slightly better portrayal, that meaning that we weren’t necessarily tragic or villains, as we were now cast in the role of the ‘gay best friend’ in several Hollywood rom-coms, where we minced about helping our girl friends shop for the perfect shoes. Hello stereotype. But we were far from leading characters.

Over this period of time we were getting more of a leading role in some independent films such as My Own Private Idaho by Gus Van Sant, but these were seen by limited audiences and we were once again just missing out on the mainstream, and we weren’t leads in big blockbuster films.

It wasn’t until the 2000s with the release of Brokeback Mountain that we finally saw a mainstream Hollywood Blockbuster depict two gay men as the lead characters, alas they were very tragic figures but it was a true portrayal of the time. But since this we have still not seen many big Hollywood films featuring gay characters as leads.

Yes there was Milk and The Kids are Alright that both garnered much success, but this is only two where there could have been many more.

Maybe its Hollywood’s fear of not appealing to a big enough audience or maybe it is the fear of the actors to not be seen as gay and alienate a large section of their audiences, that we will never know.

But what we can see is, whilst these fears hover around behind the doors of Hollywood it looks as though we haven’t come tremendously far in the last 40 years, so maybe we will just have to wait another 40 and live with the fact that we do have exposure in many indie films these days. Every little counts after all.

Why Do We Have Gay Films?

Originally posted on www.biggaypictureshow.com

I’ve been wondering recently why when it comes to films do we have ‘gay films’ and not just films?

It is easy to see why some films get lumbered under this specific category of movie; it may be theme, especially if it’s dealing with LGBT issues, the leading actor or actress if they have a large gay following or are gay themselves. The director who may have a history of directing these so called ‘gay films’ or even the studio/distributor – Peccadillo is well known for its LGBT orientated movies.

So yes, there may be films that do cater more towards the gay community, which in itself is a good thing for gay people who sat and watched films for decades before someone was able to depict something well known to them. But it isn’t just gay people who enjoy these movies, the same way that gay people don’t just enjoy ‘gay movies.’ It appears that every movie with the slightest hint of a gay narrative is automatically classed as a gay movie, but you don’t see every other film in Hollywood that concentrates on the relationship between a man and woman classed as a straight movie, do you?

Films such as Brokeback Mountain and My Own Private Idaho are often considered to be LGBT films due to the storylines involved. In those cases it’s the gay romance between the two leading characters in Brokeback Mountain and the presence of gay hustlers within My Own Private Idaho.

But in the equal society that we now supposedly live in, where gay people are treated the same as straight people – with the same rights and the same representation in the media (supposedly, at least) – it is surprising that these films can’t be seen for what they are, before they are lumbered into the LGBT category. After all, Brokeback Mountain is the story of unrequited love that we see all the time in films and My Own Private Idaho is another narrative that we regularly see on the big screen and on television, a story about a young person coming of age. However, due to the presence of gay people within these narratives they automatically become ‘gay films.’ Any other film harbouring these narratives wouldn’t be labeled so quickly.

It feels as though it is about time that Hollywood wasn’t so black and white when it came to their movies – after all we’ve had colour for over 70 years. It’s about time that films like these stopped being categorised by the slight difference in their plotline and were recognised for the films that they truly are.

Review - She Monkeys

Originally published on www.biggaypictureshow.com

She Monkeys is an intriguing, dark and eerie tale of two girls engaged in a confusing underlying lesbian relationship set against the backdrop of the equestrian vaulting world. With a relationship that’s brimming with physical and psychological challenges, lead character Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser) does whatever it take to master the rules of this almost twisted game, failing to resist the temptation of taking control from Cassandra (Linda Molin).

The film was shot and is based in Sweden, but is subtitled in English for all of you out there who enjoy a good foreign language film, and this film is pretty special. You can see why it won a host of awards on the festival circuit over the last 12 months, even taking the Best Narrative Feature trophy at the Tribeca Film Festival as it grips you from beginning to end even if Swedish isn’t your mother tongue.

Overall the film put me in mind of a cross between the Hollywood film Black Swan and the more independent My Own Private Idaho, for a number of different reasons. The film has some of the same themes that were included in Black Swan, with the underlying lesbian relationship and the competitiveness of the two lead characters that ultimately makes them both appear a little psychotic, while the way it’s shot and set against the eerie music brings in a sense of Gus Van Sant’s Idaho.

Imagery in the film overall was brilliant as it helps maintain the film’s realism and gives it its overall feel of eeriness, which fits in perfectly with the script.

Despite the similarities to Black Swan’s competitive lesbian undertones, the film has another strong theme running through it – lost youth. This can be seen in the plot surrounding Emma and Cassandra, as Emma appears to want to remain young and not deal with the pressures of adulthood, such as sexuality and the torment of love and relationships. It can also be seen within the subplot of Emma’s younger sister Sara, whose longing for her much older cousin and the desire to wear a bikini gives us an insight into how children today are growing up too fast in an overly sexualised society.

The acting in the film is great all round, but the person who steals the show is definitely Isabella Lindqvist as Sara, whose powerful portrayal of a lost, confused and troubled little girl attempting to deal with the pressures of being a child but wanting to be an adult outshines everyone else. It makes you feel a lot of empathy towards the character and children experiencing such issues around the world.

Overall Verdict: This film is a highly enjoyable feature debut and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for something a little different, as it tackles themes that Hollywood just isn’t brave enough to explore.