Gays in film, Richard Dyer

This article was written by Richard Dyer in 1978 for the 18th edition of Jump Cut. although some of the ideas are outdated, the main message put forward is important as they can still be aligned to gay cinema today.


Gays have "insisted on the centrality of the media as a carrier, reinforcer or shaper of [their] oppression." - this is important as it says that they blame the way in which they are represented and treated by the way in which the media shows and represents gay people. however he disproves this by saying that the media is only "one of the instruments of oppression"

Gay characters and themes have all been formed through straight ideas and ideologies. "without seeing that such ideas and ideals are straight ones" - this is important as it instantly tells us that no matter how "real" a gay film is, it is most likely made through the eyes of a straight person and so only has as much insight as someone who is watching it from the outside.

"gayness should express itself on film." - this is important as again it is saying that gays aren't representing themselves, but are simply being shown as someone who doesnt now us - with their ideologies, and so it isnt a reliable representation.

Jack Babuscio - "gay sensibility" - "a perception of the world which is coloured, shaped, directed and defined by the fact of one's homosexuality" - this is the central convention of gay films - that the whole of the plot and the events which happen to the character are based around the face that he/she is gay.

gay sensibility - "it is the specific way we have found of coping with and resisting our oppression"

"self-oppression" - this says that the gay people also contribute to their oppression

the film THE DETECTIVE "enforces the link between gayness , deviancy and crime." - this tells us of the thoughts and state of mind of the people at the time, as it was made to be the reason why people accepted it - because the gay scene was related to crime and criminal work.

"in every case the film is made within  straight framework" - the film is never representing gay people as they see themselves, only by how others see them - different. they are never "expressing itself."

"a very common stance of straight critics and alas of many within the gay movement, is that film should show that gay people are just ordinary human beings" - this should not be the case as gays are ordinary human beings and, if this is a concern, then something should be done to rid the film of this 'other' nonsense.


he says that it would be impossible to show homosexuals as the same as heterosexuals as "so much in life is relationships and even where no physical expression is given to them, the sexual reality of out lives necessarily informs them"
meaning that "if you are representing sexual and emotional relationships on screen, it does make a difference whether they are gay or straight"- this makes sense as the relationships of the main character/s and how those relationships are important in his life and in leading him to make important decisions.

people want realism in gay films but it is hard to do and not very effective as "realism is only capable of capturing the surface of life"
"it is hard for "realism" to do anything but reproduce dominant ideology" and so "a realist film about gays is unlikely to challenge the assumptions of most of the audience about what gays are like"


"To show gays 'realistically' on the screen means to show them in conventions of the prevailing cinematic realism. This kind of depiction in turn means to show them in conventions of the prevailing cinematic realism. This kind of depiction in turn means to reproduce the ideas and assumptions about how gays really are which prevail in society."