Representation of Homosexuality in Film (1)

"Since the gay movement began we have insisted on the centrality of the media (understood in its widest sense) as a carrier, reinforcer or shaper of our oppression." In the research piece I will be exploring this topic, to depict why homosexuality is represented so negatively within cinema, how it has improved through acceptance and why Hollywood is the shaper of homosexuality on these massive box-office films. One of the main reasons as to why homosexuality isn't shown through Hollywood blockbusters is all down to money and not homophobia. The money generated through blockbusters are huge, and homosexual films are give the impression that they wouldn't sell as well as if it was a straight, white, male/female in a film, as anything else is denoted as 'the other' as 

"Given the dearth of alternative images, it is reasonable to suppose that these had an important influence on both public ideas about homosexuality and damagingly gay self-images."

Hollywood does not give homosexuality a chance in it's producing films as all they care about is the money that is being generated and what will become the final outcome of revenue at the box office. It could be argued that people see Hollywood as being homophobic, however the only case in this problem is the money as, "Mainstream American studios are famously cautious, and the risk that an LGBT movie wouldn’t make as much money as a ‘straight one’ is something which will flash through every studio executive’s mind when faced with a new gay script."Another reason as to why Hollywood doesn't particularly use gay characters is because of, "narrative and agenda". Even though as Richard Dyer said in his Gays in Film article, "That gayness should reflect itself on film" rather than it being shaped by producers and directors.

"Movies are constructed and every element of them is created by the writer or director, which means everything in the movies was put there for a reason, at least in terms of narrative. So essentially, if you’re including a gay character in your script, there has to be a reason why on a dramatic or thematic level." This quote from Vada Magazine in the article LGBT Representation in Modern Cinema explores and signifies the use of gay characters in film in modern times. In films now a days, if you were to include a gay character within the narrative, the character would have to be there for comedic values, to add humour in it and make the audience laugh at this particular character's stereotypical gay personality, rather than with them. However there are homosexual films that have a serious ideological message behind them. An example is Brokeback Mountain and the two main characters Jack an Ennis, fall in love one summer as workers on a ranch as sheep herders, however when separated after that summer, they both marry and until keep up their affair for over a course 20 years. Which is a hard depiction and is "very rare to see a gay character in a narrative not about sexuality".

How homosexuality is negatively represented is by "Every lesbian and bisexual character in these films is accused of being a psychotic killer ... And the girl never gets the girl. I'm tired of that." Which is a reference from The Celluloid Closet documentary and to this day, well more modern, is Black Swan, a psychological thriller film about 2 dancers, going head to head to get the role in Swan Lake, which brings out Nina's dark side. It could be implied that this representation of homosexuality in film, of homosexual people being psychopaths, and that being gay is like a mental illness. Despite not being a film, Orange is the New Black expresses this. This is apparent when Healy's flashback to when he was a child takes place, with his mother coming out of a mental home he asks, "Dad what's a lesbian?" and his dad replies, "Lesbianism? Its a disease.".... "A disease like mums?"..."No, more like a mental illness. Which falls upon the representation of traditional views of homosexuality, and more modernly so, in film/TV as "During the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War, Hollywood increasingly depicted gay men and women as sadists, psychopaths, and nefarious, anti-social villains."

In more recent films, "Of 19 LGB characters, only two were portrayed as being in a public, stable, long‐term partnership and two were shown dating." which clearly denotes the views from studios only with them using homosexuality in their films as pushed to the side in these blockbuster films, as if they were to make them central characters they know that their films would bomb dramatically. Furthermore this represents, that homosexual people aren't judged upon as positively as they are seen an "others", another thing is that "It seems that a decade after ‘Brokeback Mountain’, LGBT characters still aren’t being portrayed as a regular part of every day life." showing that studios should perhaps stop making sequels and start "diverting" their ideas. 

In film, "Queer aesthetics typically challenge conventional ideas of what is thought to be universally true." Homosexual characters are always stereotypically represented "When discussing media representation of various groups, especially those we consider marginalised, stereotypes are often a primary concern." 

 This is shown from, how they act, how they dress, their look overall and a clear and evident act of gay person. Most gay men are represented as "camp" and are known to dress "fastidious" and act all confident and feminine in a stemming from a traditionalist view of a gay person basically being born in the wrong body, which is a disgusting representation.  "It is noticeable that the lesbian iconography is less elaborated and precise than that for gay men (because lesbian culture has had greater difficulty in developing under the double oppression of gayness and femaleness)."

In films that involve Homosexuality, a lot of it's audience is mostly gay themselves. Personally, I think that this is for relativity in their lives, even if it is a comedy film. the genre has many conventions that could be relatable to the specific audience member.  "Queer media doesn’t necessarily rely on queer people being the intended audience, nor does it require that queer people be affiliated with a cultural product in any way other than as consumers." Despite this quote being true, it is evident that films with the involvement with homosexuality only do "well" if their audience can personally identify with the film.




references used in this research piece: 

• Media Magazine
• eJumpCut
• Wikipedia- History of Homosexuality in American Film
• Richard Dyer's Homosexuality in Film Noir
• PinkNews.co.uk- LGB virtually non-existent in top Hollywood films
• mediasmarts.ca- Queer Representation in Film and Television