Representation of Homosexuality in Film- Research Post

This article is called Gays in Film, by an English academic currently holding a professorship in the Department of Film Studies at King's College London, Richard Dyer. This article is based on the problematic obstacles that homosexuality in film faces, and how negative that the representation of it in films actually is- for example Stereotypes, the 'camp' gay guy,who is basically a girl. A film to support this ideological stereotype is GBF and Tanner, when his new BFF's give his wardrobe a makeover. Soon after he rocks up into school with all his new clothes and struts down the hallways like he owns the whole school, more like a "popular" kid. Also on the other hand we have the other gay main character, Brent, who is represented in the film to be the gayest, most confident gay guy in the whole narrative of it "the camp queen" per say, however is basically there to represent the different kinds of gay personalities in society, Tanner being more laid back and not as confident, still scared that everyone knows that he is homosexual, where as Brent is out-going and has already came out to his mum, but is ok in school as people don't suspect that he is gay, which again adds to the humour of the film as stereotypically, it is so clear that he is... 

"we have tended to condemn images of gayness in the name of aesthetic concepts and values that are highly problematic." I agree with this statement made by Richard Dyer as judgements globally of homosexuals in film, specifically men are that they are seen as camp and extremely feminine, which in reality isn't always the case. In film, gay men are labelled and targeted as loving everything fashion, make up along with all of the other bodily creative stuff, and having a specific taste particularly in colour which is no doubt pink. This is of course problematic as not ever homosexual acts this way, therefore stereotypes these personas in thinking that every gay person has to like fashion, the colour pink and act extremely feminine, along with the way that they talk, "to show gay people "realistically" on the screen 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." 

"No term is more frequent in gay criticism of the cinema than "stereotype."" I completely agree with this statement, as the stereotype of gay people in film is represented poorly. It is shocking that there is such a broad stereotype on homosexuality in general; where by film emphasises these "pathetic, ridiculous and grotesque figures that are supposed to be us up there on the screen.". "To know that a character is lesbian is immediately to know that she is aggressive, frustrated, loud mouthed, big boned and perverse." which is beyond the stereotype and not actually true, as in modern day society, more and more people are coming out as gay, and the majority are females, who are regular girls that dress and act like a regular woman/girl would. Statistics say that there has been an increase of people coming out as homosexual or bisexual, mainly down to the legalisation of gay marriage in the US, where more films are being made on homosexuality and "Compared to the 1900s, it is clear that the greater acceptance of homosexuality in the modern era has allowed more queer characters and issues to be seen with more respect and understanding in film and cinema". (Taken from wikipedia, not Richard Dyer's Gays in Film).

"It is not there to express itself, but rather to express something about sexuality in general as understood by heterosexuals." This statement is true to a certain extent on the grounds of homosexuality of a film's narrative being based on a person actually being gay, but not on their relationships or them as people, excluding their sexuality preference. Examples of this are, 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Happy Together', a hong-kong based gay film.

Some of the main points of this article are that there is, "to argue that what appears to be "given" aesthetic principles are, in however ambiguous a way, also principles of heterosexual hegemony." Another thing being, "if you are representing sexual and emotional relationships on screen, it does make a difference whether they are gay or straight." Which I personally agree with as, despite equality now with homosexuality being a lot more accepted than past and previous years, homosexuality in film is still produced for an audience and their views, in which case those views could be modern or traditional. How being gay or straight makes a difference is because stereotypically in a heterosexual relationship you see a guy who is usually white and a woman who is also usually white, where as with a gay relationship it could be that as they are seen as "others", alongside with black people and other races, it could be felt as if this would fit the topic well, in the representation of homosexuality in film.