Mainstreaming Gay Cinema
Image: Movie poster for "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang," a fun mainstream film with a non-stereotypical gay lead character (played by Val Kilmer) in a non-stereotypical gay role (detective).
Yesterday I wrote about using the wealth of gay talent and inspiration to create film and television that better reflects the many different points in the breadth of our gay experience. Today, I write more about this, as it pertains to mainstream productions.
I went to Fandango.com just now and copied the top 10 grossing movies of last week. Please consider the storylines of the following films, and ask yourself, why don't we see gay characters in the leading roles of movies like these? Why can't we be portrayed in them in the same straightforward manner that the straights are portrayed?
1 Sex and the City
2 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
3 The Strangers
4 Iron Man
5 The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
6 What Happens in Vegas
7 Speed Racer
8 Baby Mama
9 Made of Honor
10 Forgetting Sarah Marshall
The first thing that jumps out at me is the obvious--there are more straight people in the world, so naturally they take the lead roles in mainstream films. Also, there aren't enough gay people to support big budget mainstream hollywood films. However, why don't we see smaller, low budget mainstream films with similar storylines, only with gay characters? There are numerous low budget gay films that are produced every year, many from gay film companies. I'm going to go through these 10 films now (most I've barely heard of) and see if I can find out what the storylines are, and see if they could be appropriated for gay film.
Sex and the City--Other than "The Broken Hearts Club," I don't think i've seen any smart, funny, gay "buddies" movies. Considering that "Sex and the City" is about gay men anyway, why haven't we seen this movie yet? Who would you cast in the gay version?
Indiana Jones--summer blockbuster. OK, the budget necessary to make a gay movie about a superhero/adventurer isn't possible. We're not quite there yet.
The Strangers--this horror film is getting good reviews for being a well crafted, old school scarefest where a married couple, in their home, is harrassed by hooded freaks. Who wouldn't love to watch a horror movie with a gay married couple? You don't even need to include the hooded freaks...gay men would be terrified without them.
Iron Man...see Indiana jones.
Chronicles of Narnia--I had to see this against my will. I wouldn't want any gay man to lower themselves enough to apprear in crap like this. Next.
What Happens in Vegas--wacky Ashton Kutcher/Cameron Diaz comedy where they get married in vegas while drunk. Instead of granting them a divorce, a judge makes them stay married for a period of time. Wackiness ensues. I wouldn't mind seeing Ashton Kutcher/Ryan Reynolds in the gay remake.
Speed Racer--ok, maybe using summer movies wasn't the best idea.
Baby Mama-This formula could be popular with lesbians.
Made of Honor--IMDB says: "Made of Honor revolves around Tom and Hannah, who have been platonic friends for 10 years. He's a serial dater, while she wants marriage but hasn't found Mr. Right. Just as Tom is starting to think that he is relationship material after all, Hannah gets engaged. When she asks Tom to be her "maid" of honor, he reluctantly agrees just so he can attempt to stop the wedding and woo her. Gays would love this! Who says we can't put out the same mindless, generic crap as straight people?
Forgetting Sarah Marshall--a well written, fun comedy. Average guy goes off to beach vacation to get away from his ex, only his ex is there with her new bf. Guy ends up falling in love with someone else, learns life lessons, etc. Quirky and fun, and it could be cheaply produced.
Ok, maybe most mainstream movies during summer aren't the best representative sample, but I think you understand what I'm getting at. We can give gays (and curious straights) mainstream films that aren't limited to gay stereotypes and tired gay themes. We deserve to have our intelligence insulted by mediocre straight stereotypes and tired straight themes just as much as heterosexuals. Bring on lesbian baby mama!
7 comments:
I think that you kind of hint at why this isn't possible yet. To most of mainstream cinema homosexuality is still a punchline or an anomaly -- so much so that as soon as a character is introduced as homosexual it becomes a film about the "gay experience" rather than a film about a person who happens to be gay.
The solution? We need more films that portray the gay community on its own terms. This is similar to how Spike Lee revolutionized the portrayal of African-Americans in film: films like "School Daze" and "She's Gotta Have It" were not so much about race distinctions as about communities of people that happened to be black. Lee tapped into the universality of "blackness". Why this hasn't been done with gay characters I don't know -- maybe we're too busy polemicizing and romanticizing (or others are too busy doing these things with us)?
ps. we need more gus van sants and fewer brokeback mountains.
Of course Brokeback Mountain was a good start to mainstreaming movies, though the storyline focused on the romantic relationship between two men, as opposed to two gay men involved in some kind of mainstream plot.
Therein lies my life's ambition: to weave thoughtful stories around characters that happen to be gay. The Partisans, the latest novel in print, is a story that I think would appeal to a broad audience in a movie. You could literally replace the gay characters with straight and tell the same story, a WWII adventure involving the French Resistance and a critical assignment. This tale could easily be adapted to the screen, with very little cost for special effects or exoctic locations, as it is more character based than visual. Which happens to be the kind of movies I like--the small independants.
Ben, as someone who slogs through endless gay movies every year for the Blade, I'm often left wondering, "WTF?!"
With all the artistic talent among queer folks, why can't we put out better acted, written, filmed, conecptualized films? I see so much crap; it's just amazing.
I understand that money has a great deal to do with it. However, how many artists know other artists that would be willing to put something halfway decent together? A lot, I should think.
My one request with gay films lately is that they start moving away from the Coming Out Tale. Although it's importance is constant among queer folks, I want to see what's happening with queer adults, wrangling with life questions from an older, been-out-longer perspective.
(One of my favorite, old-school gay films is on my desk at work right now: Jean Genet's "Un Chant D'Amour." Amazing, especially considering it was made in 1950.)
Sorry, one more bit.
Does anyone else hate "Brokeback Mountain?" I was so angry after watching it. To me, it was such a homo-as-punishment flick that fell in line with a host of similar films.
I'm not just talking about the death. Every time the heroes have sex, something horrible happens - a sheep is eviscerated, the flocks get mixed, whatever.
I understand the film, through tragedy, made gay experience palatable for straights, but still.
So, I re-pose: Did anyone else find "Brokeback" tiresome and typical?
Everyone's entitled to his or her own opinion. But did you really think that "Broken Hearts Club" was smart and funny? This is the archetypal crappy gay movie with the same tired cliches and two-dimensional characters (the newbie who parties too hard, the player who gets his in the end, the sassy black guy....).
That said, given how many of the top 10 are utter crap, I'm not feeling like we gays are missing anything.
Here's my pitch for a movie: Two straight buddies from Texas go on vacation in LA, get wasted, and wake up the next morning find out that they got married last night! Hillarity ensues.
Hey Raphael,
to answer your question, I admit you busted me on "Broken Hearts Club." I was trying to be open minded. I liked it ok as a mainstream film, but as greg commented, we haven't exactly held ourselves to a high standard when it comes to portraying ourselves in film.
Greg,
Yes, I hated brokeback too. I'm tired of seeing us die and get hate d on, even if it is a "message" movie.
most of the chick flicks i've seen with Ashton Kutcher have been at least halfway decent, A Lot Like Love is one example
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