Oh Netflix, Gay Doesn't Equal Good
TNG is taking a much needed break from Dec 19-Jan 4. TNG will return with new content on Jan 5. Until then, please enjoy this post from the past year.
Clearlyhere likes decidedly middlebrow books and movies, is rapidly becoming obsessed with the election, and is an opera singer with grand aspirations. He also thanks the stars for BBC America and Captain Jack Harkness on Torchwood.
Identity politics has been talked about a lot in this election. Women were jazzed about Hilary Clinton being the first realistic woman nominee for president and commentators have been talking about the movement of Hilary Clinton supporters suddenly supporting Sarah Palin (who is actually running as Vice President with John McCain if anyone forgot.) She represents the Conservative Agenda and is the least woman-friendly politician McCain could hope to have while still getting a woman for the job. Why would women do this?
Have you seen the Gay movies out there?
A few years ago, after the success of the movie Eating Out, the producers decided to create a sequel, Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. I saw the first movie in theaters with a large group of other gay men and I have to say it wasn’t (unfortunately) the worst gay film I saw that year. That is all I could say for the softcore underdeveloped piece of crap that it turned out to be. After checking out dozens of "Gay & Lesbian" films on Netflix (and suffering through the D.C. Gay Film Fest where I have yet to see a decent movie), I feel I won’t be checking out anymore till I am boyfriendless, gay friendless, and in a small town hours away from a big city for so long that I will do anything for gay culture.
The Gay films the kept me hoping to find something worth watching were the British films. Get Real and Beautiful Thing are two examples of well acted movies that don’t resort to softcore tactics to keep the viewer interested (Touch of Pink also good though I didn’t like it all that much.) Scrolling down the list of 4 star “Gay & Lesbian” movies on Netflix you get worse and worse quality films including the worst film I have ever seen, Regarding Billy, where someone decided to film a movie in their house and somehow managed to get it released on DVD. The average rating on this "film" was 3 stars. I gave A.I. with Haley Joel Osment 3 stars, Regarding Billy had acting worse than community theater productions, had no plot, and had the production values of a preschool’s pretending corner.
Who do I blame for my misfortune in renting this egregious film? Other gay men. People like my boss who likes it (whatever it may be play, television show, movie) if it is gay and likes it even more if there is nudity, full frontal if possible. After having lost too many hours trying to find the good gay movies amid the inflated gay ratings on Netflix, I have concluded that the 10 I have seen are about it. What does it say about us that we accept these poor imitations of entertainment and even rate it as good because we are so thirsty for gay theme programs? The miracle that we have shows like Queer as Folk and the soon-to-be-cancelled L Word does make me hopeful that my Netflix queue could some day have better gay-themed movies and television shows. Thank goodness for British imports.
I advise you not to be like those women switching from Hilary Clinton to Sarah Palin. If it is between Nothing and Gay Crap, choose nothing.
3 comments:
i'm glad i'm not the only queer who finds 99% of "gay-themed" movies to be absolute crap. i tried for 3 years to find a decent movie at Reel Affirmations and saw only one marginally decent movie (a documentary) in the bunch. and yet after every film, the lobby was filled with people talking about how wonderful the movies were. all i could think was "did we just see the same movie?"
sadly, i think that too many queers think they have to praise any piece of crap if it has any sort of gay theme, and it isn't necessarily about seeing guy-on-guy action. i'd argue that it's more of the self-ghettoization of homos. only live in "gay" urban neighborhoods; only shop at gay stores; only go out to gay bars; only hang out with gay people...and only go to see gay films, regardless of how bad they are.
(and you are right about Beautiful Things. if you haven't already seen them you should consider Km. 0 Steam, Turkish Bath and Wild Reeds...great movies.)
I really can identify with this. I resent having to sit through soft-core porn whenever I want to see a gay themed movie. I'm not opposed to sexuality in movies, but there's deeper issues to explore than flashy torsos and simulated bjs!
I started a big argument in the comments last time this post ran, so I'm a little hesitant to join the conversation this time -- but, being a filmmaker, this subject is near and dear to me and I can't resist.
The culprit is money. The gay film festivals have to appeal to the very mainstream taste of the -- here's where I got in trouble -- older, suburban gay men who donate to the festivals and make up a good part of the audience.
Films with a little nudity, a shirtless boy on the poster, are the ones with the long lines, right? Anything at all challenging is a hard sell in that crowd.
There are great films in every gay/lesbian festival I've been to (and I've been to a LOT of them). They're just not as heavily promoted, not as easy to find. If you want better programming in the festivals, search out these films, go see them, drag your friends along. Festival programmers want to screen good stuff, but it's hard to justify when the quality films only have like 3 people in the audience and the crap films are sold out.
(Hopefully the very argumentative Anonymous is not following this blog today because he/she is stuffed and hungover and too busy watching Eating Out I & II on DVD.)
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