Gay archetypes

Author: Hugh Armitage

Critical Position: Journalist

Title: The only 7 ways you were allowed to be LGBTQ+ in '90s movies
Publisher/ publication: Digitalspy
Place of Publication: https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a860896/lgbtq-gay-stereotypes-90s-
movies/

Date: 2018
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use: Gay archetypes

Quotation:

Series Killer (Silence of the Lambs, The Talented Mr Ripley)

“The World Health Organisation only declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1992, and
'gay conversion therapy' still pretends that queerness is something that can be (or even needs to
be) cured today.“

“Sometimes the murders are driven by gay shame, as in the case of Chris Cooper's hardline
veteran in American Beauty.“

The flaming homosexual

“A Hawaiian shirt-wearing, rainbow flag-waving variant of the GBF, the flaming homosexual is
sometimes even allowed to own their sexuality – at the price of embodying every gay stereotype
ever in one frail human body.“

The tragic gay (Philadelphia, Summer of Sam, Happy Together)

“It also helped cement the image of the 'tragic gay' in the mind of the mainstream, one that was
perpetuated by a century of stories where the queer protagonist dies or ends up alone and
miserable in the end.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

Author: Erik Piepenburg
Critical Position:
Title: Gaysploitation Upends the Stereotypes That Make Us Wince

Publisher/ publication: The New York Times

Place of Publication: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/arts/gaysploitation-upends-the-

stereotypes-that-make-us-wince.html
Date: 2018
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use:

Quotation:
“’Homosexuality isn’t funny.’

That was the first of the “Guiding Principles for Motion Picture and Television Treatment of
Homosexuality” released in 1973 by activists fed up with Hollywood’s habit of playing gay people
for laughs. ‘Sometimes anything can be a source of humor,” the statement continued, “but the
lives of 20 million Americans are not a joke.’“

“Since the silent era, gay culture and gay men in particular have been laughed at on screen. Too
often the jokes had cruel roots. As the gay film historian Vito Russo noted in his landmark book,
“The Celluloid Closet,” “The history of the portrayal of lesbians and gay men in mainstream
cinema is politically indefensible and aesthetically revolting.” Pansy, killer, nympho, coward: film
comedy is littered with ugly and painful stereotypes that emasculated, infantilized and diabolized
gay men.“

“Comedies of the late ’40s and ’50s finessed the nance into more of a coded gay best friend who
often served as the smart alecky foil to the straight leading man.“

“Screen drag has a problematic past, raising questions about sexism, sexual identity and
ownership of gay culture. (It’s complicated.) Since the silent era, with overt depictions of gay men
verboten, drag was often just a comedic device straight men used to get away with something.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

http://www.sonyclassics.com/celluloid/misc/history.html

 Modern Cinema

Author: Kaitlyn Tiffany

Critical Position: Journalist
Title: GLAAD on LGBTQ representation in film: ‘It is not getting better’

Publisher/ publication: The Verge

Place of Publication: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/25/15690404/glaad-lgbtq-
representation-film-not-getting-better
Date: 2017
Chapter / Article Heading: LGBTQ representation is not getting better

Subject/Key points and potential use:

Quotation:

“Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Sony, and Disney all featured LGBTQ characters in
21 percent of their films or less. Disney was the worst performer, with only 8 percent of its 2016
releases including any LGBTQ representation.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

Author: Phillip M. Ayoub

Critical Position: Professor of Diplomacy and World Affairs

Title: how media has helped change public views about lesbian and gay people

Publisher/ publication:

Place of Publication: https://scholars.org/brief/how-media-has-helped-change-public-views-

about-lesbian-and-gay-people
Date: 2018
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use: Influence of the media of the gay image

Quotation:

“In an increasingly interconnected world, we hypothesize that effects from virtual contacts
through media exposure to portrayals of lesbian women and gay men should hold cross-
nationally, depending on the national media outlets willingness to transmit portrayals.“

“Researchers, advocates, and policymakers, and producers should take into account how cultural
contact through media can shape opinions and values, even across national borders. Television,
film, radio and the Internet remain powerful socializing mechanisms through which younger
generations come into contact with previously invisible minorities.“

“The takeaway of our research is that as the liberalization of attitudes towards gays and lesbians
has occurred in many countries across the globe since the 1980s, change has been encouraged
in part by communications climates – within and across nations – that allow for the free
transmission of minority viewpoints“

Useful illustrations and other references:

Author: Robert Crosby
Critical Position: Journalist
Title: How the Portrayal of Gay Characters On Screen is Challenging Audiences
Publisher/ publication: hiskind
Place of Publication: https://hiskind.com/how-the-changing-portrayal-of-gay-characters-on-
screen-is-challenging-audiences/
Date: 2017
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use: New Queer Cinema shows the real inside of a gay men

Quotation:

“This is a challenge for queer audiences. While it’s important for us people to present ourselves
authentically, warts and all, it’s never easy to look in the mirror and see things you don’t like.“

“The more young queer people see real representations of themselves on the cinema and
television screens, the better off they’ll be. It’s certainly fun to see the hyper sexualised, idealised
beauties, but there’s room for nuance too“

“For years filmmakers have struggled to tell gay stories at all. And now they can — they can tell
real gay stories. It would be a step backwards to reject what they’re offering.“

"So we should all be ready for our close up, because the camera and the people on the other side
of it will eventually see humanity, not stereotypes.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

Author: Samantha Alle

Critical Position: Journalist

Title: Hollywood Is Failing LGBT Characters in Its Movies

Publisher/ publication: the daily beast

Place of Publication: https://www.thedailybeast.com/glaad-report-hollywood-is-failing-lgbt-
characters-in-its-movies
Date: 2018
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use: Vito Russo Test

It has a character that is identifiably lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender;

2) That character is not defined solely on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity;
and

3) The character is critical to the plot (in other words, “The character must matter”).

Quotation:

Useful illustrations and other references:

https://www.glaad.org/sri/2018/vitorusso

Author: Tricia Ennis

Critical Position: Journalist

Title: SEX(UALITY) SELLS: HOLLYWOOD IS CAPITALIZING ON LGBTQ+ CHARACTERS, FOR
BETTER OR WORSE
Publisher/ publication:
Place of Publication: https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/sexuality-sells-hollywood-capitalizing-lgbtq-
characters-better-or-worse

Date: 2017
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use: marketing of gay characters

Quotation:

“The problem is that the sexuality of these characters is being used for marketing and not much
else.“

“It's that deep need and deeper fear that makes LGBTQ+ viewers some of the most passionate:
perfect to market to, and dangerous to cross.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

 Books

Author: Richard Dyer

Critical Position: English academic

Title: The culture of queers

Publisher/ publication: Routledge

Place of Publication: London, New York

Date: 1945
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use:

Quotation:

Useful illustrations and other references:

Author:  Vito Russo

Critical Position:  American LGBT activist, film historian, author

Title: The Celluloid Closet

Publisher/ publication: HarperPaperbacks

Place of Publication:
Date: 1981
Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use:

Quotation:

Useful illustrations and other references:

The Celluloid Closet - Film

Author: Jean Cocteau

Critical Position:  master of literature, poetry, theatre and film.

Title: Le Livre Blanc

Publisher/ publication:

Place of Publication:
Date: 1928

Chapter / Article Heading:

Subject/Key points and potential use:

its proper subject is not homosexuality, but homophobia

Quotation:

“My misfortunes are due to a society which condemns anything out of the ordinary as a crime and
forces us to reform our natural inclinations.“

“There exist pederasts [the French apply pédé to all "queers" regardless of age-preferences] who are
unaware of their own nature and live to the end of their days in a state of uneasiness which they
ascribe to poor health or a jealous nature. ... My father was no doubt unaware of his inclination
and instead of pursuing it he strenuously followed another without knowing what made his life so
unbearable. ... Had he even discovered his tastes or found the opportunity to develop them, he
would have been astonished. At that period people killed themselves for less. But no; he lived in
ignorance of himself and accepted his burden.“

Useful illustrations and other references:

http://rictornorton.co.uk/cocteau.htm

Le Sang d'un poete in 1934

 Films

- Brokeback Mountain

- My Beautiful Laundrette

- The Celluloid Closet

- The Tenderness of Wolves

- God’s own Country

- Weekend

- Looking

- Love, Simon

- Moonlight

- Call me by your name