I found the From the Celluloid Closet documentary to be extremely enlightening and entertaining to watch. Never had I thought the old 1920s and 30s films would have this undertone or outright gay/lesbian characters and actions. I had always assumed that the censorship committees had prevented such a thing from the very beginning, but it makes sense that as the 1940s came around, males or females kissing on the screen would have seemed appalling for certain members of the public.
I did manage to think of some examples where issues such as those discussed in the movie came up, but many (The Color Purple, Philadelphia, Mrs. Doubtfire) were already mentioned in the documentary. I was immediately reminded though of the recent film I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, in which the two main firefighter characters pretend to be a gay couple in order to gain some monetary benefits from the government (I only saw this movie once). However, this greedy proposition quickly turned into an activist movie in which the two firefighters inspire other men they know into coming out of the closet, while questioning the public as to why people who are the same sex cannot love each other.
Another show I thought of that explored some homosexual issues was strangely enough the 1980s/90s sitcom, The Golden Girls. Several episodes featured gay or lesbian characters that Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia knew (or did not find out about until a particular episode). The two episodes that stood out clearly in my mind was one where Sophia is getting remarried to an old Brooklyn friend, and because Dorothy does not approve, Sophia locked herself in the bathroom. The openly gay (and "sissy") caterer marches into the room and snaps at everyone's indecisions. A very badly shot clip of this scene can be found on Youtube. Also, the other episode of The Golden Girls I thought of was when Rose becomes a TV producer for a local Miami station, and somehow the rest of the cast ends up on one of the television news shows as lesbian couples living together (which in turn makes the girl's lives very uncomfortable for awhile).
That's interesting about The Golden Girls, I really never watched that show very much and didn't know they dealt with this issue.
ReplyDeleteYeah, there were several episodes throughout the...five seasons? Either characters that were close friends or family members to the main characters would "come out," or several gay or lesbian side characters would appear for a few episodes as a part of the plot on whatever the week's issue was. Other episodes that come to mind now are when Blanche's brother, the local hero of her hometown (the big successful strapping perfect guy) came out as gay, which temporarily appalled Blanche. In another episode one of Roses' best friends stayed the night in Rose's room and then came out as a lesbian, hoping Rose would somehow return her feelings.
ReplyDeleteOnce more, those are only a few episodes that really stood out in my mind, but The Golden Girls was really a pioneer in that time to bring LGBTQs out into the forefront of prime time television.
Finally, I don't know how I didn't think of it before, but one real exception to all of the films The Celluloid closet discussed was The Rocky Horror Picture Show. That movie dealt with so many aspects, that I am surprised the Celluloid film did not even mention it, even as an exception to the rule.