Saturday, June 23, 2018
Were the World Mine
This film started off with a great idea. A modern gay remake of A Midsummer Night's Dream with a bullied gay teen, Timothy, serving as a combination of magical Puck and lovelorn Helena. The opening scenes won me to his side and the unleashing of the love potion felt cathartic.
Things fall apart soon after. The film can't agree on tone or internal logic. If the potion makes you fall for the first person you see, it makes sense the all boys school would fill with same sex couples. But why do all couples remain same sex when it spreads to the town? Why does the homophobic coach become a broad gay stereotype? Why do people have selective memories of what occurs during the course of the film? If Tim's point was to make the jocks understand bullying, why leave no straight people left to bully them? Why are the songs so forgettable?
Timothy's primary love interest is a mystery. We aren't supposed to know his true feelings till the end of the film. But we need to learn something about him to invest in the relationship. As is Tim's melancholy is never salved, leaving a streak of pain through the film. A lot of missed opportunities here. It frustrated me as the premise was fantastic.
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Calamity Jane
At first glance Calamity Jane seems like a remake of Annie Get Your Gun. Independent pioneer woman swallows her pride to win Howard Keel. But Jane isn't chasing Howard Keel. She's chasing Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin. You know he's not important because he's in a musical but doesn't sing a note. To win him she needs to learn feminine drag.
Here's where the most interesting character arrives; Katie Brown. Katie is a maid impersonating a famous singer. Jane protects her from bandits, takes her to her first performance, and defends her from the mob when her identity is revealed. Howard Keel's at the performance too... in drag. He lost a bet with Jane. Katie finds the confidence to perform and suddenly... she's a maid no more. She has become the star she pretended to be. Jane is smitten. She wants Katie to teach her how to do drag. In the song "A Woman's Touch" Katie and Jane break out the tools and remodel their cabin. Jane trades her pants for a frilly dress and sings:
Then all at once the cabin that we knew
Becomes a shining castle built for two.
Me and you.
They're getting on fine till Lieutenant Whats-His-Name falls for Kate. Jane is heartbroken, kicking her out of the cabin and challenging her to a duel. The pants are back on. Katie grabs a gun and fights back. She can do drag too. Wild Bill splits them up and tells Jane he loves her. But there's no duet. Instead we cut to Jane alone in the woods singing "Secret Love." She sings the first verse in a dress and the last verse in pants, riding a horse.
Once I had a secret love
That lived within the heart of me
All too soon my secret love
Became impatient to be free
Who is she singing about? Did she love Bill all along? Or has Bill given her the excuse to save her friendship with Katie? She'll spend the last act of the film pursuing Katie and bringing her back home. They hold a double wedding with their forgettable men.
How intentional was this lesbian subtext? Hard to say. Screenwriter James O'Hanlon also wrote the script for The Harvey Girls, another musical western focused on two strong women. He'd go on to write for the television westerns Maverick and Cheyenne. Whatever his original intention the film has gone on to play at LGBT film fests and was featured in Vitto Russo's fantastic documentary The Celluloid Closet. That's enough for me to feature it here for Pride month.
Happy Pride!
Labels:
1950's,
Bio-Musicals,
Doris Day,
GLBTQA themes,
Howard Keel,
Three Panel Musicals
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Fellow Travelers
There's a familiar tale in gay fiction. Two men find each other. One is ready to embrace his sexuality. The other burrows deeper into the closet, harming those around him. If they are lucky they both make it out alive.
Fellow Travelers sets these tropes against the backdrop of Senator Joseph McCarthy's "Lavender Scare." McCarthy was determined to kick all homosexuals out of government jobs. Did McCarthy fear homosexuals would sell state secrets or was he just looking for a scapegoat? McCarthy makes an appearance in Fellow Travelers to defend his gay attorney Roy Cohn. The contradictions aren't deeply examined. They're simply there for the audience to interpret.
The focus of Fellow Travelers is the doomed affair between Timothy Laughlin and Hawkins Fuller. They live under the watchful eye of their co-workers in the Washington, D.C. of the 1950's. Spears's score provides distinctive arias for both men. Timothy's joyous "Last Night" is filled with the liberation of first love. Hawk's guarded "Our Very Own Home" laments the double life he's built. It's not a happy story but there are moments of humor and hope along the way. With luck Timothy's newfound pride will carry him safely to better times.
Labels:
2010's,
Book Adaptation,
GLBTQA themes,
Opera,
Politics,
Three Panel Musicals
Sunday, June 10, 2018
Saturday, June 9, 2018
LGBT+ Tropes on Film
"I want a gay thing about gay adults who are relatively well-adjusted and aren't dying, that is wistful, hopeful, fun." ~ Richard Lawson, Chief critic for Vanity Fair
This week Rotten Tomatoes posted a list of the 150 Best LGBT Movies of All Time. I've seen about a third of them and decided to see which matched Lawson's criteria. The majority of these films are focused on cisgendered gay men.The following post contains spoilers.
Of the following 65 films:
As for "well-adjusted," I could not say.
This week Rotten Tomatoes posted a list of the 150 Best LGBT Movies of All Time. I've seen about a third of them and decided to see which matched Lawson's criteria. The majority of these films are focused on cisgendered gay men.The following post contains spoilers.
Of the following 65 films:
- 47 feature adult cisgendered GBQ men.
- 17 feature a cisgendered GBQ man's death
- 16 end with the Adult GBQ protagonists coupled, and alive. That's 24% of the list.
- 6 feature Teenage GBQ protagonists coupled, and alive. For another film in this category check out the recent Alex Strangelove on Netflix.
As for "well-adjusted," I could not say.
Movie
|
Genders
|
Age
|
Fate
|
Genre
|
Kiss of the Spider
Woman (1985)
|
Ambiguous
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Tragedy
|
Ma Vie En Rose (1997)
|
Ambiguous
|
Pre-Teen
|
Single
|
Coming of Age
|
Carol (2015)
|
Female
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
Hours, The (2002)
|
Female
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Biography
|
Mulholland Drive
(2001)
|
Female
|
Adult
|
Dead (suicide)
|
Mystery
|
Color Purple, The
(1985)
|
Female
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Coming of Age
|
Killing of Sister
George, The (1968)
|
Female
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Tragedy
|
Heavenly Creatures
(1994)
|
Female
|
Teen
|
Prison
|
Tragedy
|
Oy Vey My Son Is Gay
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled
|
Farce
|
Ten Year Plan, The
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled
|
Romcom
|
Big Eden (2001)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled (after pining
for a straight man)
|
RomCom
|
Birdcage, The (1996)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Farce
|
God's Own Country
(2017)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
Jeffrey (1995)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
RomCom
|
La Cage Aux Folles
(1979)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Farce
|
Maurice (1987)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
Moonlight (2016)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Coming of Age
|
My Beautiful
Laundrette (1985)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
The Sum of Us (1995)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Family Drama
|
Trick (1999)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
RomCom
|
Victor Victoria (1982)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Farce
|
Wedding Banquet, The
(1993)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Farce
|
Latter Days
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
Gone, But Not
Forgotten
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Mystery
|
Gods and Monsters
(1998)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead
|
Biography
|
Love Is Strange (2014)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead
|
Tragedy
|
Holding the Man (2015)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (AIDS related
illness)
|
Biography
|
Longtime Companion
(199)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (AIDS related
illness)
|
Tragedy
|
Normal Heart (2014)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (AIDS related
illness)
|
Biography
|
Philadelphia (1993)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (AIDS related
illness)
|
Courtroom Drama.
|
A Single Man (2009)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (heart attack)
|
Tragedy
|
Bent (1997)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Tragedy
|
Brokeback Mountain
(2005)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Tragedy
|
Milk (2008)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Biography
|
Beginners (2011)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (of old age)
|
Coming of Age
|
Imitation Game, The
(2014)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Dead (suicide)
|
Biography
|
Bad Education (2004)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Mystery
|
Cabaret (1972)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Biography
|
Happy Together (1997)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Tragedy
|
In & Out (1997)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Farce
|
Other People (2016)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Family Drama
|
Weekend (2011)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Romantic Drama
|
Ritz, The
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Farce
|
Like You Mean It
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Biography
|
Happy Birthday Gemini
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Farce
|
Those People
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Romantic Drama
|
Billy's Hollywood
Screen Kiss (1998)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single (after pining
for an ambiguos man)
|
Farce
|
My Own Private Idaho
(1991)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
Single (and pining for
a straight man)
|
Coming of Age
|
Boys In The Band, The
(1970)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Black Comedy
|
Love! Valour!
Compassion!
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Slice of Life
|
Stranger by the Lake
(2014)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Thriller
|
Torch Song Trilogy
(1988)
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Slice of Life
|
People You May Know
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Slice of Life
|
Hellbent
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Horror
|
Cruising
|
Male
|
Adult
|
various
|
Thriller
|
Beautiful Thing (1996)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Coming of Age
|
Being 17 (2006)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Romantic Drama
|
Love, Simon (2018)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Coming of Age
|
Way He Looks, The
(2014)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Coming of Age
|
Were the World Mine
(2008)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Farce
|
Henry Gamble's
Birthday Party
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Coupled.
|
Slice of Life
|
Closet Monster (2016)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single
|
Coming of Age
|
G.B.F. (2014)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single
|
Farce
|
Get Real (1999)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single
|
Coming of Age
|
Mysterious Skin (2005)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single
|
Tragedy
|
Nightmare on Elm
Street 2
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single
|
Horror
|
Camp (2003)
|
Male
|
Teen
|
Single (and pining for
a straight man)
|
Show biz
|
Broken Hearts Club,
The (2000)
|
Male
|
various
|
Single
|
Slice of Life
|
Call Me By Your Name
(2018)
|
Male
|
various
|
Single
|
Romantic Drama
|
Handsome Devil (2017)
|
Male
|
various
|
various
|
Coming of Age
|
Crying Game, The
(1992)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Coupled.
|
Mystery
|
Dallas Buyers Club
(2013)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Dead (AIDS related
illness)
|
Biography
|
Boys Don't Cry (1999)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Biography
|
Rocky Horror Picture
Show, The
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Dead (murdered)
|
Farce
|
Hedwing and the Angry
Inch (2001)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Coming of Age
|
Tangerine (2015)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Black Comedy
|
Transamerica (2006)
|
Trans
|
Adult
|
Single
|
Slice of Life
|
Pricilla, Queen of the
Desert (The Adventures of) (1994)
|
Various
|
Adult
|
various
|
Farce
|
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