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!

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.

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:

  • 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