The Celluloid Closet--Leah Von Ohlen

   

The Celluloid Closet is a documentary that covers the representation and history of homosexuals throughout the history of cinema.  It has taken many years for the idea of queerness to evolve in the movie industry and for people who identify as queer to be accepted. The image of this idea has grown in a very mature way to gain a better understanding of this concept.

My initial thoughts after watching the film were how I could not believe how people were stereotyped and how the industry let certain aspects slide. In today's generation, it is much more welcoming and open to people who identify as queer. It is also more normal to see films about this concept in current movies/times. A few moments that really stood out to me were, one, how if male actors were to be casted to portray a gay character, it would affect them in their outside lives. It apparently would create a bad image for the agency as well. A second topic was how audiences reacted. When these movies first came to light, viewers would be bewildered and voice a negative response. This documentary really went into depth on how audiences reacted.

This film focused a great deal on stereotypical actions and behavior of people of the queer community. Whether it was how they talked, performed normal day activities, dressed, etc...they were portrayed as people saw them. Certain scenes in these films were sexualized. It was interesting how they explained how male to male affection in early movies was seen as offensive and “criminalizing” and even a simple kiss was seen as an action of “harassment”.

Overall, this film did an amazing job of describing how queerness in the movie industry has evolved. One last question I have that I did not quite understand was what they meant when they stated how queer identifiers went from being the victims to the victimizers.

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Follow-Up: The Celluloid Closet (In-Class Discussion)



After viewing The Celluloid Closet and having an in class discussion, I learned some new points and how queerness through cinematic history has evolved. I think the most intriguing question Professor McRae asked when we started discussing the film was “What was the first character you saw that identified as queer or as a member of the LGBTQ+ community?” I thought about this through the entirety of the class period and I could not even remember. Some of my classmates mentioned very well-known TV shows and cartoons that I watched as a kid such as The Powerpuff Girls. This was very surprising to me.

Over the past year, I have gained more knowledge of the queer community than I ever have. This college is much more diverse queer community wise than my highschool back home. I am a dance major and the Department of Theatre and Dance has a lot of students that are a part of the LGBTQ+ community. We also have queer identifying faculty members who have shared their past experiences of being outed and their struggles. For the Fall 2019 semester, one of my professors set a piece on us that was called Constant. It was about how everyone has to come out “constantly” in their own unique ways. We had to research and come up with our own way of how we are constantly coming out to people. 

So, to tie this back into our discussion, the queer community has been evolving for years upon years. It can be seen in film, theatre, TV, art creations, and so much more. I believe that we are at a good point in accepting people who identify as queer, but there is still a long road ahead of us.





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