The Celluloid Closet-- Olivia Vinci

      Overall, I really enjoyed this film and thought it was very informative on the history of Hollywood and how queerness has been portrayed in movies over the years. I found it interesting that many older movies, men who were seen to be more flamboyant or as many individuals would call "sissies", were shown as a funny or more specifically a sense of humor to the film. But in today's world most individuals who not find this funny. The term "sissies" more specifically represented a white gay male who would "flail his arms around". In movies this showed that the individual is queer with out saying it directly and created a stereotype for individuals apart of the LGBTQ+ community. When characters who are considered "sissies" or any other type of queerness are portrayed in movies, it was a way to make "men feel more manly and women feel more womanly".

    Also, it was quite interesting to me that when man dressed as a woman it was used as a form of comedy but if a woman was to dress as a man it would make individuals uncomfortable and not seen in the same light then if a male was in that position. For examples in one of the movie clips that was shown from the documentary, a woman was seen to be dressed in males clothing and was attacked and not accepted in the film for this reason. Personally I do not think that their should be a difference in whether a man or woman is dressed in clothing of the opposite gender. Overall, this movie showed me a lot about how the LGBTQ+ has been represented over the years and the history of how these individuals were represented in these films. 

Comments

  1. Jon VitkaFebruary 9, 2021 at 3:15 PM

    I completely agree with you Olivia, I thought this was probably one of the most insightful video I ever watched in a long time.The word "sissies" has changed throughout the years just like other slurs or terms that could of been used back then to today. Lastly, I wanted to comment on the point of women dressing up as men made people not laugh. It was very strange that people were okay with men cross dressing because it was funnier but when a women does, it's not funny anymore. Was it sexist or just straight up homophobic.

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  2. Olivia VinciFebruary 12, 2021 at 1:13 PM

    After the class discussion, I have definitely gained a lot more knowledge on how different cartoons, tv shows, and movies portrayed and in a way hide queerness throughout the film. One example that was brought up in class that really stuck with me and was something that I completely forgot about, was one of cartons I use to watch as a child is "Him" from The Powerpuff Girls. In this show I recall that the character Him was a villain but at the time I didn't think much about what the appearance of the character and the clothing that was worn. Him was seen dressed in more feminine clothes and was seen wearing heels, a dress, and what looked like blush and makeup on the face. This character is confusing because the name is Him but the appearance of the character is very feminine. I think that this was a way for cartoon network to slip in queerness to the show without plain out saying it. Another example that really stuck with me during the class discussion was different genders are portrayed in shows and movies. For example in any high school related movie men were most likely seen as one of two things, either a jock that is very masculine and plays sports or a "nerd" who was seen to be the skinny short kid who reads books and devotes all of his time to school work. I feel like when growing this can take a toll on what an individual sees as a way they should be or act and if they are not one of these things they are seen to be as an outsider and might not feel as if they fit in. Another example of this is women are portrayed in movies as the skinny blonde popular girl and is the mean girl in the show and on the other hand women can be represented as more of a jock figure. Such as they are really into sports and are kind of like "one of the guys". Overall, I think it is very interesting how I have not really payed attention or noticed things when I was younger such as representation of queerness without directly saying it and different gender roles that characters play throughout the film.

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