The Celluloid Closet (Updated Thoughts) - Shawn Adiletta

        The Celluloid Closet provides an in-depth look into how LGBTQ+ individuals have been portrayed on screen, as well as simply the concept of anything that falls out of the heteronormative. One of the biggest takeaways was how “LGBTQ+ -ness” has had to adapt to the circumstances of what was deemed “decent” at the time and how they had to code themselves in order to be seen. It’s no surprise to me that the interviewees talk about how they would race to the movie theatre to see even the slightest representation of themselves or spin narratives to fit their life. With the representation that LGBTQ+ people had, from sissys to psychopaths, anything that could have been conceived as positive representation must have been a must-see sort of thing. 

        They touch on the fact that representation is extremely important because it informs you how to act in situations. I know personally, I learned many of the things I should have learned from my parents by simply watching movies and tv, things like how to cook, how to do laundry, etc. Only having the representation of LGBTQ+ characters under the “bury your gays” trope, as perverts, wimps, or as deviant villains made it personally that much harder to admit to myself my own queerness, as if, admitting to myself my own sexuality would make me just like the people saw on tv growing up, dead or evil. As time has pushed on, however, LGBTQ+ relationships have become less of a demonized topic and more of a celebration (yay!). There are always some remnants of the past that come up in the media today, but there are now also wonderful stories being told that feature LGBTQ+ characters (which are in the mainstream as well. From Euphoria (2019) to Booksmart (2019) to Call Me By Your Name (2017), some of which focus on their queerness and some that don’t.). It’s nice to see LGBTQ+ representation on screen and as history moves on we seem to be heading in a better, more inclusive direction. 

Those are my thoughts so far, thanks for reading :)

Friday Update:

    Thinking about my post this week along with the class discussion, it feels like I may have overestimated the inclusion I talked about. While I still do believe we are headed in a better direction than before, it’s really clicking in my brain how Recent this shift in direction is. The three movies I named are all from 2017 onward and I can’t think of many others off the top of my head besides a movie that came out last christmas, Happiest Season (2020). I haven't actually sat down and watched that movie either so I can’t very much speak to it. But it being a romantic comedy got me thinking about the biggest rom-com business there is: Hallmark movies. As it turns out, a quick google search showed Hallmark has only ONE holiday rom-com that features an LGBTQ+ couple, in the form of two gay white men. The movie The Christmas House premiered on Nov. 26th, 2020. One of its stars, Jonathan Bennet, shared a lovely thought about the movie, saying “Representation is important, but correct representation is more important, not just for viewers who may not interact or accept LGBTQ people, but it’s also important for LGBTQ people to see themselves in media,” (WSLS). While it seems Johnathan has a lovely opinion about the work he’s doing, Hallmark is simply using it as a selling point. This is the ONLY movie to feature a queer romance and it is so late that there's really no excuse. Many other companies have this Hallmark method of selling LGBTQ+ entertainment because they know it will sell. While there are stories such as my previous 3 mentions in my last post, many of the representation that is allowed to be created is because of its marketability and even those movies have their own marketable assets (all of the cast big stars and in the case of Booksmart, it downgrades the queer plotline in favor of the hetero plotline). I’m sure the people working on the movies have the intentions of Bennet, however, the big studios that approve these movies only see their price-points. Hallmark is a good example of how this “better direction” is being executed: Slowly, sparingly, and only for profit.

Here's a link to the article about The Christmas House:

https://www.wsls.com/entertainment/2020/11/27/hallmark-premieres-its-first-lgbtq-holiday-movie-with-a-gay-lead-couple/