The Celluloid Closet

 I found The Celluloid Closet to be a wonderful and eye opening view of unapologetically queer stories in cinema. I was surprised to discover that there was so much progression in the early Twentieth Century before the Hays Code came into play in Hollywood. Films were raunchy and film makers were free to express their artistic visions and creativity without shackles of conservatives censoring their stories. It was really a shame to think that if certain things hadn't been handicapped so early on, society could have advanced so much further than it is today, and it would've happened a lot sooner as well. A loud minority held a lot of power back then and was able to silence creative minds who thought, felt and lived differently so their stories would be harder to find, swept under the rug, or cut from the script completely. Those creative minds didn't give up however and fought hard to make sure their coding would translate clearly enough to the audiences is was made to reach.

This is not to say that there shouldn't be criticism of queer stories from way back when either. Many depictions of queer people in the early days of cinema were through the lens of using queer people as comedic relief, heartless villains not to be empathized with, or cautionary tales for any queer people who felt that they couldn't live their truth.  Harvey Fierstein said something in the documentary along the lines of "Any visibility is good to me" which changed my perspective a little bit. Queer stories that are designed to be appreciated and praised will still be met with jokes and bigotry from people who won't understand it. The Sissy trope is still someone little gay boys can look at and feel comfort identifying with because that is someone in media who they can relate to, same goes for any other characters. Many may ridicule the sissies but someone else is also going to find comfort in that character knowing that they are not alone. 

Seeing movies evolve from using queer characters as one dimensional and easy to forget, kill off, and rally against into characters with depth, thoughtfulness and emotion is something extremely validating. It's easy to forget how far queer people have come in just a few generations because we don't see so much of that struggle today. Hearing so many actors, screenwriters and directors talking about how their mainstream box office movies were designed in their nature to be inherently queer without people realizing it puts a smile on my face and makes me want to rewatch a lot of these classics that I previously took in at surface level. I love the tone this documentary has set for the remainder of the course and I cannot wait to see what comes next!


Thoughts after Class

I absolutely loved all the discussions in class the other day and it has left me thinking about a lot of things. Growing up, many people are conditioned to think negatively about queer people because of how society was groomed to hate them when our parents were growing up. Being young and having them see queer folks as a joke on the silver screen, and then all the negative stigma around the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it's easy to see why there was so much fear and sheltering for children. Thinking back to childhood, there were some visibly queer characters on tv, and some that you really had to search for. Someone mentioned Frog and Toad in class which made me happy because they were characters near and dear to my heart as a child. These characters were coded however, so it might not have been so easily picked up on their queerness as a child. I gave the example of Him from The Powerpuff Girls because they were someone who was so visibly queer from a young age. Him was an androgynous devil-adjacent character who really enticed my mind as a sheltered, Baptist Christian gay kid. I know Him was designed to be some scary villain but I was so excited every time they appeared on my screen because I was so mesmerized by the character. Just the other day,  I was scrolling through Twitter and I came across a thread from Tony Cervone, the writer and director for Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. He stated that Velma Dinkley was always written to be gay and if you inspect it enough you will see those signs in the show. Even in times when Velma was dating Shaggy, the intention was for her to feel that it wasn't right for her because she is gay. I wish there was more clarity surrounding the character of Velma and I wish she was openly gay but it was a time for cartoons where those identities had to be covert. Linda Cardellini who played Velma in the live action Scooby Doo franchise also stated in an interview that she played the role with a queer subtext and probably had "mixed-up feelings about Fred, where she couldn't decide if she liked him or maybe she was jealous of him." 

Comments

  1. Shawn AdilettaFebruary 12, 2021 at 6:46 PM

    Hey Dean!
    Enjoyed reading your post. So much in fact I audibly said things such as "yes!" while reading this because I connect and agree with what you are saying so much! "It was really a shame to think that if certain things hadn't been handicapped so early on, society could have advanced so much further than it is today, and it would've happened a lot sooner as well." was the sentence in particular that I remarked at, along with "Many may ridicule the sissies but someone else is also going to find comfort in that character knowing that they are not alone." Those 2 thoughts are so powerful. How much the Hayes Code interfered in the development of our society is astronomical and for me its hard to picture what our society would look like today if it hadn't existed. When you talked about the idea of "Any visibility is good to me" it clicked in my head for the first time the real weight of that statement. At some point, being represented one way or another is always better than nothing and like you said, there's always gonna be someone who takes comfort in what others might not in.
    Loved the post,
    Shawn

    ReplyDelete
  2. PerfeserFebruary 25, 2021 at 9:33 AM

    I wouldn't have been able to tell that this was Dean (not sure how Shawn could tell). Can you edit your profile so your name shows up?

    ReplyDelete

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