Global Gay Nation > Gay Identity - Queer as Volk?

Hollywood's emperor has no clothes

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berto:
Afterelton asks, What Ever Happened to Queer Cinema?


--- Quote ---Oscar Night 2006 feels like a million years ago. You remember – it's the night that Brokeback Mountain, although being shamelessly robbed of its deserved Best Picture statuette, still managed to take home three awards. It's the night that Philip Seymour Hoffman's gay novelist squeaked past Heath Ledger's gay cowboy in the Best Actor race. Felicity Huffman was up for Best Actress for playing an MTF in Transamerica. And at the previous day's Independent Spirit Awards, pioneering queer filmmaker Gregg Araki was basking in multiple nominations for Mysterious Skin, a film considered to be a high watermark in an already remarkable career.

GLBT stories had made it to the grown-up's table. More importantly, they'd made it to the multiplex where they were enjoying both good reviews and impressive box-office tallies. The terrain was changing.

So what happened?
--- End quote ---


My own take on it? I've heard this crap about how "_______ has changed everything" and "things are going to be different now" and "a watershed moment has been reached" long before BBM. I heard it with  "Making Love", I heard it with "The Crying Game", I heard it with "Philadelphia", I heard it with "Angels in America", I heard it with "Boys Don't Cry", I heard it "Brokeback Mountain"... it's all a pile of crap. Hollywood is only interested in what they can exploit and make money off of, and the simple fact of the matter is that Middle America doesn't *want* to see actual fags and lezzies in their movies. They'll accept straight actors portraying fags and lezzies, as long as it's another "dead fag story" à la 'Boys Don't Cry' or 'Brokeback Mountain' where they can shed a tear, say "that's SO sad" and then turn around and vote for Republicans who will deny our human rights and portray us as a "danger to children" who should not be allowed to teach in schools, work as caregivers, or adopt our own children.

To paraphrase the anti-racism activist who was commenting on bigotry in America, "the reason the United States is a homophobic nation is because there's so damn many homophobes."

If Afterelton thinks otherwise, or that things have somehow magically changed because of "Brokeback Mountain" (or "Making Love", or "The Crying Game", or "Philadelphia", or "Angels in America", or "Boys Don't Cry").... they are deluding themselves.

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