Contemporary
notions about homosexual men are rooted in everyday life including movies and
TV series. The Imitation Game and Fourth Man Out offer to sides of a
spectrum. Some of our entertainments
appears accepting of sexual behaviors outside the binary while others
realistically portray the way society reacts and shapes ideas regarding
sexuality. When watching popular TV series and movies you may find scenes with
lesbians being intimate and sexual with one another. On the other-hand, scenes
with gay men are much less likely to be found; and when gay men show affection
toward one another it is often quite brief and leaves much to the imagination.
It is important to look at entertainment because it often reflects the beliefs
and values of the audience. It is wise for producers to pick scenes that the
audience will not only be comfortable with but also enjoy. One can make
insights about society and understand the wider implications.
The Imitation Game tells a mathematician’s story of a homosexual
man decoding the German Enigma Machine. It does show flashbacks of Alan Turing
as a boy and later in the movie he admits his homosexuality. However, the movie
shies away from sex scenes between men. Although it appears moving on the
surface that a gay man is depicted the movie which debuted in 2014 did not
explicitly show Alan in a committed relationship or even engaging in same-sex
relations. This movie shows that even in contemporary America being a
homosexual man is not as acceptable as being a lesbian. The movie echoes
beliefs much of society holds regarding gay men. Lesbian sex scenes are found
scattered throughout popular culture entertainment such as Orange is the New Black, The L Word, and Shameless.
Fourth Man Out offers another window into contemporary audiences. It appears to be an
accurate representation of the values society holds regarding homosexual men
when the morning after an epic birthday celebration. At first his friends are
shocked and do not want to hang out with him anymore,but as the movie
progresses they realize he is the same guy. This movie offers a more realistic
look at the perceptions of gay men. His friends first feel threatened and are
sometimes uncomfortable but do their best to love him and overcome those fears
because they have an experience to base it off of now
Numerous though LGBTQIAPDF+ centered dramas may be in independent cinema, you are absolutely correct in noting that precious few titles are both unapologetically open and widely well received. There's a reason that it is independent cinema wherein most gay dramas are produced. As you mentioned, "...It is wise for producers to pick scenes that the audience will not only be comfortable with but also enjoy..." The producers are compelled by capitalist logic to target the widest audience possible for maximum profit, and consequently productions with large budgets seldom feature LGBTQIAPDF+ protagonists.
ReplyDeleteYou mention how the content of our entertainment is indicative of the beliefs and attitudes towards particular topics. With this in mind, it certainly appears that American audiences are seldom made comfortable by explicit homosexual relationships. I would not have thought of it before, so I am glad you pointed out that the UK's "The Imitation Game" never depicts on screen a physical display of romantic/sexual affection betwixt men. I have noticed similarly problematic trends in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe), one of the most successful motion picture franchises in history. Not only are the precious few LGBTQIAPDF+ characters (4 in total) confined to television titles exclusively ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." and "Jessica Jones") ensuring their limited exposure to a mass audience, but only one of them is a homosexual male. This the audience is only aware of by word of mouth - Exposition dialogue reveals this character trait almost like a novelty. And despite appearing in six episodes, the character (Joey Gutierrez) never once physically displays on screen romantic/sexual affection for any male. The closest we get is a brief shot of him on a first date with a nameless other whom we never see again after the character is called for a mission. The other LGBTQIAPDF+ characters in the MCU are all female, and only ever so much as touch in one show alone. The show itself ("Jessica Jones") is among the MCU's Netflix originals, characterized by being the R-rated corner of the franchise. What sort of implications can we draw when the only homosexual relationships depicted in the most profitable franchise in Hollywood today are relegated to the adults only platform?
I believe your observation to be accurate indeed that homosexual depictions in mass media favors women over men, yet even so, all homosexual relationships are treated as mature content, with no place in PG or PG-13 superhero movies. But perhaps "Moonlight"'s Oscar victory and "Power Rangers" first cinematic portrayal of an LGBTQIAPDF+ superhero will incite some change from the studios bringing to life the works of DC and Marvel comics.
(PS- I am very intrigued by, and intend to find and watch "4th Man Out.")
First off I really enjoyed reading this topic because I covered something like this before. My topic was why do most men find it sexy or hot when females kiss. The reason I think that most movies that show same sex relationship is always lesbians because society finds it sexy or hot or tries to imply that on everyone. Like when most radical fathers see two men kissing they tell their son to look the other way or when two girls are kissing or holding hands they don't tel them to look the other way. I totally agree with you that movies that show same sex relationships it is always lesbians and never homosexuals. The only movie I can remember that showed a homosexual relationship is broke back mountain that is a movie about two men who work on a ranch and one night one gets drunk and makes a pass on the other guy. Which both men are married through this process so they are not fully gay. The movie tells the story of them hiding their affair. So again I have never seen or heard of a movie showing two gay men. Although I have seen a few tv shows that have gay characters in them but never a movie. I think we will start to slowly see tv shows and movies show gay men in movies very soon, what do you think?
ReplyDeleteThis article reminded me of one of Patton Oswalt's stand-ups on a job that he was offered once. The wanted him to play the gay best friend to the main character. He knew that this role would come with all of the stereotypes of the "gay best friend" that often come up in movies like these. So he told the producers that he would accept the job if he could put his own twist on it. I'm not even going to attempt to recreate the joke on here because it wouldn't do it justice. Needless to say they didn't bite and he didn't take the job. But it was a funny way of bringing up the problem that there are these go to templates that movie makers go to when drawing up characters of various sexuality. It is seemingly always some shallow interpretation and the fact that they are gay or a lesbian seems to be the focal point of their character and they have no further qualities or contribution to the movie or TV show.
ReplyDelete