Gay and Lesbian Drama

            It is with small pieces that great things are created. Small bits of earthly elements pure in form are combined to create new things; things with a different appeal. Mixing up established genres in film is a popular way to build sub-genres with focused interest on a specific idea. Homosexuality in films has been portrayed since film history began, but it took a long time to develop into a more dramatic sense. At first homosexuality on the screen was a sure fire hit for gaining laughter from the audience. There was something about seeing an effeminate man that brought humor to a movie, but for a woman to dress up like a man gained a totally different response; appeal.[1]

After the Hays Code was put into effect, homosexuality on the screen was something that had to be hidden or written between the lines. As years rolled by the Hays Code became less and less restrictive, but for some reason was still as strict as ever on portraying homosexuality.[2] A historical event took place in 1969 that started a revolution for homosexuals in the United States. It began as a police raid on a gay bar in Manhattan. At this time it was perfectly legal and normal for homosexual bars to be raided because there were no laws to protect gays. What makes this event so different from the normal raids was that the gays and lesbians stood up for themselves and fought back, starting a whole civil rights movement still in effect.[3]

The next year a film came out that revolutionized the way homosexuals were portrayed on screen and the sub-genre of Gay and Lesbian drama began. The Boys in the Band (1970), based on the hit off-Broadway play (1968), became the first film daring to portray openly gay characters in a way that more closely resembled reality. The movie faces issues that were present at the time and are present to this day. It focuses on people struggling with their own homosexual issues and presents them in a dramatic sense.[4] Prior to 1970 homosexuality was considered a psychological disorder and many still viewed it as such after it was taken out of the psychological disorders book in the 1970s. The Boys in the Band (1970) hit on these issues and faced them to bring about new hope and light on the subject. The characters in the film portrayed insecurities and stereotypes that society had created for them. The characters played a role that many gay viewers thought themselves to be as well. In the end a very melodramatic statement was made by Harold that helped sum up the problem facing his friend Michael, and a problem many real-life viewers had themselves.

You are a sad and pathetic man, Michael. You are a homosexual, and you don’t want to be, but there’s nothing you can do to change it. Not all your prayers to your God. Not all the analysis your money can buy in the years you have left to live. You may one day be able to know a heterosexual life. If you want it desperately enough. If you pursue it with the fervor with which you annihilate. But you will always be homosexual as well, Michael. Always. Until the day you die.[5]

            This movie inspired many gays and lesbians to step out and be heard. Many came out of the closet to loved ones, friends, family, and coworkers. The idea of being homosexual was no longer portrayed in the dismal, lonely, stereotype former Hollywood had set up.[6] Homosexuals weren’t bad, miserable villains. They weren’t victims of tragedy, or tragic endings; they weren’t all effeminate men only worth a laugh on the stage and not taken serious. They were real people capable of love, capable of human struggles, and in need of support and recognition. This is what Gay and Lesbian drama provides for its viewers. For decades all homosexuals had was a preconceived notion that they were bad, or perverts, or psychologically ill. It left its viewers feeling they were all alone in the world. Gay and Lesbian drama provides a glimpse of what other normal abilities homosexuals have by portraying them in a more real sense. For its viewers, this sub-genre allows the ability to see homosexuals interact with each other, to build friendships and relationships. It also allows them to be noticed, heard, and accepted for who they are. For many, coming to terms with homosexuality is difficult and scary. Not many are prepared for a life like this and therefore struggle with the issues. The society as a whole doesn’t generate a very welcome attitude for it either, so for movies to be able to portray an idea of how gays and lesbians can function in a normal society is quite relieving for the struggling individual. It allows them to see that they are capable of finding friends like themselves, finding someone to love and be sexually attractive to, and also sets up a frame of support.

            Gay and Lesbian drama is a pretty broad sub-genre. It includes a quantity of different topics to discuss including coming out issues, relationship issues, friendship or camaraderie issues, AIDS issues, and family issues. To not explain each in depth would be too broad to grasp the importance of the sub-genre, so the main focus will be on the friendship/camaraderie focused films, and to further narrow it down will only discuss the friendships among gay males as the lead characters.

In these films it is customary for the setting to take place in a big U.S. city. There is just something more appealing about the big city, having things to do, etc. that make these gay themed movies more successful. Having gay friends hang out in the suburbs wouldn’t make as much sense because there aren’t many homosexuals living in the suburbs in the real world. There are usually many characters that are focused on, not all equally, but enough to consider them an importance to the storyline. Numbers can vary but it’s common to have around five or more. Each character possesses a different stereotypical homosexual trait that if you were to dissect deep enough into a real homosexual could extract bits and pieces of their fully developed personalities from the many “fully” developed personalities of the characters. Mart Crowley, writer of the play The Boys in the Band (1968), states that his characters were “split off pieces of myself.”[7] Such personalities include the flamboyant side, the conservative side, the closeted side, the struggling side, the pessimistic side, etc.

Each of these traits can be found in a homosexual to some extent, but the characters take each trait to the extreme and develop a full identity based on it. The theme behind this is that all these homosexual traits (or characters) learn how to cope with each other and form some sort of support. These movies provide for its viewers a chance to understand that all the fighting sides composing their complete personality (portrayed by individual characters in the films) must come together in harmony (seen by the friendship and tolerance of the diverse collection of gay friends).

 These friends must accomplish this in the story or film as well. They have to understand their individual differences and come together in support for their homosexuality and acceptance in life. This is true in The Boys in the Band (1970) in which some friends gather for a birthday party, express their individual traits, and in the end discover how unhappy they can be but how friends are important.[8] In The Broken Hearts Club (2000) you see a similar take in which some friends hang out together, discuss their issues, and in the end one character realizes just how important his friends are to him. In the movie the main character, Dennis, finishes the movie by stating that his friends were what made him first know that being gay was O.K.[9] Similar mood and message was said by Michael in The Boys in the Band (1970) when he last states “If we could just not hate ourselves so much. That’s it, you know. If we could just learn not to hate ourselves quite so very much.”[10]

Very similar attributes can be found in other movies such as Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997), in which a few older gay men spend the summer in an older estate in upstate New York. Although some AIDS issues can also be attributed to this movie, it also follows the guidelines for the friendship or camaraderie style.[11] Another movie with similar style is that of Longtime Companion (1990). In this movie you see a lot of support for AIDS issues, but because it incorporates some of the same tactics as the friendship movies can still be included in this sub-genre breakdown. It is about some friends dealing with AIDS and their support for each other during those tragic times.[12]

            Homosexuality’s history on the big screen has changed so much over the years. Since 1970 Gay and Lesbian drama has grown and covered vast amounts of material and issues, but still has a long way to go. The majority of the issues covered are those that are being discussed and battles being fought in the present. Issues such as coming out, finding love, being a friend, etc. are what are being discussed now, but slowly new issues will arise as homosexuals gain more political freedom, or have to battle more political fights.

It is very possible that with time we will see more films that deal with adoption rights for homosexuals; or movies that focus on the issue of Lesbians raising happy families with children, hopefully ones that allow gay men the chance to see how they can raise families as well; issues of adoption or possibly issues arousing from political action to break up families with gay parents; issues of equal rights and recognized civil unions or even the allowance of gay marriages. The future is open to many ideas and future concerns/struggles that are so distant to homosexuals now due to political injustice, but that hopefully with time will be unlocked. It would be nice to one day be able to have a movie that follows the conventions portrayed in a totally different genre only that the main character is gay or lesbian but faces non gay and lesbian issues but the issues set forth in that typical genre. Maybe we will even see films in which homosexuality is seen but not even thought in terms of homosexual issues because there won’t be homosexual issues in real life. It’s also possible that movies will emerge following similar guidelines homosexual movies follow for other minorities who have yet to be recognized, even possibly with the emergence of more transsexual/transgender themed films.