Queer Community In Popular Culture: Film Analysis

When we think of heroes we often think of a masked vigilanty or a cape crusader swooping down from the heavens and saving the day. Although heroes come in many shapes and sizes, they also tend to come from different backgrounds. The people of the United States pride themselves with freedom and equality. However, still to this day there is a struggle with discrimination. Matt Zoller Seitz’s article “The Offensive Movie Cliché That Won’t Die” definitely sparked some interest and was definitely right when it came to the offensive issue most people do not see.

These companies have also noted that diversity generally does not hold strong market value in comparison to a traditionally white narrative. In perspective, the recent science-fiction film Ghost in the Shell cast Scarlett Johansson as a Japanese woman, to which screenwriter Max Landis defended the choice, claiming that “there are no A-­list female Asian celebrities right now on an international level” (Chow 9). We can take from this claim a sense of how the industry truly feels about the notion of box office success for films in relation to diversity. More and more people are aware of the inequalities in media representation, but what are the implications of a more diverse cast and crew in terms of success? It may be critical in this era to portray accurate representations of race, disregarding its implications in box office success.

People's way of thinking is strongly influenced by the patriarchal scheme of the culture in which they live, and their judgments deriving from this scheme are deeply embedded in their psyche. Gender roles within patriarchal society prescribe the hierarchical roles of men and women assumed to be “natural,” and labeled as “masculine” and “feminine” as if these categories were ontological. In this context, the heterosexual majority regards homosexuals as those who transgress traditional gender roles and thus violate the prescribed rules of the “proper” sexual behavior. It is being supposedly said that gender identity such as masculinity and femininity is not something inherent you born with but, a learned entity, a social construction. When John looks at his father’s penis in the bathroom, Gabriel beats up his son in order for John to become a “proper” man, and must not sexualized the male body.

Queerness is antithetical to the child proper and, as such, cannot be represented upon the screen. Instead, a normative narrative of masculinity and femininity must take its

C.J. Pascoe, in her book Dude, You’re a Fag, argues that heterosexuality and dominant masculinity are inextricably linked. In order for boys to assert their masculinity, they must comply with the social processes that Pascoe calls “compulsive heterosexuality.” Compulsive heterosexuality builds on the concept of compulsory heterosexuality, a theory coined by researcher Adrienne Rich which refers to heterosexuality as political institution that enforces heterosexuality on women as a means of ensuring male dominance through “physical, economic, and emotional access” (86), and constructs alternative sexualities as “the other.” Compulsive heterosexuality encompases a myriad of sexualilzed gender performances and rituals, not merely to affirm one’s

I think there is a diverse group represented when it comes to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community. The LGBT community is widely represented in movies and TV shows since the last decade. For instance, in Mean Girls (2004), Grey’s Anatomy (2005) and Prison Break (2005) there were minority groups represented, despite being released over a decade ago. In addition, as the industry progresses, there are more minority groups being represented.

"New Queer Cinema" was a term conceived by B. Ruby Rich in numerous publications, notably Sight & Sound, a British film journal that Jose Arroyo regularly reviews on. The term was to describe the appearance of specific films during the early 1990’s at Sundance Film Festivals that indicated a politicized viewpoint towards queer. In a 2013 interview conducted by 15min with Arroyo, he states that gays in film have been there since the beginning of film. For example, films of nudes by Eadweard Muybridge during the 1890’s.

The dominant culture constantly viewed anybody that was gay or who seemed gay as something that was unfavorable, often represented in negative ways in society’s mainstream media. Also, bias to the stereotypical views that went along side with them, representing a very large portion of LGBT as either overly flamboyant, or somebody with commitment issues that tend to sleep around, or even as a person hiding in the closet about their same sex feelings. The LGBT choice never seems to fit the normal character category or even family friendly. The mainstream media tend to portray the LGBT character as either overly dramatic, kind of crazy or in some kind of comical way. One show that I thought of that gave the LGBT community positive outlooks but now that I look back I can see that there are more negative views then good.

___ Bronski, in surveying his personal archive, found that works of classic gay literature “were epitomized by self-hatred and ended in suicide, murder, or some other form of death” (Bronski 16). Generally, works published previous to the rise of gay liberation in the sixties, with notable exceptions such as Patricia Highman’s The Price of Salt, follow this formula. Negative and hopeless portrayals of queer individuals are not only because of publishing standards, but combine with how classifying homosexuality and addressing it as an identity was born out of the field of criminology, which sought to categorize sexuality while studying criminals and prove correlation between homosexual practice and crime. But considering that member of the queer community are more likely to experience violence, poverty, and mental illness as a result of discrimination they face because of their sexuality, these stories were not necessarily overreacting to harsh lives queer individuals

After watching “Philadelphia,” I have a better idea of how far we as a society have come regarding LGBT rights. In contrast to how North America used to view AIDS and the LGBT community, we have become so much open minded, compassionate and accepting in recent years. The themes of homophobia and the discrimination of people infected with AIDS are prominent throughout the film, and sheds light on how people like Tom Hanks’ character was treated at that time. Currently, being ‘gay’ is fully accpeted all over Canada and in the United States. Although there is still a lot of work to be done, we have come a long way from the time that Philadelphia is set.

Sandra Harding and Julia Wood’s Standpoint Theory: A Communication Phenomenon of Looking but not Seeing, and Hearing but not Listening Feminism, classism, ageism, sexism, ableism, sizeism, anti-semitism — these are merely a fourth of the various terminologies begotten by societal oppression. I am an upper middle class, privileged, able-bodied, young, cishet woman in a deliberately structured male-dominated society. Feminist activism and the fight for women’s rights have been carried through the years generation after generation and still, to this day, the struggle for female empowerment continues to prevail. In addition to this, the ignorance visible in various forms of daily communication is glaringly observable as a considerably more “dominant”

Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (1990) and Bodies that Matter (1993) works are fundamental texts of study for this thesis. Both works are deeply influenced specially by French structuralism and post-structuralism schools of thought. In Gender Trouble, Butler deconstructs the established, normative, Western construction of the Gay/Straight and hetero/homosexual binaries to discuss the lack of perspective regarding the heterogeneity of sexual identity and diversity as it is present in twentieth century society. Her arguments focus not only on the production of binaries and their rigidity from a sociological standpoint, but also on how the use of these binary structures can affect us in processes of sexual identity construction because of interpretations and constraints coming from various fields such as: the

This research will be guided by both queer theory and media theory, such as reception theory. The media can play a positive role in informing people, in Ireland the media played a significant role in recent times in representing non-normative identities. When analysing media content it is important to be objective and examine all points of view, this is necessary “in order to tease out the social contradictions and contestations embedded” (Saukko, P., 2003, 104). Another point made in the book Doing Cultural Studies research is that you have to bear in mind the social context of the media text you are interpreting looking at the historical and political context in which the media text occurs, with an “observation of contradictory agendas” (Saukko, P., 2003, 113).

Having an LGBT main character is possible and in no way is it wrong. Having this would not seem out-of-place in society because varying preferences are becoming more popular. The ratio of LGBT main characters on television to the amount of members in

The films that I have chosen to focus on and compare, highlight the way homosexuality has been represented in films throughout the years and how it has been shaped as society changes what is viewed as being normal and socially acceptable. My aim is also to highlight the things that have remained the same about how homosexuality is represented even in the society we live in today. This is why I have chosen films that have been made during different times in order to compare them and come to an accurate conclusion as to whether the representation has changed. Next Slide: Representation in Films Presenter: “Sexual desire on TV is represented as being predominantly heterosexual; that is presented as the norm” (Joyce, 2009) (Item 15) says Andrea