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xakara’s wonderful TTs on sexuality the past few weeks, I thought it might be fun to talk about several LGBTQ movies that had mainstream attention. I believe this is important, because when the concept of alternative sexuality is in popular entertainment it make it harder for society as a whole to ignore us.
1) The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Two drag-queens, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy Pearce), and a transexual, Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. When they arrive they discover that it is more than just a cabaret job waiting for them.
It's the Australian film that blitzed overseas box offices. It caused a near riot at the Cannes Film Festival. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It's fun, daring, over-the-top and unforgettable. It's a road movie with attitude and the occasional frock.
2) In & Out
Howard Brackett's high school English students are astonished. Is it really true that their favorite high school teacher may be gay? But hey, he can't be gay; he's about to get married! Then again, he also teaches the drama class and boy, does he love those Barbra Streisand records... It all happened to Howard faster than you could say "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." One of his former students became a Hollywood superstar, and clumsily called Howard's sexuality into question--on the Academy Awards telecast, no less. Instantly Howard's tranquil life in Greenleaf, Indiana has turned upside down. Greenleaf has now become the scene of a media-feeding frenzy with Howard as bait. Peter Malloy, a slick and aggressive TV reporter, is determined to move in for the kill and get Howard to speak the truth. Meanwhile, Howard is only days away from his wedding to Emily Montgomery, the fiancee he's managed to hold at bay a full three years.
3) Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy is a play (later adapted as a film) by Harvey Fierstein. It comprises three acts—International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First!—all of which center on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the 1980s. The four hour-plus play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.
Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnold's life. In the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, two years later, Arnold meets Alan, and the two settle down into a blissful existence that includes plans to adopt a child, until tragedy strikes. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David. Arnold is forced to deal with his mother's intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida.
The award-winning and popular work broke new ground in the theatre: "At the height of the post-Stonewall clone era, Harvey challenged both gay and straight audiences to champion an effeminate gay man's longings for love and family."
4) Boys on the Side
The story of three women, one dying of AIDS, who share a car trip across the country. Each has memories she'd like to forget and circumstances she'd like to change. Over the course of their trip, they become friends, joining together to form a makeshift family.
5) The Birdcage
Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover Albert stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling, twenty years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keely, daughter of Kevin Keely, US Senator, and vice president of the Committee for Moral Order. The Senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val and his father and "mother..." and what ensues is comic chaos.
6) To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything
Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes), Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) are gonna to show America a thing or two about being fabulous. Dressed to kill, with their Dynel tresses tossing in the breeze behind them, these three stars of New York's drag-queen beauty pageant circuit have hit the open road in a 1967 Cadillac convertible. Destination: Hollywood.
7) Jeffery
Jeffery, a young gay man in New York, decides that sex is too much and decided to become celibate. He immediately meets the man of his dreams and must decide whether or not love is worth the danger of a boyfriend dying.
8) Victor/Victoria
Set in 1930s Paris, starving opera singer Victoria (Julie Andrews) is aided by gay cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston). When Victoria dons Toddy's ex's clothes and then sends the abusive ex flying with a booming shout and an equally booming right hook, Toddy is hit with inspiration: he'll pass her off as a female impersonator. A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman? It all goes well until Chicago "businessman" King Marchand (James Garner), starts to investigate, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man! The revelation of Kings infatuation brings his body guard 'Squash' Bernstein (Alex Karras) roaring out of the closet and his spurned moll Norma Cassady (brilliantly acted by Leslie Ann Warren) off to Chicago to plan revenge with King's other "business associates".
9) Brokeback Mountain
In the Summer of 1963 Wyoming, two young men, Ennis a ranch hand and Jack an aspiring rodeo bull rider, are sent to work together herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain, and what had otherwise been anticipated to be a rather uneventful venture, will soon turn into an affair of love, of lust, and complications that will spand through 19 years of their lives. Through marriage, through children, and through the mighty grip of societal confines and the expectations of what it is to be a man.
10) The Rocky Horror Picture Show
What do a Transylvanian transvestite, a cryogenically-preserved motorbiker and a Frankenstein's monster wearing golden underpants all have in common? They're all crucial parts of Rocky Horror Picture Show, the comedy cult classic which is at once hysterical, indispensable and truly disturbing. Innocent young lovers Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) are stranded when their car breaks down, so they are forced to seek refuge in the castle of the bizarre Dr. Frankenfurter (Tim Curry), who is having a gathering of some kind... What ensues is an unforgettable night of music and madness where, like a circus act, you never know what's going to come next. Adding to the madness is the narration of the soporific Professor, who, in omnipotence, recounts the whole story from the comfort of his genteel study. Of course, there are pre-designed spots for audience participation - from being doused with spray bottles to throwing popcorn at the screen to getting up from your seat and dancing along to the incomparable "Time Warp". By the end of the night, fantasies will be realities, men will be women and everything will be explained - or will it?!?!?
11) Transamerica
Bree is a highly educated, conservative transsexual woman who passes as a G.G., living in a poor section of Los Angeles and working two jobs to save money for her final sexual reassignment surgery. Her life takes an unexpected journey when she learns that when she was a he, she fathered a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York. When she receives a phone call from Toby, who's looking for his father, she realizes she must confront her past. She flies to New York to bail Toby out of jail and offers him a ride cross-country, secretly plotting to abandon him with the stepfather he ran away from.
12) Kiss of the Spider Woman
Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a homosexual, is found guilty of immoral behavior and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in. During the time they spend together, the two men come to understand and respect one another.
13) The Celluloid Closet
A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses.
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Two drag-queens, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Felicia (Guy Pearce), and a transexual, Bernadette (Terrence Stamp) contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. They head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla. When they arrive they discover that it is more than just a cabaret job waiting for them.
It's the Australian film that blitzed overseas box offices. It caused a near riot at the Cannes Film Festival. It won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. It's fun, daring, over-the-top and unforgettable. It's a road movie with attitude and the occasional frock.
2) In & Out
Howard Brackett's high school English students are astonished. Is it really true that their favorite high school teacher may be gay? But hey, he can't be gay; he's about to get married! Then again, he also teaches the drama class and boy, does he love those Barbra Streisand records... It all happened to Howard faster than you could say "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." One of his former students became a Hollywood superstar, and clumsily called Howard's sexuality into question--on the Academy Awards telecast, no less. Instantly Howard's tranquil life in Greenleaf, Indiana has turned upside down. Greenleaf has now become the scene of a media-feeding frenzy with Howard as bait. Peter Malloy, a slick and aggressive TV reporter, is determined to move in for the kill and get Howard to speak the truth. Meanwhile, Howard is only days away from his wedding to Emily Montgomery, the fiancee he's managed to hold at bay a full three years.
3) Torch Song Trilogy
Torch Song Trilogy is a play (later adapted as a film) by Harvey Fierstein. It comprises three acts—International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First!—all of which center on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song-singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the 1980s. The four hour-plus play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.
Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnold's life. In the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, two years later, Arnold meets Alan, and the two settle down into a blissful existence that includes plans to adopt a child, until tragedy strikes. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David. Arnold is forced to deal with his mother's intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida.
The award-winning and popular work broke new ground in the theatre: "At the height of the post-Stonewall clone era, Harvey challenged both gay and straight audiences to champion an effeminate gay man's longings for love and family."
4) Boys on the Side
The story of three women, one dying of AIDS, who share a car trip across the country. Each has memories she'd like to forget and circumstances she'd like to change. Over the course of their trip, they become friends, joining together to form a makeshift family.
5) The Birdcage
Armand Goldman owns a popular drag nightclub in South Miami Beach. His long-time lover Albert stars there as Starina. "Their" son Val (actually Armand's by his one heterosexual fling, twenty years before) comes home to announce his engagement to Barbara Keely, daughter of Kevin Keely, US Senator, and vice president of the Committee for Moral Order. The Senator and family descend upon South Beach to meet Val and his father and "mother..." and what ensues is comic chaos.
6) To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything
Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes), Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) are gonna to show America a thing or two about being fabulous. Dressed to kill, with their Dynel tresses tossing in the breeze behind them, these three stars of New York's drag-queen beauty pageant circuit have hit the open road in a 1967 Cadillac convertible. Destination: Hollywood.
7) Jeffery
Jeffery, a young gay man in New York, decides that sex is too much and decided to become celibate. He immediately meets the man of his dreams and must decide whether or not love is worth the danger of a boyfriend dying.
8) Victor/Victoria
Set in 1930s Paris, starving opera singer Victoria (Julie Andrews) is aided by gay cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston). When Victoria dons Toddy's ex's clothes and then sends the abusive ex flying with a booming shout and an equally booming right hook, Toddy is hit with inspiration: he'll pass her off as a female impersonator. A woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman? It all goes well until Chicago "businessman" King Marchand (James Garner), starts to investigate, sure that a man like himself could never fall for another man! The revelation of Kings infatuation brings his body guard 'Squash' Bernstein (Alex Karras) roaring out of the closet and his spurned moll Norma Cassady (brilliantly acted by Leslie Ann Warren) off to Chicago to plan revenge with King's other "business associates".
9) Brokeback Mountain
In the Summer of 1963 Wyoming, two young men, Ennis a ranch hand and Jack an aspiring rodeo bull rider, are sent to work together herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain, and what had otherwise been anticipated to be a rather uneventful venture, will soon turn into an affair of love, of lust, and complications that will spand through 19 years of their lives. Through marriage, through children, and through the mighty grip of societal confines and the expectations of what it is to be a man.
10) The Rocky Horror Picture Show
What do a Transylvanian transvestite, a cryogenically-preserved motorbiker and a Frankenstein's monster wearing golden underpants all have in common? They're all crucial parts of Rocky Horror Picture Show, the comedy cult classic which is at once hysterical, indispensable and truly disturbing. Innocent young lovers Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) are stranded when their car breaks down, so they are forced to seek refuge in the castle of the bizarre Dr. Frankenfurter (Tim Curry), who is having a gathering of some kind... What ensues is an unforgettable night of music and madness where, like a circus act, you never know what's going to come next. Adding to the madness is the narration of the soporific Professor, who, in omnipotence, recounts the whole story from the comfort of his genteel study. Of course, there are pre-designed spots for audience participation - from being doused with spray bottles to throwing popcorn at the screen to getting up from your seat and dancing along to the incomparable "Time Warp". By the end of the night, fantasies will be realities, men will be women and everything will be explained - or will it?!?!?
11) Transamerica
Bree is a highly educated, conservative transsexual woman who passes as a G.G., living in a poor section of Los Angeles and working two jobs to save money for her final sexual reassignment surgery. Her life takes an unexpected journey when she learns that when she was a he, she fathered a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York. When she receives a phone call from Toby, who's looking for his father, she realizes she must confront her past. She flies to New York to bail Toby out of jail and offers him a ride cross-country, secretly plotting to abandon him with the stepfather he ran away from.
12) Kiss of the Spider Woman
Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a homosexual, is found guilty of immoral behavior and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality Luis invents romantic movies, while Valentin tries to keep his mind on the situation he's in. During the time they spend together, the two men come to understand and respect one another.
13) The Celluloid Closet
A comprehensive documentary of the history of gays and lesbians in cinema, from negative to positive reflections of gay characters and the troubles of actors and actresses.
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
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Comments
And Victor/Victoria, what a great one that is. Much love for it too.
I don't know if you caught it, but last year TCM did a festival of films looking at the portrayal of gays in film over the years. That's just another reason why I think they are one of the best channels on TV.
Malcolm
http://popculturedish.blogspot.com/
http://agentlemansdomain.typepad.com
My TT is about cats on book covers. From the list I'd recommend Track of the Cat and Sunday's Child.
Good list, though: a couple of these are in my Netflix queue. I'll have to add the others.
--Darla
http://nichtszusagen.blogspot.com
- Tempest
http://midnightmooncafe.blogspot.com/
Great list, Happy TT!!!
http://susanmirandajourney.blogspot.com
jehara
jehara.blogspot.com