Whether it's suicide, Aids (a particularly maudlin Ed Harris performance in The Hours employs both), being beaten to death, state execution, getting shot, or getting raped and then shot, LGBT characters are just not allowed the happy endings that their straight counterparts enjoy. My personal favourite comes from A Single Man, in which Colin Firth simply drops dead for no reason. Presumably overwhelmed by sheer homosexuality, his heart can no longer keep beating. Beware, non-heterosexuals: Sudden Gay Death Syndrome can strike anywhere...
James Rawson writing for the Guardian Film blog.
Vito Russo's 1981 book, The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality In The Movies - genuinely groundbreaking, seminal etc etc - ended with a "Necrology" of over 30 gay characters on film and how they died.
Hollywood's clearly come a long way, eh?
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Yeah I think a sensible analysis of how LGBT people are portrayed in films should be focused entirely on how many of them get rose-tinted happy endings.
ReplyDeleteIn other news I'm currently watching the 1985 Patsy Cline biopic and at least she dies in a plane crash so hip hip hooray for equality.
Yeah whatever.
DeleteNot fair and not accurate about A Single Man.
ReplyDeleteThe Colin Firth character doesn't 'drop dead for no reason' - it's flagged early on that he has a medical condition which could kill him at any time. In the film, he finally finds love after years of cruising and grief for his previous partner, then ironically dies just as his life begins again.
There's nothing homophobic in the movie - it treats the three central gay characters very sympathetically.
Otherwise, a good article.