Media featuring LGBT content
Foes to friends to lovers. I’ve enjoyed this romcom formula since I first saw William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. There’s something magic about that moment before characters realize their world view is changing. The 1989 film When Harry Met … Continue reading LGBT Movies: The Thing About Harry (2020)
An Italian boy comes of age in the year 1911. He experiments with his sexuality and wrestles with his ideals. Ernesto, based on an unfinished novel, is a chilly film. The leading man cares little for the people around him … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Ernesto (1979)
Showtime commissioned three playwrights for a anthology of gay history. We visit the 50’s, 70’s and 00’s to see the challenges gays and lesbians faced in small towns. Common Ground is most notable for its starry cast. Brittany Murphy, Steven … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Common Ground (2000)
A gay student was attacked and a frat is under investigation. A closeted frat boy will have to decide whether to support the victim or his bros. Some moral ambiguity would have been nice but Defying Gravity is not about … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Defying Gravity (1997)
When condom monsters attack New York a bitter gay cop investigates. The trashy script, adapted from a German graphic novel, takes your standard monster movie and adds penis jokes. It works as well as it does because the leading man, … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Killer Condom (1996)
Genre films have formulas. A story might stick to the template or attempt to subvert it. The following are a collection of genre films with LGBT characters. I started with Biography and Mystery. Then the mysteries started spilling into other … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Biography and Mystery
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) was founded in 1985. This week they announced the nominees for their 2019 Media Awards. “(The Awards) recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, … Continue reading GLAAD Media Awards – 2019 nominees
While the Hollywood blockbusters offer us 20 seconds of queer representation and call it progress, films made elsewhere continue to offer a variety of stories about LGBT+ folks. The following is a compilation of some interesting films I saw in … Continue reading LGBT Movies: More Adult Protagonists
I’m compiling the rest of 2019’s capsule reviews into a series of articles. Today I focus on Comedy and Romance. These genres are deceptively difficult. Push too hard and your cast will scream at the audience nonstop. Hold back and … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Comedy and Romance
Homosexuals are being murdered. A cop goes undercover to investigate. The cop begins to question his sexuality and panics. Offensive hi-jinks ensue. 1980’s Cruising, inspired protests before it even opened in cinemas. Much has been written about Director William Friedkin’s controversial … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Cops in Drag
2018’s Love Simon inspired me to review stories about LGBT youth. I’ve seen more films since that first article and wanted to share my thoughts. What are some of your favorites? Teen Comedy Booksmart (2019, USA). Two uptight teen girls, … Continue reading LGBT Movies: More Teen Protagonists
Peter Finch’s doctor and Glenda Jackson’s consultant are sharing Murray Head’s young lover. They’ve agreed not to speak with each other and he’s happy to hop between them whenever he gets bored. He hops a lot because they’re awfully boring. … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
I dedicate this film to anyone who’s ever been made to feel inappropriate. ~ Director, Paul Vecchiali. Paul Vecchiali’s Once More observes ten years in the life of a cad. He breaks a string of hearts before contracting the AIDS … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Once More (1988)
He’s a budding drag queen. She’s a functioning schizophrenic. They’re roommates and they’re…. outrageous! Margaret Gibson wrote a collection of short stories about her struggles with mental illness and her friendship with female impersonator Craig Russell. Russell would co-star in … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Outrageous! (1977)
André Aciman’s 2007 novel, Call Me By Your Name, put us in the mind of Elio, an impulsive teenager. He spent a summer in Italy with his wealthy parents, his girlfriend, and a visiting grad student; Oliver. His feelings for … Continue reading Book Review: Find Me by André Aciman
Two women meet at a ranch in Reno, Nevada. The uptight one is getting a divorce. The wild one has gotten stuck in a holding pattern. They fall in love despite the disapproval of their friends and exes. Angst levels … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Desert Hearts (1985)
In 1982, there was a brief cycle of homosexual-relationship films, none of which were successful enough to form the basis of a trend. Producer/director/writer Robert Towne’s Personal Best is one of the finest. ~ Rotten Tomatoes. A bisexual athlete trains … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Personal Best (1982)
If you read a list of horror films with LGBT characters you’ll find a lot of murder victims, serial killers and vampires. Occasionally a gay side character gets lucky (Cursed (2005), ParaNorman (2012) ) but often they’re first on the … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Horror Protagonists
Over the last hundred years, more than five hundred books and essays in English alone have attempted to pinpoint and identify the nature of the evil in the work. ~ Playwright Tim Luscombe. Henry James’ 1898 novella, The Turn of … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Turn of the Screw (1985)
In Hot Potato a factory worker rescues a gay man from a hate crime and takes him in as a roommate. Eventually he’s mistaken for gay by his co-workers. They’re proud communists, devoted to workers rights, but can’t handle the … Continue reading LGBT Movies: Hot Potato (1979)
“They say it’s a sickness. They say it’s something that has to be cured. I don’t know. I do know it isn’t easy. If I had a choice, it’s not something I’d pick for myself. But it’s the only way … Continue reading LGBT Movies: That Certain Summer (1972)
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