Shy Jamie (Glen Berry) and athletic Ste (Stt Neal) are teen boys who live near each other the London projects. Both boys thk they uld be gay, and fally explore their feelgs when Ste is allowed to stay over at Jamie's place after an cint wh his abive father. There, the boys grow close and open themselv up to the ia of homosexualy, while Jamie's rg mother, Sandra (Lda Henry), and quirky teen neighbor, Leah (Tameka Empson), offer much need emotnal support.
Contents:
- BETIFUL THG IS A MASTERPIECE OF GAY STORYTELLG
- ON THIS GAY DAY: THE MOVIE ‘BETIFUL THG’ WAS RELEASED
- BETIFUL THG, GROUNDBREAKG GAY PLAY, TO ENJOY WT END REVIVAL
BETIFUL THG IS A MASTERPIECE OF GAY STORYTELLG
Betiful Thg Is a Masterpiece of Gay StorytellgThe 1996 Brish film portrayed s workg-class LGBT characters wh remarkable sensivy and Pictur ClassicsWhen Jonathan Harvey’s love story Betiful Thg buted 1993 as a play, he had no ia would eventually be herald as a crown jewel of gay storytellg.
“But wasn’t tend to be a gay play, jt a play that happened to have gay characters. Remend ReadgDpe Betiful Thg’s tle, gay life the early 1990s was anythg but pretty. AIDS, then a terrifyg new disease, had started killg thoands of gay men the prev .
In 1987, Bra’s Prime Mister, Margaret Thatcher, gave a speech plag that, rather than learng to rpect “tradnal” valu, children were beg tght that they “have an alienable right to be gay.
ON THIS GAY DAY: THE MOVIE ‘BETIFUL THG’ WAS RELEASED
” It was hardly a cince that Sectn 28—an amendment that prohibed lol thori om “promotg homosexualy” or teachg schools the “acceptabily of homosexualy as a pretend fay relatnship”—was enacted by Thatcher’s ernment the followg year.
The film was genuely subversive for s time and place: Depictg gay kids who don’t succumb to the “plague” or ultimately bow to prsure om their bigoted peers was no small thg at a moment stricken by an pecially vilent, anti-LGBT mood. Inially, neher boy has fully accepted his sexualy, and Betiful Thg is a lite exploratn of the often-paful procs of g out that evolv to a gay film is filled wh charmg and poignant moments that uld be found any romantic dramedy.
At another pot, a cur Jamie steals a gay magaze and, rrectly, tells Ste what “ottage” is (“It’s yogurt. Later, the two go to a gay jot—the first place they thk to go to where they n be public about their relatnship sans judgment— a scene that gently pots to the historil signifince of gay bars as safe spac. Wh the relatable and humane moments, the film telegraphed to s mid-1990s dienc somethg they hadn’t heard much before: Gay people are jt Betiful Thg div even eper.
BETIFUL THG, GROUNDBREAKG GAY PLAY, TO ENJOY WT END REVIVAL
Through the film’s two other central characters, viewers also get an illumatg glimpse of gay love crosshatched wh other forms of opprsn rooted inty—primarily class—as well as a broar, arguably fuller pictn of longg for, well, belongg. ” Jamie asks Ste at one pot)—when they’re also stuck another—on a uncil tate wh fay members who might be unaware of their own anti-gay prejudic or who might react vlently to learng about their sexualy.
The primary characters are two gay teenagers, a mother doublg as the breadwner, and a young black woman, all plucked om the workg class. Then, as now, the story criqu a culture that herently valu the stori, if not existenc, of “non-normative” Betiful Thg may not have the mastream clout of other films on BFI’s list, such as Todd Hayn’s electrifyg 2015 perd piece Carol, s prence the pantheon of gay cema ntu to expand what dienc might nsir the genre of “great” films, promptg broar awarens of historilly overlooked perspectiv that are nohels worthy of attentn.
After all, Harvey, a gay man of workg-class orig, was the one who brought this cultural touchstone to may not have tend to create a gay story. More than anythg, Harvey allows the film’s gay protagonists to eventually live fully and visibly as themselv.