The Birdge at 25: What Mike Nichols and Elae May’s Gay Comedy Tells Us about Fay

Contents:

• WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘THE BIRDGE’
• 25 YEARS AGO, GAY FAI JT WEREN'T TALKED ABOUT. THEN 'THE BIRDGE' H THE SCREEN
• WHAT THE BIRDGE‘S GRAND GAY COMEDY TELLS US ABOUT FAY 25 YEARS LATER
• THE BIRDGE TURNS 25: CELEBRATG ONE OF THE GREATT, GAYT MASTREAM EDI EVER MA

WAS IT GOOD FOR THE GAYS: ‘THE BIRDGE’

It’s te: 1996 saw the Rob Williams-Gene Hackman-led edy brg gay life and relatnships to the Amerin zegeist…not to mentn some of the bt one-le zgers ever mted to film. When their son Val (Dan Futterman) gets engaged to Barbra (Callista Flockhart), all Hell breaks loose: Barbra is the dghter of the nservative Senator Kev Keeley (Gene Hackman), one very much opposed to gay rights (or, for that matter, gay people even existg). The film touch on a number of major issu–marriage equaly, gay parentg, surrogacy, Right-wg npoopery–that wouldn’t bee major issu for another .

25 YEARS AGO, GAY FAI JT WEREN'T TALKED ABOUT. THEN 'THE BIRDGE' H THE SCREEN

In this regular lumn, we’ll look at pictns of queers cema and ask, Was It Good For The Gays? But more importantly, was good for the gays? Sure, there’s the prevalence of stereotypil gay referenc (drag queens, Speedos, plenty of mcg around, referenc to Madonna, and the notn that gay men love homoerotic art and cha patterns) that are all played for lghs.

The Pros: The posiv vastly outweigh the negativ, and, fact, the prevly mentned issu work almost as set-ups for the smart subversn of the typil gay stereotyp so promently displayed on film for s. (It should be noted that Lane is the only member of the ma st who is gay.

Alan Stt, once scribed The Birdge as the first movie about gay people that isn’t a tragedy.

WHAT THE BIRDGE‘S GRAND GAY COMEDY TELLS US ABOUT FAY 25 YEARS LATER

The Birdge is one of the most radil Hollywood pictns about gay men particular, bee  offers both diversy and humany while acplishg an even more difficult feat: ’s funny as hell.

This week marks the 25th anniversary of "The Birdge, " the smash h directed by Mike Nichols wh a screenplay by Elae May, starrg Rob Williams, Nathan Lane, Gene Hackman, Dianne Wit, Hank Azaria, Dan Futterman and Calista years ago, gay marriage was not only illegal, was banned most stat. But on March 8, 1996, dienc flocked to see somethg unual movie theaters: a lighthearted movie where openly gay men were the hero and a fay wh gay parents was lovg, happy and film not only gave Lane, Flockhart and Azaria their first big Hollywood breaks,  may have helped make mastream the ia of a non-heterosexual plot of "The Birdge" is simple.

But wh a few years after "The Birdge" there was "In & Out, " "Will & Grace, " "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, " "The L Word, " "Queer as Folk, " "Brokeback Mounta, " "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and more, all brgg more gay people to mastream entertament. "When me out, the gay prs was very hard on , " said Lane, who had e out to iends and fay as gay his 20s but had not ma public at the time of the movie, even duckg Oprah's qutns about durg an for the most part "The Birdge" was well-received for s portrayals for a lovg gay fay. The Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn (GLAAD) said, "We have seen so many films wh very one-dimensnal stereotypil characters.

THE BIRDGE TURNS 25: CELEBRATG ONE OF THE GREATT, GAYT MASTREAM EDI EVER MA

Hank Azaria worried about his portrayal of Agador"I thk whenever you have straight or gay actors portrayg gays a humoro way, you are makg fun of what you also are treatg lovgly at the same time, " Azaria said an terview wh The Daily News. I certaly n unrstand gay or Lat people havg a problem wh what I did… but I felt was thentic s own way. 3 ln on s openg weekend, the hight-grossg openg of a movie wh openly gay lead characters until Sascha Baron Cohen's "Bno" 2009, and stayed at #1 for four total box office for "The Birdge" was over $185 ln worldwi, makg Mike Nichols' most fancially succsful movie.