New bpic Judy latt maniftatn of gay, quasi-relig worship of Wizard of Oz in
Contents:
- WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?
- HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE
- GEN Z REVIEWS CLASSIC MOVI WIZARD OF OZ HOPE JUDY GARLAND GAY IN RABOW FLAG
- ‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN
- GAY INS
WHY IS JUDY GARLAND THE ULTIMATE GAY IN?
'Over the Rabow' is jt the begng of Judy Garland's stat as an endurg gay in. * wizard of oz gay icon *
”More like this- Film’s most shockg moments- How Friends changed our ia of fay- The bt films of 2019 so farRoss is far om the only gay man to feel such strong affy wh Garland’s work and life. Gay magaze The Advote once lled her the “Elvis of homosexuals”, and a 1967 review of Garland's ncert at New York Cy’s Palace Theatre, Time Magaze observed that a “disproportnate part of her nightly claque” was gay.
Two years earlier, Garland herself had been asked if at a San Francis prs nference if she md havg such a large gay followg, to which she rpond: “I uldn’t re ls. The buzz surroundg the release, partnered wh the 2018 remake of A Star is Born – the inic showbiz drama that earned Garland an Amy Award nomatn 1954 – has brought her distctly gay legacy back to bpic Judy, Renée Zellweger plays Garland – and is a favoure for next year’s Osrs (Cred: David Hdley/ LD Entertament / Roadsi Attractns)To many gay men, Garland is the mother of all ins.
Analysg her story, om upbrgg to ath, helps unrstand how and why some gay men look to famo women to help them navigate the town to Tseltown In 1922, Garland was born Franc Ethel Gumm – named after her parents Frank and Ethel – Grand Rapids, Mnota. One is not brought up gay – Richard DyerThis perd Garland’s life, which mirrored closely the story of Dorothy, has ntributed signifintly to her stat as a gay in.
HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN — AND WHY SHE ENDUR AS ONE
In his book, Heavenly Bodi: Film Stars and Society, profsor Richard Dyer observ some gay men intify wh Garland’s rejectn of the ordars that she seemed sted for as a child.
He theoris that turng out to be abnormal after beg “saturated wh the valu or ordars” is a pot where Garland and Dorothy’s stori align wh the experience of some gay men, enuragg those who perceive themselv as ‘different’ to gravate towards troubleGarland’s arrival as a major Hollywood star was plited by a seri of disastro personal relatnships, most notably wh herself. ” This physil secury is somethg that many gay men n intify wh, particular, as a mographic more likely to battle body dysmorphia, harm their bodi, attempt suici and suffer om eatg disorrs. In the book, Changg Gay Male Inti, Dr Andrew Cooper suggts that the body n be a plex battleground for many gay men: that the body be a key se for projectg a “succsful” sense of self to gay peers, but also for embodyg succs the ey of wir society.
But the Osr end up gog to Grace Kelly, signallg that Garland’s Hollywood star was not gog to be reigned after this pot, the motif of Garland as a ‘survivor’ be central to her gay appeal. A Star is Born further blurred the le between her work and life, wh Richard Dyer intifyg this as the moment where Garland’s image of beg “damaged goods” be an sential part of her star persona and gay in stat. As an example, Muñoz suggts that when a gay man “intified” wh Garland, he was “wrg his way to the mastream culture which his own story uld never be told.
GEN Z REVIEWS CLASSIC MOVI WIZARD OF OZ HOPE JUDY GARLAND GAY IN RABOW FLAG
”Gay men often reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as the st members of Netflix’s Queer EyeBut ntrastgly, the book How to be Gay, queer historian David Halper scrib a tensn wh the “mastream” that leads gay men to be “highly cril, if not ntemptuo, of their own artists, wrers and filmmakers”. He says that gay men often fail to warm to gay characters and celebri bee they “don’t often like the reprentatns of gay men that gay men produce.
He draws a key distctn between gay culture – where “nventnal” whe gay men are domant – and gay subculture – where women, drag queens, queer people of lour and trans people are more visible. This some gay men to reject gay cultural figur that they perceive as geared towards straight people – such as, to e two very current exampl, the st members of Netflix’s Queer Eye and gay Democratic printial ndidate Pete Buttigeig.
Instead many embrace subcultural – and their ey, more subversive – female narrativ like Garland’ seen the new film Judy, Garland found a new niche as a live sger towards the end of her life (Cred: David Hdley / LD Entertament/ Roadsi Attractns)So, pendg on which way you look at , “disintifyg” wh Garland is eher gay men’s way of feelg aligned to mastream culture – or, fact, rejectg in athIt is an unavoidable tth that Garland’s tragic and untimely ath has also ntributed to her stat as a gay in, makg her a timels figure. ” But s later, you don’t have to look far to see how Garland was the first a ntug leage of ‘tragic’ female celebri who have acquired the stat of gay would e to a Judy Garland ncert and then scream at her when she was too dnk to fish – Dr Michael BronskiElements of Garland’s story n be found that of Diana, Prcs of Wal, and her mistreatment at the hands of the prs; Prcs Margaret, wh her ongog substance issu, and marriage to an exploative man who was moured to be gay; and Brney Spears, whose child stardom culmated a very public divorce and mental health stggl. As Dr Michael Bronski, a Harvard Universy profsor and the thor of books on queer history and gay culture, asserts a recent article on the dark si of “stan” (superfan) culture: "There is a long history of gay male fan culture latchg onto famo women and then turng on them.
‘FRIENDS OF DOROTHY’: HOW JUDY GARLAND BEME A GAY IN
Whether ’s Katy Perry beg, as journalist Brian O’Flynn wr, “gay Twter’s punchg bag”, or gay fans drsg as ‘bald Brney’ for Halloween and turng up to meet-and-greets drsed stume om Spears’s famo 2007 breakdown, gay men n be creasgly fickle towards famo a former child sat who has endured mental health stggl, Brney Spears is one of many female celebri whose experienc rell Garland’s (Cred: Alamy)Idolisg the women is one thg, but we shouldn’t treat them like playthgs for our entertament. And om the streets of Wisteria Lane to Big Ltle Li and the Real Hoewiv anchise, pop-culture enurag to love female characters when they’re screamg hysterilly, so we n nnse their pa to hilarly mp GIFs and say “yassss kween” as they smash up their is a huge part of what draws gay men towards women like Garland. But some, such as gay thor Andrew Brton have argued that the existence of mp actually pends on the rtrictive genr dynamics that claims to oppose.
Much has been wrten about the supprsive effect of the “male gaze” on women, but surely the “gay gaze” is also to years after Garland’s ath, her legacy liv on. The edors of the forthg book Queer Objects assert that “the ia of queer expos the stabily of the stat quo and challeng the power of heterosexualy as well as the margal stat of homosexualy”. It is, of urse, mon knowledge that Judy Garland is a gay in — beloved and worshiped by gay men of a certa age and class — but what else explas the ubiquo referenc to “Oz” drag performanc and the nam of bars and bs terg to the muny?
It would be a mistake to nfe a discsn of The Wizard of Oz to a certa class of gay men, but seekg a pot of orig, there is a domant narrative of queer history which “Oz” and Garland were important parts of a mostly whe, middle-class, urban gay male subculture by the 1950s. The orig of the exprsn “Friend of Dorothy, ” which beme a phrase ed by gay men to intify themselv to each other, is lost to history — may have predated this era, and may not even refer to Garland’s role the movie, but the belief that do is wispread (another possibily is that refers to Dorothy Parker, who was also a iend to gays).
GAY INS
Acrdg to “Oz” scholar Dee Michel, who is wrg a book on “Oz” and gay men, there are certa beliefs about the film and the LGBT muny that persist spe of a lack of clear historil evince.
Other prt referenc to “Oz” as an unrground culture shared by gay men seem to show up the 1970s and ’80s, lookg back and attemptg to expla the appeal of the film. The explanatns often take the form of an intifitn of gay men and others wh a girl om a small muny who is misunrstood by her fay, who is whisked away to a place where she be iends wh characters who seem like they uld be gay men (pecially the Cowardly Ln, who refers to himself as a “sissy” and “dandy ln”). The story beme a metaphor for the real-life dreams and experienc of gay men who left middle Ameri for the gay muni of New York Cy and San Francis, which were analogized to Oz or the Emerald Cy.