DANIEL MANGIN, COLLEGE COURSE FILE: THE HISTORY OF LESBIANS AND GAYS ON FILM, Journal of Film and Vio, Vol. 41, No. 3, Indtry Practic (Fall 1989), pp. 50-66
Contents:
From 1894, when the very first gay film premiered to this year when a mastream children's movie featurg a ma character who is queer beme available to stream, look back at the history of * history of homosexuality in film *
While gay characters were equently ed for lghs or not explicly stated to be queer the earlit mastream Hollywood films, a brief relaxatn Germany's film productn the early 20th century allowed for LGBTQ+ classics like "Different om the Others" and "Mädchen Uniform. The film, which featur an all-Black st, was one big step toward makg gay cema that isn't whewashed, featur a range of inti, and don't make s queer characters one-note or vehicl of sufferg. The German film "Anrs als die Anrn" (English: "Different om the Others") is one of the olst survivg movi wh a gay protagonist and was ma durg a rare perd when German film censorship was relaxed after World War I.
It centers on a vlist who tak his life after gettg blackmailed for his sexualy and ends wh an appeal for gay tolerance by German gay rights activist Magn Hirschfeld. Charl Bryant's adaptatn of gay wrer Osr Wil's play of the same name reportedly featured several queer llaborators—namely, bisexual lead actor Alla Nazimova and set signer Natacha Rambova (her mored lover).
In one scene om the 1938 screwball edy "Brgg Up Baby, " the word "gay" was ed a queer ntext for likely the first time (possibly thanks to queer performers' e of "gay" as a slang term). Loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb murr se, Aled Hchck's "Rope" tells the story of two heavily d gay men who murr one of their classmat for the sheer thrill of . While "The Children's Hour" is notable for prentg a sympathetic queer ma character a time when that was rare, has also been cricized for rercg the "tragic gay endg" stereotype.