'The Celluloid Closet' A History Of Gays In The Cema | The Spokman-Review

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To watch the fascatg and illumatg "The Celluloid Closet" on HBO tonight--or to read the late Vo Rso's landmark book upon which is based--is to be ma to realize that the movi, so beloved by so many gays and lbians, have always been a major stment of their opprsn--perpetuatg negative stereotyp om the earlit days, shapg the way they have viewed themselv and the way they have been viewed by straights.

Contents:

GAY HISTORY: NANCY KULP: LIFE IN THE CELLULOID CLOSET (MISS JANE HATHAWAY IN “THE BEVERLY HILLBILLI)

The Celluloid Closet (1995) ptur the gay stereotyp, media rtrictns regardg on-screen sexualy, and chang of queer reprentatn 20th century mastream Amerin cema. It works chronologilly through cematic portrayals of homosexual characters and provis a brief history about the evolutn and creatn of certa trop, such as the lbian vampire or gay villa. The… * celluloid gay *

This set of norms works to mata the domance of heterosexualy by preventg homosexualy om beg a form of sexualy that n be taken for granted or go unmarked or seem right the way heterosexualy n.

Through the promotn of thentic (a term that has s own downsis) reprentatns of Queerns, nouncement of harmful stereotyp, and regnizg heterosexualy pends on homosexualy for s herence and stabily. I was stantly engulfed to this documentary, sharg snippets of black & whe films, om the silent era transng to the talki, explorg physil exploratn of femy and masculy, along wh the subtleti of homosexualy many films.

Portrayals of homosexualy were owned upon until the 1960s, by the movie dtry's productn and such groups as the Legn of gays were everywhere the movi, right om the begng--this documentary shows two men dancg together a Thomas Edison short named “The Gay Brothers, ” om 1895--and often they were hidn pla view.

‘THE CELLULOID CLOSET’ A HISTORY OF GAYS IN THE CEMA

The Celluloid Closet is a documentary on how lbians and gays were portrayed or not portrayed nearly a century of Hollywood cema. WARNING: As we peer to The Celluloid Closet, the view may be a ltle unsettlg. Contas spoilers. * celluloid gay *

Hollywood knew who was gay and who was not, and there were -jok like John Ireland's le to Montgomery Clift “Red River”: “There are only two thgs more betiful than a good gun--a Swiss watch, or a woman om anywhere. ” “The Celluloid Closet” is spired by a 1981 book by Vo Rso, who wrote as a gay man who found he had to look the shadows and subtexts of movi to fd the homosexual characters who were surely there. His book was a pendium of visible and ncealed gays the movi, and now this documentary, which shows the scen he uld only scribe, mak clear Hollywood wanted both ways: It benefted om the richns that gays add to films, but didn't want to acknowledge their sexualy.

In those few films that were ankly about gays, their liv almost always end madns or ath (there is a montage of gays dyg onscreen, of which my favore om a Frdian pot of view is Sandy Dennis as a lbian “The Fox, ” cshed by a fallg tree). “The Celluloid Closet” was directed by Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman, who won Osrs for their two prev gay-themed docs, “The Life of Harvey Milk” and “Common Threads: Stori From the Quilt”; their track rerd enurag their terview subjects to open up. ” “The Celluloid Closet” surveys movi om the earlit tim to the prent, showg characters who were gay even though the movi pretend not to know (Marlene Dietrich troers the 1930 film “Moroc, ” for example, or a mil number named “A't There Anyone Here for Love?

It works chronologilly through cematic portrayals of homosexual characters and provis a brief history about the evolutn and creatn of certa trop, such as the lbian vampire or gay villa. Addnally, most of the characters the documentary were whe, cisgenr, gay men, which at the time, may have seemed revolutnary on screen, but there are so many more inti to explore wh the LGBTQ+ muny nowadays.

‘CELLULOID CLOSET’ DEPICTS HISTORY OF GAYS ON SCREEN

The Male Gaze: Celluloid Dreams: Directed by Roberto F. Canuto, Ana Galizia, Glenn Gaylord, Kyriakos Hatzimihailidis, Harry Richards, Jonathan Wald. Wh Jonathon Natynczyk, Frédéric Deban, Kylan Jam, Gregory Siff. Embark on a journey through celluloid om 1985 to prent day the hly digized cematic pearls om around the world that explore an array of gay enunters om years gone by." data-id="ma * celluloid gay *

The lbian moms nstantly fight, the kids treat the sperm donor like a father, and Julianne Moore’s character even cheats on her wife wh him—suggtg that a fay wh gay parents nnot functn whout a father figure and that lbian women sexually sire men. A trend cultural studi that reclaims a rogatory term referencg homosexualy orr to challenge sentialist ias of fixed genr inti, sexual preferenc, and all forms of ‘normaly’, both homo—and hetero-, as well as to promote and celebrate a subversive ‘queerg’ of all cultural texts.

Coed 1992 by Ruby Rich, the term signals a turng away om notns of negative stereotyp and posive imag of gays and gayns films, and a move towards cematic exploratns of the perverse and the viant wh the sexual doma; and/or celebratns of tertextualy, pastiche, irony, and irreverence. The Celluloid Closet was produced durg the AIDS epimic and was one of many texts that drew attentn to the lack of gay reprentatn both before the 1980s and talogued the chang that were occurrg gay media reprentatn at the time. The type of films that were produced at the time ranged om pennt films that talogued the changed life of gay men who were particularly affected by the mountg ath toll of that epimic to lbian g out stori and romanc like Go Fish (1994) and films like Philalphia (1993) which won an Osr and mastream cril succs.

In recent years the films Rocket Man (2019) and Behd the Canlabra (2018) took a nostalgic look at two popular gay micians wh their emergg g-out stori suated the 1980s monstratg the journey to gay acceptance even if tged wh tragedy. Wh the abundance of posive and ordary reprentatns of gay characters servg as signs of progrs for gay reprentatn and queer stggl for social equaly the qutn remas if this rise imag of normal gay characters means that the battle for acceptance and visibily is over. As film historian Richard Dyer monstrat, scribg a scene which a burly stagehand tnts Charlie Chapl for supposedly kissg a boy "Behd the Screen, " the equatn of male homosexualy wh effemacy was already "so firmly place that a popular mastream film uld assume that the dience would know what that swishy [behavr] was all about.

THE HIDN HOMOSEXUAL HISTORY OF "BEN-HUR"DO THE NEW REMAKE KEEP THE GAY SUBTEXT?{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}{FONT:NORMAL 800 1.2REM/1.2 "D BOLD",SANS-SERIF;TEXT-TRANSFORM:NORMAL;LOR:HER;DISPLAY:LE-BLOCK;PADDG-BOTTOM:6PX;POSN:RELATIVE;TEXT-TRANSFORM:UPPERSE;}{BACKGROUND:#89308A;BOTTOM:0;NTENT:'';DISPLAY:BLOCK;HEIGHT:2PX;LEFT:0;POSN:ABSOLUTE;RIGHT:0;-WEBK-TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;TRANSN:ALL 0.2S EASE;WIDTH:100%;}{LEFT:51%;RIGHT:51%;WIDTH:0;}MOVIBY CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPHAUGT 17, 2016/5:34 PMBY CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPHAUGT 17, 2016 / 5:34 PM{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"NEWSARTICLE","HEADLE":"THE HIDN HOMOSEXUAL HISTORY OF \"BEN-HUR\"","DATEPUBLISHED":"2016-08-17T21:34:32.000+0000","DATEMODIFIED":"2016-08-17T21:34:32.000+0000","IMAGE":{"@NTEXT":","@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT","WIDTH":1920,"HEIGHT":1080},"URL":","THOR":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","NAME":"LOGO TV"},"MAENTYOFPAGE":{"@TYPE":"WEBPAGE","@ID":"},"PUBLISHER":{"@TYPE":"ORGANIZATN","@ID":","NAME":"LOGO TV","URL":","LOGO":{"@TYPE":"IMAGEOBJECT"}},"CREATOR":"CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPH","ARTICLESECTN":"MOVI"}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}IT'S HOLLYWOOD LEGEND THAT THE 1959 VERSN OF BEN-HUR—THAT WENT ONTO W A RERD 11 OSRS—HAD A GAY ROMANCE THAT MANY DIENCE MEMBERS NEVER PICKED UP {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}THE HIDN GAY RELATNSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO MA CHARACTERS WAS BROUGHT TO LIGHT THE 1995 DOCUMENTARY THE CELLULOID CLOSET WHEN GORE VIDAL REVEALED THAT HE WAS BROUGHT ON THE FILM AS A SCRIPT DOCTOR AND REWROTE SCEN TO "HT HEAVILY AT A PRR SEXUAL RELATNSHIP BETWEEN CHARLTON HTON’S TLE CHARACTER AND HIS CHILDHOOD IEND (AND LATER BETRAYER) MSALA (STEPHEN BOYD)," REPORTS THE {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}AFTER VIDAL'S MENTS THE FILM'S STAR CHARLTON HTON WROTE TO THE LOS ANGEL TIM BLASTG HIM FOR TARNISHG A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC WH HOMOSEXUALY—BUT HTON DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE RELATNSHIP BETWEEN BEN-HUR AND MSALA BEE NO ONE TOLD HIM BEFORE THE SHOOT. VIDAL DID NFIRM THAT "HE HAD DISCSED THE MATTER WH BOYD, WHO DULY FOLLOWED THE SCREENWRER’S LEAD FOR THE KEY SCENE WHICH THE BOYHOOD CHUMS MEET AGA AFTER MANY YEARS APART."{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}EVEN DIRECTOR WILLIAM WYLER ME AROUND TO VIDAL'S REASONG FOR THE NEED OF A PAST ROMANCE BETWEEN THE TWO {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}VIDAL EXPLAED THIS HIS LETTER TO THE L.A. TIM:{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"OVER THE YEARS, I HAVE TOLD THE STORY OF HOW, FACED WH A HOPELS SCRIPT FOR BEN-HUR, I PERSUAD THE PRODUCER, SAM ZIMBALIST (THIS WAS AN MGM FILM AND THE WRER WORKED NOT WH THE DIRECTOR BUT THE PRODUCER; LATER THE DIRECTOR, THIS SE WILLIAM WYLER, WEIGHED ) THAT THE ONLY WAY ONE ULD JTIFY SEVERAL HOURS OF HATRED BETWEEN TWO LADS – AND ALL THOSE HORS – WAS TO TABLISH, WHOUT SAYG SO WORDS, AN AFFAIR BETWEEN THEM AS BOYS; THEN, WHEN RNED AT PICTURE’S START, THE ROMAN, PLAYED BY STEPHEN BOYD, WANTS TO PICK UP WHERE THEY LEFT OFF AND THE JEW, HTON, SPURNS HIM." {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-BOX;DISPLAY:-WEBK-FLEX;DISPLAY:-MS-FLEXBOX;DISPLAY:FLEX;-WEBK-BOX-PACK:CENTER;-WEBK-JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;-MS-FLEX-PACK:CENTER;JTIFY-NTENT:CENTER;} .TWTER-TWEET-RENRED, {M-WIDTH:65%;WIDTH:TO !IMPORTANT;} {WIDTH:100%;} {MARG-LEFT:TO !IMPORTANT;MARG-RIGHT:TO !IMPORTANT;} IMG{MAX-WIDTH:100%;WIDTH:100%;} > IAME{BORR:NONE;MAX-WIDTH:100%;} > *{MAX-WIDTH:NONE !IMPORTANT;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}"THIS IS THE SCENE THAT WAS SHOT AND THIS IS THE SCENE THAT VIEWERS OF THE CELLULOID CLOSET WATCHED, WH MY MENTARY. LOS ANGEL TIM FILM CRIC KENH TURAN WROTE THAT “SEEG AN APPROPRIATE CLIP MAK A STRONG SE FOR THE TTH OF VIDAL’S ASSERTN THAT BOYD WAS ON THE SCHEME WHILE HTON WAS NOT.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SO DO THE NEW BEN-HUR REMAKE KEEP THE GAY SUBTEXT TACT?{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“IT WASN’T SOMETHG WE AVOID BUT WASN’T SOMETHG WE HAD,” SAID TOBY KEBBELL—WHO PLAYS MSALA THE LATT VERSN—AT THIS WEEK'S L.A. PREMIERE. “IN 1959, THE GAY NTEXT WAS VERY IMPORTANT. THEY NEED A VOICE. YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO HI THE DARK ABOUT SOMETHG YOU FEEL AND YOU’RE GROWN WH. THAT WAS THEIR OWN THG THEY WANTED TO PORTRAY AND WE DIDN’T NEED TO. IT’S A DIFFERENT TIME, THANKFULLY.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}“I DON’T EVEN KNOW IF THAT WAS TE THAT FILM,” PRODUCER ROMA DOWNEY (Y, OM TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL) TOLD THE IRISH EXAMER. “HERE WE HAVE TWO BROTHERS. THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. THEY’RE RAISED THE SAME HOEHOLD AND ’S SO TRAGIC TO SEE THEIR FAY JT RIPPED APART.”{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}SOMEHOW WE THK VIDAL WOULD {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}BEN-HUR IS THEATERS AUGT {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;PADDG:24PX 0;} A{LOR:#354A4E;-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;TEXT-RATN:UNRLE;} A:HOVER, A:FOC{-WEBK-TEXT-RATN:NONE;TEXT-RATN:NONE;} B, STRONG{FONT-WEIGHT:700;}H/T: THE IRISH {BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;CLEAR:BOTH;}{BOX-SIZG:BORR-BOX;MARG:0 TO;WIDTH:90%;M-WIDTH:288PX;MAX-WIDTH:1440PX;M-HEIGHT:194PX;}LATT NEWS

In Osr-wng films such as "The Tim of Harvey Milk" and "Common Threads: Stori From the Quilt," documakers Rob Epste and Jefey Friedman have been stmental prentg gay-related issu to a wir dience. * celluloid gay *

The movi were loose enough those days that one Clara Bow movie ("Call Her Savage") uld take slummg Hollywood's first big screen gay bar (this eedom wouldn't last -- would also be the last big screen gay bar until Otto Premger's.

" In addn to pictns of homosexualy -- or "sex perversn, " as was lled -- other rtrictns of the 1934 Hays Co clud: open-mouthed kissg, ltful embrac, sctn, rape, abortn, prostutn and whe slavery, nudy, obsceny and all s efforts, the Productn Co didn't erase homosexuals om the screen; jt ma them harr to fd. " "I don't thk the censors at that time realized that this was about gay people, " says Arthur Lrents of Hchck's film "Rope", for which Lrents wrote the screenplay, based on the te story of gay psychopathic murrers Leopold and Loeb. The tensn between sensivy and masculy was reprented on the screen by characters who are acced of beg gay (Tom Lee "Tea and Sympathy"); or by characters who seemed to be gay (Sal Meo as Plato "Rebel Whout a Cse").

"It's amazg, " says Sie Bright, "how if you're a gay dience and you're acctomed to cmbs, how you will watch an entire movie jt to see somebody wear an outf that you thk means that they're homosexual.

The HBO documentary “Vo” profil Vo Rso, the gay activist and thor of “The Celluloid Closet,” who died 1990. * celluloid gay *

" Doris Day drsed as a man and sgg "Secret Love"as "Calamy Jane;" a very butch Joan Crawford challengg a very butch Merces McCambridge "Johnny Guar;" Montgomery Clift and John Ireland admirg each others' guns "Red River;" Gloria Grahame gettg worked on by a big butch massse "In a Lonely Place;" tough guy Glenn Ford's flirtat relatnship wh his effete employer "Gilda" -- "Gay dienc [were] sperate to fd somethg, " acrdg to Arthur Lrents. " Richard Dyer, reflectg on the movi of this perd, fds parallels wh what was like for gay people the real world: "We uld only exprs ourselv directly, jt as people on the screen uld only exprs themselv directly... Sebastian meets his end at the hands of the young boys he's been g sexually, who chase him up a mounta and ultimately vour him -- a scene eerily remiscent of the early horror classic "The Bri of Frankenste" (which cintally was directed by Jam Whale, one of the few openly gay directors Hollywood history).

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* CELLULOID GAY

Gay History: Nancy Kulp: Life In The Celluloid Closet (Miss Jane Hathaway In “The Beverly Hillbilli) | timalrman .

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