In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.
Contents:
- 25 OF THE GAYT STRAIGHT MOVI EVER MA
- THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
- MEET GAY BOB, THE OUT AND PROUD ANATOMILLY CORRECT DIS-ERA DOLL
- GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
25 OF THE GAYT STRAIGHT MOVI EVER MA
Screenshot: Fight Club/HuluGay marriage was legalized Massachetts nearly two s ago and across the U. Back 2015, yet somehow Bros, which opens this weekend, reprents the first mastream gay romantic edy ever released by a major stud—or so the marketg partment of distributor Universal Pictur would have you believe.
Soaked as I am gay edi, this claim stck me as rather dub, if not based on a fnal technily (didn’t we all cheer on Fire Island, om the Disney-owned “die” Searchlight Pictur, earlier this year? Next to those, Bros might as well be My Big Fat Gay another level, Hollywood has been makg gay movi sce the advent of the form—albe wh plsible niabily.
Which is to say, sometim even the straightt movi are gay as hell—the evable rult of straightns tryg too of the followg movi have a fable ntext that mak queer readgs sential, or at least plsible. Others are jt really gay, whout necsarily meang to be.
THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
Even wh all that, he remas most famo for lurg Col Clive’s Frankenste out of movie is so gay spired 1998's Gods and Monsters, a super queer bpic of s director, Jam Whale, played by Ian McKellen, who me out publicly to stream: Peack, TubiRebec reprented a unique blendg of sensibili: new to Hollywood, Aled Hchck didn’t yet have the clout that he would quickly ga, and so was forced to work wh powerful producer David O. But Rope is based on a play loosely spired by the Leopold and Loeb murrs, and the play the pair are explicly gay.
The effete and sassy “roommat”—played by Farley Granger (who me out late life) and John Dall (who is wily believed to have been gay, though he never me out publicly)—hold a party at which the body of their murr victim has been ncealed. Screenwrer Arthur Lrents, who was gay, was an expert at dodgg the rtrictns of the Hays orr to sneak subtext that was jt subtextual enough, a trick Hchck likewise excelled tly lost on 1940s dienc that the characters were more than iends?
MEET GAY BOB, THE OUT AND PROUD ANATOMILLY CORRECT DIS-ERA DOLL
” Her arch-nemis is a “ttle baron” played by Merces McCambridge, a straight (as far as we know) actrs who beme a gay in for her portrayals of strong, queer-d women. Where to stream: Digal rentalThe more recent Hntg of Hill Hoe Netflix seri, also based on the Shirley Jackson novel, ma the subtext text, but the gay vib between chic and sassy Theo (Claire Bloom) and reprsed, moy Eleanor (Julie Harris) radiate through the early ‘60s origal.
The movie muddl s msage; we’re not necsarily meant to cheer for gay Satan climactic rampage, but plenty of viewers to stream: Digal rentalThe subtext here through so strongly that n hardly even be nsired subtext, but back 1985, plenty of straight dienc still missed . Wh my luck, he’s probably gay, ” says the ma character’s mom. ” Late director Tony Stt pped to g books of gay beefke photography as his primary reference for how to photograph the movie’s man meat—which probably explas the proliferatn of slightly porny to stream: Paramount+There’s a lot gog on here, and I’m not sure how much of was tentnal (out director Joel Schumacher, later of Batman & Rob, wasn’t known for subtlety).
Even before he spoke about explicly terviews, however, queer fans got ; at the very least, Stu is obvly way to to stream: Showtime, FuboStart wh the generally mp sensibili of gay director Joel Schumacher (who once claimed to have had sex wh tens of thoands of men durg his life; not that queer cred is a functn of mathematics, but damn), and throw a batsu wh pronounced nippl, a massive dpiece, and eper-than-strictly-necsary ass cleavage, and you’ve got a recipe for the gayt superhero epic ever. And that’s all before Gee Clooney’s Batman adopts a nearly grown man only ne years his to stream: HBO MaxThere’s a pot at which hyper-masculy starts to look an awful lot like homoeroticism, and you have to wonr how many sweaty, shirtls men you n lerally toss together a space that exclus women entirely before starts to look like a gay club. The wise old drag-queen-as-mentor is an age-old trope of explicly gay movi, and, though his wardrobe is limed, Ian McKellen’s Gandalf, wh his luxuriant hair and mid-trilogy glow-up, fs the role to stream: Prime Vio, HBO Max300 practilly screams “no homo!
GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
We’re meant to see the queer-dg the heavily ma-up and bejeweled Persians (Snyr has been explic terviews about his tentn to make the Persians srier to his tend male dience by makg them gayer), but that feels like a movie missg s own pot, while also wildly overtimatg the heterosexualy of the ancient to stream: TubiThe story of four young men (oddly old for high schoolers) who are scend om wch and have to fight some kd of evil or plot don’t really matter, and the movie’s not very good. Pl, that climax where she rac across the sea on her magic horse is super to stream: Disney+The Babadook beme a gay in que by accint.
If “Barbie” tells anythg, ’s that a movie don’t have to be gay to be, well, gay. So what mak a movie gay if isn’t explicly? Cast a few top-shelf gay ins there — your Bette Middlers, your Joan Crawfords, your Faye Dunaways playg Joan Crawford — and pecially have them reparteeg bchy l tearg each other to piec, and have an athetic that’s outre and unironilly mp, and you’ve got the wng-formula starter-pack for somethg licly fabulo and queer, even if not by tentnal sign.
But settg a precent for movi now nonized by gay culture that don’t technilly have any (non-d, anyway) gay characters were some of Hollywood’s most all-time legendary actrs: Bette Davis “All About Eve” ma “’s gog to be a bumpy ri” an idmatic quip, while Elizabeth Taylor then ma Bette Davis’ “what a dump” even more inic aga the openg le of “Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf, ” livered while gnawg down on a chicken wg.