In your opinion, how much LGBTQ content qualifies as LGBTQ Themed Movie?

bjk1961

What is your opinion? How much lgbtq content makes a movie lgbtq themed? What movie have you seen that claimed to be lbgtq themed and wasn't. What movie have you seen that wasn't listed as lgbtq themed that you thought should be? Here are some examples to get you thinking:

Example 1: Name / Shem (2004)
Lead character identifies himself as gay. None of the plot is devoted to his being gay, only his experiences while searching for his grandfather's grave. No time devoted to gay plot.

Example 2: Goltzius and the Pelican Company (2012)
Character(s) are identified as gay, but no time is devoted to them. However, you do see some penises. Basically, no time devoted to gay plot, but shows penis.

Example 3: Flyfishing (2002)
All characters are straight. One character admits to suddenly developing feeling for another, and gets punched out. The "gag" is repeated towards the end of the movie. About 4 minutes devoted to
gay plot point / gay-bashing.

Example 4: Bright Young Things (2003)
Four story-lines with one being about a gay couple and the problems they face in Edwardian England. Each story-line receives an even share of time, approximately 1/4th of the movie.

Example 5: The Perfect Wedding (2012)
A straight woman is planning her wedding with the help of her gay brother. The film is evenly split between the straight wedding and the budding, gay-romance of the brother.

Example 6: Like It Is (1998)
Entire movie is devoted to story of a repressed homosexual coming to terms with being gay and falling in love.

Example 7: I Don't Kiss / J'embrasse pas(1991)
A straight man falls in love with a straight woman. He works as a gay prostitute, but nothing is shown other than the initial meeting between him and a client. She is also a prostitute. The movie
spends 90% of the time on him trying to get her away from her pimp.

Example 8: The King of Escape / Le roi de l'évasion (2009)
A 40+ year old man identifies as gay. He meets a young girl, and they run away together. The movie is devoted to the couple having sex and running from her father and the authorities.

Again, what is your opinion? How much lgbtq content makes a movie lgbtq themed? What movie have you seen that claimed to be lgbtq themed and wasn't. What movie have you seen that wasn't listed as lgbtq themed that you thought should be? Don't limit yourself to the examples. Don't limit yourself to this site either. If you walked into Barnes and Noble or signed in to Amazon.com, what would you expect to find in a lgbtq section. Thank you for your answers.

MrMazda

The general rule on this is that if the aspect of being LTBTQ is somehow depicted, even if just in general, then it is considered gay themed. The only problem is there are some films that need to be avoided for legal reasons.

jrrrbear47

nevermind :afr:

bjk1961

Really? Come on, give an opinion. There is no wrong answer!

twinkerzzz

How long is a piece of 5 twine string on it's own and once you start to separate the individual strands of twine ?

LBGTQ you say
well that's broad. Most stuff i watch is just G - i avoid L and T bores me - Q is a bit on and off

How much G you say needs to occur to make it counts as G ?

Well a no messing attitude would say can we cut to the chase and get to the gay. However there's loads of stuff where the gay brews slowly and hits abut half way - the coming out genre often has this. There's also the is he / isnt he for example The talented Mr Ripley which takes time to become specifically gay whilst building obvious subtle homoerotic tension.

There are films and tv dramas where the gay character/s sit in among a whole cast of straights and that works too - tho the actual % portioned to the gay sub-plot might only be in total 20-25%. So the gay narrative may have a bigger dramatic impact but less air time. Take some of the new movies - like weekend - pushing boundaries by showing graphic gay sex whilst not in other ways being particularly gay. So even one of the genres , like gay has a hugely broad application.

Then the Queer and camp genres. So the camp genre may not have any specific gay refs but be exceedingly gay or camp - for example the Carrie Fisher documentary 'Wishful Drinking' is as camp as Christmas and gay-icon friendly but nothing gay actually referred too. Alot of old movies and tv series can have that quality too.

Then take a film like ' A single Man' its all gay gay gay but actually what it's really about is nothing to do with gay. It's really about despair.

So the more you answer your question the less it makes sense. A film is not best quantified in terms of singular %s. That's an absurdist measure.
A subject or genre isn't necessarily going to follow expectations and be formulaic. The term 'gay themed' isn't really an exact quantum. It's a general guide which is loose and problematic and subject to different meaning. Mostly it serves to signpost an audience towards representations and depictions of themselves in a world where they often feel excluded or under represented. For me the answer to your question isnt how much, but how well has a film accommodated my needs. That usually means in some sense or another i feel a subtle but rewarding sense that the characters i'm being asked to get involved with reflect back something of myself however different the reality they inhabit may be from my own. Without that sense of connection i quickly loose interest. That's about representation not quantity. To add there are plenty of gay films where i just think this is rubbish and im not interested in the characters because the acting is bad or the script crap and that can break the success of the vital connection i need.

There's a film buff torrent website called Karagarga which often debates if to create a film category of LBGTQ and more often they decide against it. They do have a queer film collection section but no main-page LBGTQ category. What they call queer is very broad and includes all kinds of artist's video work and abstract work by queer artists. Some of us, like me do argue from time to time that a LBGTQ catagory in some sense should exist. But even then i believe that L,B,G,T are somewhat lumped together when in reality they often have little in common with each other in terms of the requirements of the character's journey. I'm not sure i think L does really belong alongside G except in terms of being a minority which is oppressed and controlled by the same social institutions. But do you lump minority migrant populations like Chinese and Jamaican together just because they share the same pressures as a minority ?

bjk1961

That's a very thoughtful and thought-provoking answer. Thanks