Right, this is going to be a bit of a disconnected tripartite rant, but sod it. I came out in the early 90s and have always found ‘gay cinema’ tiresome for the simple reason that it never focuses on the fact that two people are having a relationship (and they’re ALWAYS about relationships) but that these are gay relationships. Trust me, I ‘know us’ and gay men are no more or less interesting than anyone else. Why is ‘gay cinema’ of this ‘look at us! Two blokes can shag and even fall in love! Shocked ya, didn’t we breeders???’ even necessary any more? I suspect most straight people shrug wearily after decades of this solipsistic bilge and say so what. Who can blame them? Many gays react the same way.
I’m going to Mexico over Christmas but will not be staying in a gay resort or knowingly visiting a gay beach. I looked at one ‘gay men only’ hotel in Puerto Vallarta and the sight of all those tub tarts marinating in a pool that doubtless contains more Calvin Klein Obsession and poppers than it does H2O was a little too gay even for me. I’ll be staying at a hotel largely patronised, according to Tripadvisor, by middle aged to elderly heterosexual Canadians, who’ll be reliably polite and lacking in drama if nothing else. I used to sell ‘gay travel’ in its first boom in the 90s and know of what I speak … shudder.
Side note: the author almost lost me with his repeated use of LGBTQ+ as a descriptor. I only just, grudgingly, accepted that bisexuality might be a real thing and not just a halfway house to the real L or G thing. Everything after the letter B in that infernal confabulation signifies nothing but the cosplaying and imagineering of the deluded and the clinically deranged and actually includes a term of abuse for gay people. Please stop it.
Completely off-topic, but your post reminded me of a holiday to Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria my wife and I had in the late 90s.
I guess the name should have been a tip off, but all the beach bars and restaurants were like a dreadful caricature of what the English like abroad; all fish ‘n’ chips, mushy peas and bingo.
So we ended up hanging out in the gay bit (Yumbo shopping centre IIRC), and it was a riot. I’ve never seen anything like it; proper gay guys with handle bar moustaches, leather caps, riding Harleys. Nobody seemed to mind that we were straight, and the music was way better too. Although I’m glad I took the barman’s advice to only use the toilets in the shopping centre and not the bars 😉
Exactly and if being don’t like what’s offered don’t indulge.
I love the fact that the gay scene, despite the fact it is generally unfriendly and comical, and gay films exist, some of which are amazing.
I went on holiday with a gay friend to Playa del Ingles around 25 years ago. It was a hoot. He got off with someone early in the trip and was busy bumping uglies elsewhere so I was adopted by two Mancunian lesbians in the apartment next door and went to the drag shows at the Yumbo together. Me and my pal did go to the gay beach there which was oddly situated next to a straight nude beach much favoured by older, naked Germans playing volleyball, which dampened the erotic appeal. As a general I’ve never quite got the appeal of shagging in the dunes – sand and lube are a hazardous combination.
That last paragraph on LGBTQ+ was spot on and priceless! However, I wonder why the article’s author left out the A and 2-spirited?
Right-Wing Hippie
5 months ago
It is difficult to describe what makes Jordan so irritating.
It’s not that difficult; you’ve already done it yourself: “professional Instagram influencer”.
Reading this made me feel very grateful for my extremely conventional life.
Andrew D
5 months ago
How strange and sad to live in a world without women.
Although the best gay directors, like Almodovar, have wonderful female characters, and it’s always a joy to see Penelope Cruz.
It’s not only gay characters who are presented one-dimensionally in film. When was the last time you saw a black character who wasn’t heroic, noble and virtuous?
A slightly odd comment. Many gay men have close female friends, and many straight ones do not.
Mike Downing
5 months ago
Overlong, but interesting article.
I’ve back-watched a load of LGBTQWERTY content over the last couple of years and I can concur that the increase in quantity has been accompanied by a decrease in quality.
Stereotyped plots, eye-candy shots and the same clichés turn up over and over again. Oh no, not another shower scene or moment when the protagonist drops into a pool of water to a meaningful soundtrack.
I watch these on DVD and they often have shorts by the same director. These are invariably unimpressive too. So I’ve come to the conclusion that lots of alphabet types are studying Film at college and that due to box-ticking, they’re finding it easier to access dosh for even the most ill-conceived and sketchy projects.
Mind you, 99% of Hollywood output has been consigned to the dustbin of history so why should we expect minorities to punch above their weight ?
I’m convinced ‘gay cinema’ is mainly watched by hetero middle class liberal women and they get mightily turned on by it
Simric Yarrow
5 months ago
Enjoyed this window into a bunch of things, and the idea that Heartstopper is another iteration of an age-old tween girl thing rings very true (as a father of recent teen daughters). Of course, things have got a lot more twisted: tween girls these days are often moved by TikTok and tween media well beyond liking boys for being unattainable, to thinking they might be secretly one themselves. This old world of genuinely gay male movies, and the one he describes in the dark comedies he discusses, seems very distant from current ‘woke’ mainstream media tropes and all the better and more honest for it. I’m not sure I’m going to play either of them in a hurry (though I am going to be on a Mexican beach soon so I’ll watch out for influencers!)
James Kirk
5 months ago
I have little interest in conventional screen ‘affection’. If I was there are incognito sites to visit online. It all seems more of this virtue signalling sucking up to minorities. The vast majority of UK is still white hetero with little interest in minority angst. Just more of the prevalent narcissism we have thrust at us as if it were normal. Most of the gay people I know are sick of it as are many of colour.
There is loads of content for white heteros. The “prevalent narcissism” which is “thrust” at you (interesting choice of word) just comes from the media and online debate – and generating this buzz is primarily why media creators are making these kind of minority angst films. By talking about it and reacting to it in this way you are playing (or thrusting) into their hands. Youngsters and bienpensant liberals like me get a frisson and sense of validation every time some conservative moans in the way you have. Some are even willing to pay for it.
Just accept that it is not for you and ignore it. There will be another John Wick film or whatever soon enough.
Good job that you are here to speak on behalf of “the gay people” and people of colour!
I’m sure those groups are incredibly grateful to you for communicating the world just how much they are bored of seeing people like them represented in the media and wish that we could get back to the good old days when gay people and people of colour were either ignored or treated as figures of comedy..
Dumetrius
5 months ago
Amyl nitr-I-te.
Get it right.
Amyl nitr-A-te is a reagent or fuel additive with explosive properties, I believe.
Last edited 5 months ago by Dumetrius
Arkadian Arkadian
5 months ago
Of all the films listed I have only watched “call me by your name”, which I thought was pretentious in the extreme.
david lee ballard
5 months ago
“Gay” cinema, at least when it proceeds from the place of “gay” identity, has always been mostly garbage. Possibly the best dramatic movie to approach love between men – “Brokeback Mountain” – was directed by a “straight” director and adapted from a short story written by a “straight” woman. It works because the characters are complex humans rather than identity puppets.
a beautifully lit sex scene with a hint of Euro-p***s.
Another reason to leave the EU. Had such things been publicised before 2016, the majority would have been even more tumescent.
Margaret Ford
5 months ago
Is this why ‘Le Otto Montagne’ is such a refreshing film? People I know have assumed it must be about 2 men who fall in love but no! It’s a film about a profound friendship between 2 men and all the more interesting that it doesn’t fit the stereotypes or push agendas
Right, this is going to be a bit of a disconnected tripartite rant, but sod it. I came out in the early 90s and have always found ‘gay cinema’ tiresome for the simple reason that it never focuses on the fact that two people are having a relationship (and they’re ALWAYS about relationships) but that these are gay relationships. Trust me, I ‘know us’ and gay men are no more or less interesting than anyone else. Why is ‘gay cinema’ of this ‘look at us! Two blokes can shag and even fall in love! Shocked ya, didn’t we breeders???’ even necessary any more? I suspect most straight people shrug wearily after decades of this solipsistic bilge and say so what. Who can blame them? Many gays react the same way.
I’m going to Mexico over Christmas but will not be staying in a gay resort or knowingly visiting a gay beach. I looked at one ‘gay men only’ hotel in Puerto Vallarta and the sight of all those tub tarts marinating in a pool that doubtless contains more Calvin Klein Obsession and poppers than it does H2O was a little too gay even for me. I’ll be staying at a hotel largely patronised, according to Tripadvisor, by middle aged to elderly heterosexual Canadians, who’ll be reliably polite and lacking in drama if nothing else. I used to sell ‘gay travel’ in its first boom in the 90s and know of what I speak … shudder.
Side note: the author almost lost me with his repeated use of LGBTQ+ as a descriptor. I only just, grudgingly, accepted that bisexuality might be a real thing and not just a halfway house to the real L or G thing. Everything after the letter B in that infernal confabulation signifies nothing but the cosplaying and imagineering of the deluded and the clinically deranged and actually includes a term of abuse for gay people. Please stop it.
There’s quite enough homosexuality in film-films to where you don’t even need gay-film as a category.
It’s not like the acting profession doesn’t attract a homosexual or two.
Completely off-topic, but your post reminded me of a holiday to Playa del Ingles in Gran Canaria my wife and I had in the late 90s.
I guess the name should have been a tip off, but all the beach bars and restaurants were like a dreadful caricature of what the English like abroad; all fish ‘n’ chips, mushy peas and bingo.
So we ended up hanging out in the gay bit (Yumbo shopping centre IIRC), and it was a riot. I’ve never seen anything like it; proper gay guys with handle bar moustaches, leather caps, riding Harleys. Nobody seemed to mind that we were straight, and the music was way better too. Although I’m glad I took the barman’s advice to only use the toilets in the shopping centre and not the bars 😉
Exactly and if being don’t like what’s offered don’t indulge.
I love the fact that the gay scene, despite the fact it is generally unfriendly and comical, and gay films exist, some of which are amazing.
I went on holiday with a gay friend to Playa del Ingles around 25 years ago. It was a hoot. He got off with someone early in the trip and was busy bumping uglies elsewhere so I was adopted by two Mancunian lesbians in the apartment next door and went to the drag shows at the Yumbo together. Me and my pal did go to the gay beach there which was oddly situated next to a straight nude beach much favoured by older, naked Germans playing volleyball, which dampened the erotic appeal. As a general I’ve never quite got the appeal of shagging in the dunes – sand and lube are a hazardous combination.
I was there last twenty years ago and it was exactly as you described.
Tub tarts!
That last paragraph on LGBTQ+ was spot on and priceless! However, I wonder why the article’s author left out the A and 2-spirited?
It is difficult to describe what makes Jordan so irritating.
It’s not that difficult; you’ve already done it yourself: “professional Instagram influencer”.
Influencers all have ‘that voice’.
One order of Drowned Twink, please.
Reading this made me feel very grateful for my extremely conventional life.
How strange and sad to live in a world without women.
Although the best gay directors, like Almodovar, have wonderful female characters, and it’s always a joy to see Penelope Cruz.
It’s not only gay characters who are presented one-dimensionally in film. When was the last time you saw a black character who wasn’t heroic, noble and virtuous?
A slightly odd comment. Many gay men have close female friends, and many straight ones do not.
Overlong, but interesting article.
I’ve back-watched a load of LGBTQWERTY content over the last couple of years and I can concur that the increase in quantity has been accompanied by a decrease in quality.
Stereotyped plots, eye-candy shots and the same clichés turn up over and over again. Oh no, not another shower scene or moment when the protagonist drops into a pool of water to a meaningful soundtrack.
I watch these on DVD and they often have shorts by the same director. These are invariably unimpressive too. So I’ve come to the conclusion that lots of alphabet types are studying Film at college and that due to box-ticking, they’re finding it easier to access dosh for even the most ill-conceived and sketchy projects.
Mind you, 99% of Hollywood output has been consigned to the dustbin of history so why should we expect minorities to punch above their weight ?
I’m convinced ‘gay cinema’ is mainly watched by hetero middle class liberal women and they get mightily turned on by it
Enjoyed this window into a bunch of things, and the idea that Heartstopper is another iteration of an age-old tween girl thing rings very true (as a father of recent teen daughters). Of course, things have got a lot more twisted: tween girls these days are often moved by TikTok and tween media well beyond liking boys for being unattainable, to thinking they might be secretly one themselves. This old world of genuinely gay male movies, and the one he describes in the dark comedies he discusses, seems very distant from current ‘woke’ mainstream media tropes and all the better and more honest for it. I’m not sure I’m going to play either of them in a hurry (though I am going to be on a Mexican beach soon so I’ll watch out for influencers!)
I have little interest in conventional screen ‘affection’. If I was there are incognito sites to visit online. It all seems more of this virtue signalling sucking up to minorities. The vast majority of UK is still white hetero with little interest in minority angst. Just more of the prevalent narcissism we have thrust at us as if it were normal. Most of the gay people I know are sick of it as are many of colour.
There is loads of content for white heteros. The “prevalent narcissism” which is “thrust” at you (interesting choice of word) just comes from the media and online debate – and generating this buzz is primarily why media creators are making these kind of minority angst films. By talking about it and reacting to it in this way you are playing (or thrusting) into their hands. Youngsters and bienpensant liberals like me get a frisson and sense of validation every time some conservative moans in the way you have. Some are even willing to pay for it.
Just accept that it is not for you and ignore it. There will be another John Wick film or whatever soon enough.
Good job that you are here to speak on behalf of “the gay people” and people of colour!
I’m sure those groups are incredibly grateful to you for communicating the world just how much they are bored of seeing people like them represented in the media and wish that we could get back to the good old days when gay people and people of colour were either ignored or treated as figures of comedy..
Amyl nitr-I-te.
Get it right.
Amyl nitr-A-te is a reagent or fuel additive with explosive properties, I believe.
Of all the films listed I have only watched “call me by your name”, which I thought was pretentious in the extreme.
“Gay” cinema, at least when it proceeds from the place of “gay” identity, has always been mostly garbage. Possibly the best dramatic movie to approach love between men – “Brokeback Mountain” – was directed by a “straight” director and adapted from a short story written by a “straight” woman. It works because the characters are complex humans rather than identity puppets.
v
Another reason to leave the EU. Had such things been publicised before 2016, the majority would have been even more tumescent.
Is this why ‘Le Otto Montagne’ is such a refreshing film? People I know have assumed it must be about 2 men who fall in love but no! It’s a film about a profound friendship between 2 men and all the more interesting that it doesn’t fit the stereotypes or push agendas