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NEW WAVE QUEER CINEMA: GAY EXPERIENCE IN ALL ITS COMPLEXITY

Gays are stereotyped in the media and these stereotyped characters have predictable plots for example, a very masculine lesbian with lots of tattoo and piercings. Nowadays directors are creating film without the stereotypical gay characters but deal with the real life and rounded characters.

An example of this is a film by Ira Sach called “keep the light on” which follows a ten year long relationship between two men who meet on a New York phone sex line in 1998. It includes explicit sex and drug use, work Hassel and both gay and straight friends. In this film no one comes out or dies.

This is a good example of the changes in LGBT category in the media because most media expectation of gay films are about a character falling in love with their straight friend or a character coming out and facing the consequences following it and the constant plea for acceptance form their friends and family. LGBT movies are mostly about the issues that gay people have and how hard their lives are and how they are not really accepted in the society.

The media is a window to the society which means that the society is influenced one way or the other by the media and this could affect people’s perception of LGBT. Movies that show the daily lives of LGBT characters and how they are accepted by the society could influence the society into being more accepting.

“The L word” is an LGBT series that was released in 2004. This series deals with the lives of lesbians living in Los Angeles and this series was accepted by the gay community as a way of making them known to the public and this also helped the community in general to be more accepting of those that are different form their expectation and most importantly those that are either gay, bisexual, lesbian or transgender. This series ran for 5 years and in 2009 more gay people were accepted in the society.

More and more LGBT films are being released and the general expectations of these gay characters in the films are being altered and brought to more reality for example a very feminine lesbian who’s life isn’t fucked up and has a job a steady girlfriend and a focus in life. There is more display of gay marriage which can be related to our modern day society because more states are legalizing gay marriages.

Films like skins, 90210, sugar rush, but I’m a cheerleader, glee, degrassi, where gay characters are accepted by their friends and family help gay teenagers that are afraid of coming out that it gets better.

LGBT themes films with happy endings like imagine me and you, eating out, D.E.B.S, I can’t think straight, the world untold, run Lola run, it’s in the water, etc. express to the audience that being gay isn’t bad and that gays cam also have a happy ending. A very stereotypical gay movie is another gay movie which shows the flamboyant stereotypes of the gay characters and how they live their lives.

Gay characters where rare in the movie industry before the 1980s and the on-screen reaction of the late 80s and 90s came to be known as New Queer Cinema. Film makers nowadays seek to describe the experience of being queer today through stories that resonate beyond that context. The perception of straight people and the troubles of non-straight people are over. Sach also stated the life-long consequences of growing up queer because individually we are still affected by the day-day level of having discovered our sexuality with the fear, shame and self-hatred.

Due to the exposure of the gay community by film more people are coming out with the hope of being accepted by the society and more people in the society are accepting of LGBT and are in support of that lifestyle and are willing to support and encourage them (LGBT). People are more understanding and now in year 2012 “being gay” are seen as almost normal and are now represented by the media positively and in reality which makes the society more understanding and accepting.