To What Extent does New Queer Cinema Restage Dominant Themes of Classical Hollywood - Essay Example

?To what extent does New Queer Cinema re-stage dominant themes ical Hollywood? New Queer Cinema refers to the proliferation of intelligent, stylish, and daring work of lesbian and gay filmmakers within independent cinema. The term New Queer Cinema was first used by Ruby Rich in a popular magazine in 1992 to define and describe a queer theme movement of film making in early 1990s. The United States’ Hollywood industry, which dealt more openly with parameters of sexuality than the former classical Hollywood cinema, explored largely the rise of New Queer Cinema according to Ehrenstein (1998, 19). Classical Hollywood films refer to those films that were produced between 1910s through 1950s (Michele, 12). As opposed to New Queer Cinema films, these classical films did not openly dramatise homosexual issues because of the dominant and conventional heterosexual lifestyle. It was the New Queer Cinema that came with the sexual revolution and opted to go against the status quo, challenging the heterosexist minds by explicitly dramatising homosexuality. However, restaging the dominant themes in the classical Hollywood cinema brought about this shift. This paper evaluates the extent at which the New Queer Cinema has restaged dominant themes of the classical Hollywood cinema. In order to understand dominant themes that the New Queer Cinema has restaged, we should understand some identifying genre styles. First in order to identify and designate a group of films into a certain class, like the New Queer Cinema, principle characteristics are to be isolated (Braudy, 34). One such isolating approach is referred to as structuralism that lists genre’s iconography, stock characters, typical themes and central narratives (Gever, Greyson & Pratibha, 92). Another approach would situate genres within the historical context in order to assess how films achieve public popularity and how these impacted the production studios. In this case feedback is highly essential in determining whether some class of the film will succeed in the market or not. Gever, Greyson & Pratibha, 93) analyse that, this success is highly depended on the ability of the film to capture key and popular cultural anxieties that are prevalent at the time. The last approach, which is closely intertwined with the gist of this paper, is the way we have classified films over time. This is the origin of the classification of classical Hollywood films and the New Queer Cinema (Gever, Greyson & Pratibha, 93). What has been the concern of most classification is the shift from the most relevant and prevalent themes of the time. In most cases, New Queer Cinema revises classical cinema themes and makes them more relevant to the target audience at a time or generation. As we saw earlier, in their exact nature, classical Hollywood films did not dramatise homosexual lives and issues because such issues were not openly acceptable. The content of the Hollywood narrative was largely heterosexual, and that was reflected by male-female romance; a theme dramatisation which was common in all film genres (Mann, 2). Where homosexuality issues featured in a film, before the sexual revolution, the new queer film; insignificant and supporting roles were allotted to the characters. For instance, in the film A Florida Enchantment (1914), a pre-code film, homosexuality was so extreme at that time in featuring female characters who fed on magical sex-changing seeds that turned them into women pursuing Lotharios (White, 11). This lack of direct and explicit dramatisation of homosexual themes emanated from the Hollywood production code that was made effective in 1934, which forbade explicit depiction of what is called "sex perversion" (Mann, 12). At that time, however, the classical Hollywood cinema, under the code, kept on suggesting queerness by the use of effeminate men and mannish women; although the characters never came in the open as real homosexual or lesbians proper. There are classic actors like Horton (1886–1970), Eric Blore (1887–1959), and Franklin Pangborn (1888–1958) who fared extremely well in their acting career for acting queer roles (Mann, 12). A remarkably compelling example of such acted lesbian roles is in Queen Christina (1933) where Greta Garbos, wears pants, kisses her chambermaid rather passionately on the lips (White, 11). Marlene Dietrich in the film Morocco (1930) presented implicitly the similar theme when she wears a tuxedo and vamps men and women alike. In these films characters, Garbos and Dietrich enjoyed queer fans, both men and women and many rumours surrounded their sexual orientations and real life sexualities (Mann, 22). Just like in the classical Hollywood film, being openly gay or lesbian is not possible for many actors. There are still fears of stigma that the public may not accept a gay or lesbian actor in heterosexual role. There were many queer actors and actresses that continued to feature in Hollywood classical films such as Ramon Novarro (1899–1968) and Billy Haines (1900–1973), who were real gays, but the production code and homophobia that hit Hollywood cut their careers short (Mann, 22). There were actors who were fired because they failed to conform to the Hollywood publicity that was meant to hide their sexual orientations. One such example was the marriage of convenience by Rock Hudson, which was meant to convince his fans that he was not homosexual, but heterosexual (Suarez, 5). There were also queer actors who did not come in front of the camera but worked in the Hollywood production departments such as costumes and choreography. Examples are James Whale (1889–1957) and Dorothy Arzner (1897–1979). Much of their identities and sexual preferences were so explicit in the films, they especially directed those with homosexual sensibilities (Suarez, 8). For example, James whale directed classic films like Old Dark House, 1932 and the Bride of Frankenstein, 1935 which were strewn with gay wit and innuendo (Gever, Greyson & Pratibha, 90). Dorothy Arzner directed Hollywood classical films such as Christopher Strong (1933) and Dance, Girl, Dance (1940) which, according to Gever, Greyson & Pratibha (90) implicitly celebrated lesbianism. The most celebrated classical gay film is notably The Wizard of Oz (1939), with Judy Garland (1922–1969) starring alongside misfit effeminate men. This film became an iconic film in gay culture because of the way it revolutionised this tabooed culture. The image of a lesbian vampire dominated the classical Hollywood film (Weiss, 41). The horror films, where unnatural human beings were characterised, dramatised Lesbianism, and the film was a leeway to express homosexual sensibilities. For example, in the film Mad Love (1935) vampires, like Dracula daughter, has queer sexual seduction as she uses her supernatural kisses on both men and women (Weiss, 42). Therefore, although homosexuality as a theme was not implicit in the classical Hollywood cinema, it was dominant theme and film makers yarned to present it under all costs although the production code highly curtailed their dream. When it comes to New Queer Cinema, the theme of homosexuality has been restaged with more explicit reference. Although, in the classical Hollywood, such themes as homosexuality (gay and lesbianism) were just implicit, these issues are explicitly displayed and dramatised in New Queer Cinema (Dyer, 112). Ruby Rich commented on the strong gay and lesbian prevalence on the 1991 year’s film festival with reference to the proliferation of films made by gays and lesbian independent film makers (Fuss, 6). The New Queer Cinema films are, therefore, radical in form and aggressive in the way they challenged heterosexual status quo by promoting positive images of homosexuality (Tyler, 182). Although queer films are presented as going against the rules of conventional society and cast their characters as outlaws and fugitives, they belonged to the changing social norms. They usually represent radical and unconventional gender roles and the way of life. In the world of New Queer Cinema, the dramatised dominant heterosexual power structures have brutally alienated and repressed sexuality (Tyler, 188). Although this was an implicit theme in the classical Hollywood cinema, the New Queer Cinema featured explicit and unapologetic depictions of homosexuality and even sexual activity. However, these depictions sought to subvert seated assumptions about gender, identity, class, family and society. One such film with explicit gay themes is Gus van Sant's My Own Private Idaho (1991) which fits well in the New Queer Cinema. This film does not only restage the classic Hollywood cinema, but also a loose adoption of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1 (Gever, Greyson & Pratibha, 101). The film stages a pilgrimage of two street boys (River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves) to their discovery that leads them to Idaho and subsequently to Italy. The character of Reeves is based on Prince Hal, who in the Shakespearean history Henry IV is the son of a king. Reeves’s character is the son of mayor of Portland; Oregon is notorious for his street behavior which includes prostitution to male clients. This is where homosexuality is well depicted in the film, and to add to that; his counterpart Phoenix is gay and narcoleptic. In this film which draws a lot of themes from the classical Hollywood cinema, the two protagonists develop an intimate friendship that is evident from Reeves's street life ambivalence and his imminent inheritance and Phoenix's romantic affection for Reeves. The film mixed successfully classic of New Queer Cinema and stood to be an outstanding example of restaging classical Hollywood cinema themes in New Queer Cinema (Michele, 133). However, the New Queer Hollywood cinema utilises classical formulas to enhance its restaged themes. Just like Hollywood classical film stigmatised homosexuality, the initial New Queer film has a variation that fits into the social expectations (Michele, 135). In most cases, however, the theme is reworked where a heterosexual and homosexual character are classified together. A compelling example is the film My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) and The Object of My Affection (1998) (Weiss, 50). These two films explore the close ties that exist in a friendship involving gay men and straight women. In another version, of classical heterosexual theme reworking, Hollywood treatment of homosexuality has changed where films explore the destructive dynamics of homophobia instead of the classical depiction of the destructive nature of homosexuality. An acclaimed film Brokeback Mountain (2005) dramatises the way homophobia and heterosexism can bring down human lives (Lee, 1). It dramatises homosexuality which is explored by the intimate relationship between two men in the American West from 1963 to 1983 (Lee, 1). As a new queer cinema, Brokeback Mountain has been attributed, by the way, it portrays same sex relationship and by doing so it fails to refer to the gay civil rights movement (Ehrenstein, 2006, 1). The way the film is acted is referent to the dramatized classical romances such as Romeo and Juliet (Mann, 14). It is, therefore, a good example of a restaged theme from the classical Hollywood from in the new queer. Moreover, there was no consensus on whether the two lead characters were “homosexual, bisexual, heterosexual, or under no sexual label” in the real sense (Ehrenstein, 2006, 1). The media labeled the film as the "gay cowboy movie," although most reviewers termed the protagonists as bisexual (Lee, 1). In conclusion, the New Queer Cinema has been a reflection of what classical Hollywood cinema staged both in pre-code and postcode cinema. The themes of love, affection and romance, were very common since time immemorial and with the invention of cinema technology; these themes could not be ignored. However, social codes are the leading light in any consumer products, in the world of film production. Most themes in the film are dramatised in the way that is conventionally acceptable and within the parapets of moral codes. As society changes and advances, so is the accommodation of most sensibilities, which were once considered immoral. In the case of expressing love, affection and sexuality, heterosexuality was the dominant and conventional way of romance life. Homosexuality was considered not only sinful but unacceptable by the society and so expressing it in any way was frowned at. There is, however, a conviction by Hollywood directors, and a film maker to express this repressed sensibility in their films, but whenever that happened, it was so implicit in their films. Most film makers used horror films to stage the themes and where characters featured in the film, the gay or lesbian character had to be a tragic character that is punishment for going against the social codes. With the invention of new queer cinema, such long stigmatised sexual orientations were brought into the light and their realities dramatised in the open. Unlike the classical Hollywood cinema, the New Queer Cinema does espouse homosexuality and challenge the heterosexual status quo. The homosexual theme in the New Queer Cinema is used to bring down the heterosexual structures and depicts the destructive nature of such structures. Reference Braudy Leo, ed., "Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings", 6th ed., Oxford University Press: New York, 2004 Dyer Richard, Now You See It: Studies on Lesbian and Gay Film, 2nd ed., Routledge: New York, 2003 Ehrenstein David. Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928–1998. William Morrow: New York, 1998 Ehrenstein David, ‘Brokeback's' tasteful appeal’, Los Angeles Times, 1 February 2006, p.1, viewed 9 Jan. 2012. .  Fuss Diana, inside/out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories, Routledge: London, 1991 Gever Martha, John Greyson, & Pratibha Parmar, Queer Looks: Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video, Routledge: New York, 1993 Lee Ryan, ‘Probing the Brokeback Syndrome’, Southern Voice, 13 January 2006, p.1, viewed 9 Jan. 2012. . Mann William, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910–1969, Penguin Books: New York, 2001 Michele Aaron, New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh, 2003 Suarez Juan, Bike Boys, Drag Queens, and Superstars: Avant-Garde, Mass Culture and Gay Identities in the 1960s Underground Cinema, Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1996 Tyler Parker, Screening the Sexes: Homosexuality in the Movies, Da Capo Press: New York, 1993 Weiss Andrea, “Transgressive Cinema: Lesbian Independent Film", In Vampires 161, Penguin; New York, 1993 White Patricia, Uninvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability, Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1999 Read More