Narrative Silences: Queer Cinema By Bryan Singer

Paulina Garcia

Narrative Silences

11\11\17

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Media needs to do better for LGBTQ+ people. Despite slow advances over the past few years, the LGBTQ+ community is still wildly underrepresented in modern media.

For years, gay characters were subjected to horrible plot lines, if they were even included at all. The classical excuse by media creator was that the queer storylines would scare investors and the general audience was not interested in those topics.

This rooted homophobia in media had its start with the very invention of modern technology. The movies were a medium that said, “Let me show you what the world has to offer.” It knew that their audience was fascinated by the

In the book Queer Cinema: the film reader, Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, discuss their criteria for identifying media products as queer: Auteurs, Forms, and Reception.

Benshoff and Griffin classify Auteur as any product that has been created by queer people, although this doesn’t always translate to queer products. One of the best examples of this is Bryan Singer. His films include, X2 (2003), Superman Returns (2006), X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016). While his films do not depict explicitly queer themes, he has been known of using queer tropes such as the coming out scene in

Russo asserts that such a character was a source of amusement and reassurance for the audience From the 1930s to the 1950s, religious groups criticized Hollywood’s films and so the Hayes Code, a system of self censorship was created. During these years, films could not feature overtly homosexual characters – so homosexuality was coded into a character’s mannerisms and behaviors. This strict code was loosened in the 1960s and 1970s, which also saw the dawn of the women’s and gay rights movements. While gays and lesbians were becoming more visible and vocal in public life, their representation in films was becoming increasingly homophobic. At this time, gay characters were often represented as being dangerous, violent, predatory, or suicidal such as in the films The Children’s Hour (1961), The Boys in the Band (1970), Midnight Express (1978), and Vanishing Point (1971). Since the 1990s, Hollywood has improved its portrayal of gay and lesbian characters. The popularity of films such as The Birdcage (1996), Philadelphia (1993), Flawless (1999), and In & Out (1997), demonstrates that audiences can and do enjoy films with gay and lesbian characters. Despite these advances, however, the industry is still cautious in its portrayals of gay themes, characters, and