Lecture comes out of the closet on film

After author Raymond Murray gave a talk on gay and lesbian characters in film yesterday, Crystal Markley (junior-agricultural and biological engineering)walked out with a new list of movies to see.

It's a great way to generate a list of films worth seeing, she said.

Murray, who wrote Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video, opened the talk with a short history of gay and lesbian characters in film, starting with in the '20s and '30s when they first began to appear as supporting characters.

His focus though, was the '80s and later. Films like My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Silkwood (1983) comprise what Murray calls "the beginning of the explosion in gay and lesbian film."

Unfortunately, it was only a beginning.

With the onset of AIDS, Hollywood quickly skirted away from homosexual issues, Murray said.

"I think AIDS effectively scared Hollywood away from that," he said.

Murray names the Gus Van Sant film My Own Private Idaho (1991) as the film that actually proved that gay and lesbian themed films could be money makers.

"I think it opened the floodgates for gay and lesbian film," he said.

Hollywood productions like Philadelphia (1993) further proved their legitimate selling power.

Still, films like The Birdcage (1996) and Boys On the Side (1995) show how little Hollywood has actually progressed, he said.

The gay characters in these films never show any affection for each other, he said. "Nobody kisses; nobody makes love."

Even a documentary on gays and lesbians in films, The Celluloid Closet (1995), was widely criticized for providing a shallow look at the topic that failed to hold Hollywood accountable for its lack of quality gay and lesbian films.

It's these American independents taking up much of Hollywood's slack, Murray said, pointing to directors like Gregg Araki, Todd Haynes and Bruce La Bruce.

They write stories with real homosexual characters and viewpoints, Murray said.

The only hope that Murray sees in Hollywood are some of the supporting characters in films like Clueless (1995), Set It Off (1995) and The Brady Bunch Movie (1996).

The homosexual characters featured in these films are among the few positive images in Hollywood, he said. He hopes that these films will get audiences accustomed to homosexual characters.

After the talk, Murray reinforced his points by showing clips from The Gay Deceivers (1969), Reform School Girls (1986), Mo' Money (1992) and Basic Instinct (1992).

He also included more promising clips from films like Parting Glances (1986) and Son-in-Law (1993).