Reaction Essay: The Celluloid Closet

I find this documentary does well to illustrate the under representation of homosexuals in Hollywood and the media in general. I enjoyed the introduction to the film where one male is shown cutting in on a couple’s dance to dance with the other man. The film depicts how Hollywood has taught straight people what to think of gay people and how gay people should view themselves. Early homosexuals in the media evoke a comical reaction, thus at first gay men only served as humorous additions to films. Films throughout the thirties depict gay men as “sissies” which serve as laughing objects where women homosexuals do not garner any laughter. Man depicted as woman is funny, however woman depicting man is not.

Interesting to learn was the Catholic churches affect on homosexuality in the media. The Catholic church intervened in order for Hollywood to solely produce media that promotes moral and virtuous entertainment. The church is quoted saying: “Decent people don’t like this type of stuff”. This reiterates the way in which the media creates the way in which we view ourselves, straight and gays alike. The doc delves into how even following media-content laws, directors and producers were still able to present homosexuality in films only through a “hush-hush” manner, in this way directors played on the ignorance of the audience. I enjoyed the way the documentary clearly depicts how Hollywood has, along with all mediums of the media, created the convention for masculinity and the difficulties in homosexuality in terms of convention. The doc shows how men are rarely depicted as emotional creatures on the screen and thus when boys and men show emotion their masculinity is threatened. It was interested to see how the female body is openly displayed in film whereas the male body’s nakedness evokes discomfort in the audience. This ties into the degrading aspects of film in terms of femininity and perpetuates the exotic, sex-object role women have conventionally been constructed to fill.

The documentary also points out how female homosexuality is viewed by males as more of a “phase-type” process and there is an overall lack of seriousness toward lesbianism. I found it hilarious listening to the doc’s interview with Susan Sarandon in regard to males’ means of preparation for dangerous situations. Sarandon comments that in danger “boys pull out their guns, not their dicks” which reiterates conventional masculinity and how males are romanticized as tough and ready-for-action while women remain passive.

Despite the somewhat redundant qualities of the documentary, I felt it very powerful in that, yes homosexuals are not only underrepresented in the media but wrongly represented, and it is refreshing to see a documentary so clearly hone in on the background of these representations.