My Friend is in an Abusive Relationship…with Gay Movies!
As you can probably tell from the past few years of shows and posts, we enjoy watching movies. We even enjoy watching movies whose expiration date has long since expired. I credit Peasha with opening my eyes to the B-Movie horror genre and Willow Cathiter for leading me to the beauty of the 1980’s drama thriller. My current roommate, whom we’ll call “Crouching Tiger” has tried for months to lead us toward a nirvana of gay movie bliss. There’s only one problem. Gay movies suck!!!
How is it possible that an industry with so many gay people in it is incapable of producing a great movie about gay people? How is it that so many gay actors playing gay roles end up looking like charicatures of a stereotype with a cheeky wink?
At first I thought his problem with gay movies was just bad judgement; an isolated incident. But after month after month of seeing him come home all wide eyed with the possibility of THIS being the one…the movie that would speak to a generation of gay men…the movie that would inspire us all to something greater…the movie that would prove once and for all that we had something more to say than “i’m coming out”, “HIV sucks”, and “serial dating is a really big problem”… I have lost all hope.
Last night he brought home “Soul Maid“. As he showed it to me, he was careful to cover up the hot man on the case so I wouldn’t know that was exactly why he picked it out. He also was careful to tell me that the this movie doesn’t take itself too seriously (a frequent criticism of mine). I fought back the eye roll and we threw it in the DVD player.
Okay…from the first 5 minutes of the story where we learn about a gay man who cleans houses in his underwear for money and has spiritual visions about his dating life during seizures. I knew we were in trouble. And there was my roommate, even as he was being assaulted by this shiteous movie, apologizing for it while he still gazed forward at the screen hoping for a miracle. It was like watching a lifetime movie play out in my living room. I need to watch some lifetime movie channel to figure out how Meredith Baxter Berney would handle this situation. I’m thinking we may need an intervention.
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I have asked myself this question as well. How come there aren’t more gay movies coming out now, especially since it’s easier now to do production on a smaller budget.
Seems like in the 70-80’s there was a groundswell of gay movies but they were pretty bad on acting and production. That sort of trailed off in the 90’s and now in the 00’s all you get is Brokeback and Another Gay Sequel. And what’s up with the endings were everyone dies, it’s like reading a fucking Stephen King novel. Ok I guess that’s the end of my rant for the day.
Anyway tow of my faves are “Journey of Jared Price” which is like a gay after-school special, and The Trip. Check those out if you get the chance.
Oh yeah and I saw the cover for Soul Maid at TLAvideo.com and totally thought it was porn so I blew right past it. LOL
-J
Hey Dan,
It’s funny that you are blogging about this. I too have had this conversation with Dave many, many times. Dave and I have subscribed to HereTV this past year. We have watched every horrible gay movie that they put out there for us to choose from.
Your points are valid. In an industry that is profoundly dominated by “the boys”, why in God’s name can’t they make a decent movie about gays? Although I hate the stereotype, usually there is some form of creative quality that flows through the gays like the force. This is extremely apparent while watching gay cinema. I am not looking for campy, soft core porn. I want to see a story line that I can relate too with characters that I feel like I would be friends with or at least be able to tolerate. Not one of my gay friends (although I only have 4) say the words “fierce” or “fabulous” unless they are making fun of other gays.
The latest “worst” movie that we suffered through was “Polar Opposites” starring Mr. Shetfield (Charles Shaughnessy). This was perhaps the worst cinematic experience of my life. The female general (Beth Grant) in this movie is quite possibly the worst actress ever. She looked like the star of “Strangers with Candy”.
“Shelter” wasn’t THAT bad. I actually enjoyed the storyline. Predictable? ABSOLUTELY. But for some reason I actually fell in love with the characters. This was an anomaly, however. More often than not, Dave and I just laugh out loud at the TV - but they aren’t comedies.
We keep watching the movies in the hope that one will take us by surprise. I will keep you posted…
Listening,
Karl