...the non – acceptance of homosexuality by some quarters, the crude stereotyping and the slowly emerging new wave of thought that treats the subject with a compassionate eye, and gives it a humane treatment. Submitted by : Vivek Maheshwary 0800206 INTRODUCTION : Many Bollywood movies have explored various social issues such as child marriage, polygamy, dowry system, casteism and terrorism. However, homosexuality, a taboo subject in Indian society and religion, has yet not been fully explored in Bollywood. “Homosexuality refers to sexual behaviour with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a homosexual orientation.” Gay refers to male homosexuality whereas lesbian refers to female homosexuality. Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya, Jab pyaar kiya to darna kya, Pyaar kiya koi chori nahi ki, Chhup chhup aahein bharna kya.. The above song is from the movie Mughal-E-Azam can be translated as ‘What is there to be afraid of if you have loved? You have only loved someone and not stolen anything, then why you are hiding and sighing’. This song may well apply to the homosexual couples in Indian society who despite of their love for each other can’t come out in a society which disapproves of such relationship and the imposition of heteronormativity. Heteronormativity is the cultural bias in favour of oppositesex relationships of a sexual nature, and against same-sex...
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...typically treated as well as portrayed homosexuals as subject of negative stereotypes. When Gay representation was introduced to popular culture, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community was oppressed from the start. Later, film and television attempted to create well-rounded homosexual characters but focused in depicting gay stereotypes and how they shaped the public's impression of the gay community. These stereotypes created a non-threatening sissy gay and a warrior lesbian. Throughout history, heterosexual men are seen to be strong and proud of their masculinity and homosexuals have been perceived as lacking masculinity and feminine. Gay characters started to emerge in the 1990’s in both television and movies. Ellen DeGeneres and her character Ellen Morgan coming out under much scrutiny on the TV show ‘Ellen,’ which eventually led to her own talk show. The movie The Birdcage, with Robin Williams was about a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion. Gays and lesbians have been around for a long time, especially in Hollywood, but more people started to come out in the 90’s. With the popularity of shows like Will and Grace, which feature leading gay characters, as well as the show Friends, Ross Gellar’s lesbian ex-wife Carol, marries her partner and happily co-parents her son with Ross. Over a period of time we are slowly seeing gay, lesbian, and bi-sexual characters slowly entering into the mainstream media (Campbell, 1). The progression towards the acceptance...
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...American Beauty This movie addresses problems that American families could face, as well as the people who affect their lives. The issues that take place are ones that no one wants to discuss, but can be very real. The characters include a closeted gay Marine named Colonel Fitts, played by Chris Cooper, and a man going through mid-life crisis Lester Burnham played by Kevin Spacey. Film critic Roger Ebert states, “This movie is more about sadness and loneliness than about cruelty or inhumanity. Nobody is really bad in this movie, just shaped by society in such a way they can’t be themselves, or feel joy” (2). I had sadness for the characters and was shocked by the way it ended. Most importantly, I found that I could relate to some of these issues. One thing I did enjoy was how well the movie portrays homosexuality. We hear words such as “partners” which is in good taste, rather than “fag” which is in bad taste. Most of the movie shows openly gay people in everyday life. For example, there are lesbians looking at a house that realtor Carolyn Burnham, played by Annette Bening, is trying to sell. Another critic explains, “Evidently the only well-adjusted and relatively happy people in the neighborhood are ‘Jim and Jim’ (Scott Bakula and Sam Robards), a gay couple” (McCarthy 2). Lester Burnham is a relatively normal person who simply has been going through the motions of everyday life. He hates his dead-end job. In addition, his marriage had become routine and...
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...Criticism TTH 7-8:30 am My Bromance (Gay, Lesbian and Queer) The Thai movie was all about two men who were brothers by means of paper, who unintentionally fell in love with each other. They story has involved the social, cultural and personal viewpoints of characters that mirrors the situation today. Although Thailand is now consider as a country wherein LGBT’s existence is openly recognize, it is still new to the society that two people with the same sex fall in love with each other. In accordance to the nature of man, a person is supposedly has to fall for someone who has an opposite sex with him/her however in the story it is not Eve that Adam has love but is an Adam as well. This is against the normal or usual relationship society sees thus the characters, Bank and P’Golf were prone to discrimination of people’s judgmental eyes. Even their own friends and parents have seen this as an act of defiance to the norms of society. In a modern world, this type of relationship is still judge and unaccepted. However, looking closely to the characters’ personality this may be cause of influence around them. Bank showed a role of an obvious gay person maybe because he grew up with her mother that might affect his emotional and psychological growth as a person. On the other hand, P’Golf has fallen for Bank although he does not consider himself as a gay it is because he grew up with a father who is tough and masculine. The characters personality of sexuality might be because they...
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...how they are being represented. Despite the growing acceptance and portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in television and film, the main depictions we see are still stereotypes, negative images, and comic reliefs; all there for entertainment and/or to gain credit for diversity. Why is it that today, in the age of second generation human rights activists, the majority of people still seem to voluntarily swallow these stereotypes of the LGBTQ+ community? Hollywood has during later years been criticized by its lack of diversity, and focus on white...
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...how acceptable and worldwide these relationships are becoming. The most influential source of media is television. Although people call television the idiot box, it could play a key role effortlessly. In the past, media has led society to believe that same-sex relationships are not acceptable. Achieved by displaying strictly heterosexual relationships on almost every television show, and leaving no room for possibility of homosexuality. Even though most television shows are American, they are still televised nationally including Canada, influencing minds in positive ways. The first reality show to cast a homosexual character on national television was MTV's 1992 "The Real World", which follows the lives of 7 strangers, with different backgrounds, personalities, and sometimes religious values living under one roof. One of the seven cast members, being gay, announced his lifestyle not only to his roommates, but to the world. This came off as a huge shock to the entire house, but after living with this male cast member for a number of weeks, his roommates quickly realized he's just a regular individual. "The Real World" continues after 26 seasons to choose...
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...LGBT people have faced varying amounts of representation in media over the years, specifically movies as documented in Epstein and Friedman’s The Celluloid Closet. All LGBT movies face a common struggle of displaying the LGBT identity and community in a way that is accurate, enticing, and socially acceptable. Hooper’s The Danish Girl is one such movie. It is a highly fictionalized account of the life of Einar Wegener, a painter in a seemingly wonderful marriage to another painter, Gerda. However, as time goes on Einer transitions into her new identity,Lili. Lili Elbe was an actual person, famous for being the first woman to recieve sex reassignment surgery. The movie explores the shift in the identity of the main character from Einar to Lili....
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...does Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) re-assess her gender to secure lasting power? Finally, in what way can she be considered according to Inness’s formulation, “pseudo-tough?” It is interesting to note that women in Hollywood are not considered tough even when they play characters that can break and haunt a male protagonist in the film. Sherrie A. Inness in her chapter, “Women warriors and wonder women in popular culture,” mentions that, all women in Hollywood are not as tough as they seem. They repeatedly show the tough and masculine killer nature is nothing but all women or feminine underneath. They are made and designed to be desirable by men, even if they are found in the middle of an intense battle, they show no signs of breaking a sweat, with their beautiful hair flowing in high speed shots and are lithe stylistically to make them look like an Amazon warrior with a ton of sexuality. I found this analogy true and very interesting as we were shown the clip from the Ridley Scot film, Alien. Here we see Ripley, played by Sigourney Weaver, as tough commanding officer of the ship, Nostromo, who is a women (a very distinctive choice among the many science fiction film where most of the lead characters are males) taking a break and relaxing. As the scene settles in, we see Ripley undressing and revealing her body which is very sexually stimulating. We are reminded as an audience that...
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...The Devil Wears Prada Essay By: Winnet The movie version of “The Devil Wear Prada” is superior to the novel because it explains the different types of stereotypes dealt with better, it is more visually appealing, and it is easier to connect to the characters. The movie itself is overflowing with different types of stereotypes. An example would be when Nigel tells Andy that” as a child, he told his family he was attending soccer practice when he was really taking sewing lessons, and read Runway under the covers of his bed at night with a flashlight,”. This shows us that Nigel is afraid of what people will say about him. They may not take him seriously because he likes to do female jobs. By saying that he is going to soccer practice it does not make anyone suspect anything. The book did not do a very good job on explaining the different types of stereotypes. Nearly, every man that appears on the pages of “The Devil Wears Prada” is so homosexual that it begins to feel like a mock. It is common knowledge that a group of men in the fashion industry are homosexuals. However, in the book, the majority of male workers that work in the publishing industry are gay. In addition, that those who are gay are incapable of holding decent conversations without devolving into gossip and slander. Firstly, in the book The Devil Wears Prada “every time they mentioned a homosexual person they would be engaging in some...
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...As Good As It Gets is a movie about a pessimistic, homophobic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Melvin, who forms an ironic friendship with his gay artist neighbor. Melvin also falls in love with a waitress who is also the only one who can tolerate his obsessive compulsiveness and generally hateful attitude towards everyone. The movie follows and focuses on the unlikely pairing of the three, the obsessive-compulsive novelist, the single working mother, and the gay artist, as they set out on a road trip together. As Good As It Gets was a good choice for writing a sociological essay over as it covers many different issues, including healthcare, poverty, sexuality and homosexuality. Sexuality and homosexuality is a big theme in this movie. Homosexuality...
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...King” details her opinion of the classic Disney movie. She states how she believes the movie is racist, sexist, and anti-gay. While it’s not difficult to see where she’s coming from, most of her points are far-fetched at best. The first major point Lazarus tries to make in the essay is that The Lion King is racist. She came about his idea with the hyenas living in the not so privileged area and the accent they have. She states that one of the characters has a Whoopi Goldberg accent. The essay that was wrote made it sound like it was a little extreme. After watching the movie with a better understanding. Many of the ideas that were discussed made sense. She gives many example to back up her ideas and some, but not all, made sense. While thinking about it, it is hard to believe that a Disney movie would have such a meaning. While watching the movie, it was easy to see where her ideas come from. When Scar and Mufasa were together...
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...“Queen Bees and Wannabes” and screenplay by Tina Fey. The movie was first developed by Tina Fey, calling Saturday Night Live’s producer Lorne Michaels to suggest Queen Bees and Wannabes if it could be turned into a film. Borrowing elements from the book, she then rewrote the plot from her own high school experience. Lindsay Lohan first read Regina George’s line but the casting team felt like she was more fitting into their Cady’s character and that it would harm her reputation at that time. Rachel McAdams was casted because Tina Fey felt her being “kind and polite made her perfect for an evil-spirited character. Amanda Seyfried also read lines for Regina’s role but the producers suggested her for Karen due to her “spacey and silly sense of humor”. Lacey Chabert and...
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...unnoticed. “When gays and lesbians do appear on screen, it is more often than not in ways that uphold stereotypical notions, such as the ‘pansy’ male or the ‘hardboiled’ woman,” is how Mangin explains this dilemma. This statement holds truth, but it is only the beginning of addressing the problem. Society has deemed it necessary to discriminate against this community, instead of accepting them, and treating them how they should be treated; like normal people, since that is what they are, of course. unjust way the LGBTQ+ community...
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...Barbie Miller Philadelphia Movie Review I think the movie was okay, not something I would have watched on my own. This movie shows how one is discriminated against because of his disease. Discrimination comes in all kinds of forms, from racism, gender, age and more. I am not sure how this really fits into this period, other than it was in the early 80’s when people started to learn about aids. Homosexuals started coming out of the closet as they say. You had to be afraid to be gay because you would be persecuted for your sexual orientation. Everyone thought Aids was just related to the gay community, but it was also from doing drugs with someone that had the disease. Sharing needles from during heroin with someone that was a carrier. Therefore, here is my take on the movie. Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is one of Philadelphia's most promising lawyers. He is the hot rookie and hired by a top law firm headed by Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards). Andy is also gay and dying from AIDS. When the physical signs of the disease begin to manifest themselves, the firm gets cold on Andy and he is out of a job. They tell him it is because he has an attitude problem and his work is mediocre, but Andy knows it is more personal than that. After no other law firm will take his case for unfair dismissal, his last resort is old adversary Joe Miller (Denzel Washington). Joe, a homophobe with an innate fear of AIDS, is reluctant to take the case also because of his personal reasons, but after...
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...Moonlight The film “Moonlight” is told in three chapters that uses the boy’s name as it evolves over time Little, Chiron, and Black, with each played by a different actor. The film starts off with a young, gay black boy named Chiron, who is referred to as “little” being chased down by a group of bullies from his school. Chiron comes from a broken home with no father figure and a drug addict mother (Naomie Harris). When a local drug dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his wife Teresa (Janelle Monáe) takes a sudden interest in Chiron, he immediately looks up to them as mentors, despite Juan’s involvement in his mother’s drug habit. Several years later, Chiron (now played by Ashton Sanders) has grown into a lanky high school...
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