Gay edy movi have drastilly improved - Polygon

Contents:

• THE BT GAY AND LBIAN FILMS OF THE 2000S
• THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’
• 16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN
• A MSY ERA OF GAY EDI IS FALLY PAYG OFF
• 30 SONGS FROM THE EARLY 2000S THAT ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND WOKE STRAIGHTS WILL REMEMBER

THE BT GAY AND LBIAN FILMS OF THE 2000S

The story ncerns a hapls civil servant who gets more than he bargaed for when he mov to an apartment wh a gay fashn stunt and fds himself on the twalk. Regard as a major tone Gay Cema, spe s straight male leads, this highly rated movie is also nsired the first major mastream LGBTQ+ film.

Directed by G Van Sant, Milk reunts the te story of Harvey Milk, Ameri’s first openly gay elected official, and his emblazoned battle for gay rights. Y powerful g-of-age story is about a French-Canadian boy named Zachary (Marc-Andree Grond) as he stggl wh his buddg homosexualy and homophobia the ’60s and 70s.

THE GAYT MOVI THAT AREN’T ACTUALLY GAY, OM ‘BARBIE’ AND ‘BURLQUE’ TO ‘VENOM’ AND ‘ROAD HOE’

Culled om a longlist of hundreds, movi nsired for the list promently feature gay, lbian, trans, or queer characters; ncern self centrally wh LGBTQ+ them; prent s LGBTQ+ characters a fair and realistic light; and/or be seen as a touchpot the evolutn of queer cema.

And we regnize that some of the films the list will re-igne healthy bat that have been fixtur of discsn around LGBTQ+ films — straight actors playg gay characters, cis actors playg trans characters, and the historil domance of whe male perspectiv. For our most recent update to the list, we’ve add mastream edi Fire Island and Bros, thriller Knock at the Cab (featurg two pairs of hbands whose vatn is terpted by the potential apolypse), Disney feature Strange World (wh the stud’s first openly gay lead character), Blue Jean (a Brish drama set durg the Thatcher premiership), the extremely well-reviewed Girl Picture), France’s magil realist The Five Devils, and Cann 2023 buts Monster and Strange Way of Life.

16 MT-SEE CLASSIC GAY MOVI FROM BEFORE YOU WERE BORN

Crics Consens: We Were Here reviss the cris facg the gay muny the early 1980s -- and offers a powerful tribute to the spirg rolve shown at a time of turmoil. Crics Consens: Anchored by Sean Penn's powerhoe performance, Milk is a triumphant acunt of Ameri's first openly gay man elected to public office. Synopsis: Substance abe and emotnal and physil distance threaten the relatnship between a gay filmmaker (Thure Ldhardt) and his longtime lover...

A MSY ERA OF GAY EDI IS FALLY PAYG OFF

Throughout the film, the characters’ attractns are fluid, makg this one of the earlit films to feature lbian, gay, bisexual/pansexual, and transgenr them.

Cast a few top-shelf gay ins there — your Bette Middlers, your Joan Crawfords, your Faye Dunaways playg Joan Crawford — and pecially have them reparteeg bchy l tearg each other to piec, and have an athetic that’s outre and unironilly mp, and you’ve got the wng-formula starter-pack for somethg licly fabulo and queer, even if not by tentnal sign. But settg a precent for movi now nonized by gay culture that don’t technilly have any (non-d, anyway) gay characters were some of Hollywood’s most all-time legendary actrs: Bette Davis “All About Eve” ma “’s gog to be a bumpy ri” an idmatic quip, while Elizabeth Taylor then ma Bette Davis’ “what a dump” even more inic aga the openg le of “Who’s Aaid of Virgia Woolf, ” livered while gnawg down on a chicken wg. Ed Bianchi’s 1981 “The Fan, ” meanwhile, livered perhaps the greatt gift to gay film fans of a certa era stg Lren Ball as an agg actrs stgglg to hold onto her legacy while beg stalked by, what else but, a psychotic gay fan.

30 SONGS FROM THE EARLY 2000S THAT ONLY GAY PEOPLE AND WOKE STRAIGHTS WILL REMEMBER

Films like “9 to 5” and “Steel Magnolias” keep ptivatg bee their sts are all top-to-toe, inic-among-the-gays women who n duce tears and lghs and shout unfettably quotable l the same scene. There’s also, of urse, the trend many of the movi of men beg huiated and based — somethg the gay mal the dience love to partake — leavg our inic women wh all the chips the end and whom we n leave the theater rootg for. Below, IndieWire rounds up some of the bt cidly non-gay films that are actually gay after all — and gayer than many ntemporary movi proclaimg themselv as such actually are.

But even if you thk everyone the film is heterosexual, s gay appeal is unniable, wh an in like Davis the lead, geo stum, and all of the lightfully bchy snark between the magnificent actrs. Why ’s gay: Ameri’s arguably greatt director is normally regard as heteronormative (Wterns, war films, John Wayne, Amerin history), but his work is full of subtextual gay tert, rarely as much as here. Why ’s gay: Beyond s possible cln bee of the bare-chted Holn — a 1950s Hollywood beefke, seen here ep to his reer — what is notable is a possible alternative terpretatn of two female characters.

From the tfight the powr room to the over-the-top dialogue to the jaw-droppg mil numbers and not one but two montag that serve as md-bogglg time psul of the ’60s, the film is so outrageo that spired generatns of gay viewers to scream, “Sparkle, Neely, sparkle! Why ’s gay: A wacky sexploatn film wh high mp productn valu and a killer theme song, Barbarella mt fight the evil Durand Durand (om which inic New Wave band Duran Duran took s name), while scg a shirtls Aryan angel and outlastg an evil sex mache. Why ’s gay: Endlsly quotable and drippg wh the fatigable spir of a stnch character, the tragic woman tak on a theatril magnificence wh Ltle Edie’s every twirl and outf change.