The Prying Game: Queer Hollywood

Last month, the New York Times’ Caryn James heralded a new trend for the winter movie season, an “explosion of Oscar-baiting performances in which straight actors play gay, transvestite or transgender characters.” Think about it—Philip Seymour Hoffman is the mincing Truman in “Capote,” Cillian Murphy is a pretty cross-dresser in “Breakfast on Pluto,” and Felicity Huffman is a midlife-crisis pre-op in “Transamerica.” And all that’s in addition to the Jake Gyllenhaal/Heath Ledger vehicle, “Brokeback Mountain,” which is almost universally known as “the gay cowboy movie.”

This week, we asked students what they thought of the trend.



Sophie M. Noero ’06

It’s interesting that when straight actors play those roles they end up seriously re-affirming their sexuality...You have these two hunky guys making out and Heath Ledger is pointing to [girlfriend] Michelle Williams and saying “look, I banged her, and she’s

pregnant!”



Anna R. Rosenblum ’06

It’s hard to say if it’s about award-baiting, because “Boys Don’t Cry” did really well a few years ago—why wasn’t there a bunch of movies [about homosexuality] right away? They’re advertising “Brokeback Mountain” not as a gay movie but as the ‘greatest love story ever told’–I’m interested in seeing whether there’s a right-wing reaction to this, like a couple of years ago when [conservatives] were like, ‘oh my God, the gays are taking over television.’



Will C. Nygard ’08

It’s probably because of the gay marriage issue, because it puts [gay lifestyles] at the forefront of people’s minds. I think it’s more socially acceptable now—if you’re one of those “focus on the family” fucks, you just won’t see [these movies]. Since there has been such a conservative, born-again movement, especially in our government, I think moderates and liberals are feeling more sympathetic toward [gay issues].



Sarah M. Miller ’06

It’s an easy way to make a really crappy film seem profound–I haven’t seen “Brokeback” but from the previews it seems like a typical stupid love movie, except [the main characters] are gay. I like seeing cowboys kissing, but I think women are a lot less interested in seeing gay guys making out than men are in seeing women make out.