TCM "Screened Out" gay role film festival

[Ben Varkentine]

Kittens, help a straight boy out. Tell me if you think I'm being too sensitive.

Turner Classic Movies is promoting a festival of films featuring gay roles, from roughly the first 30 years of cinema. In an article on the TCM website about the festival--

http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?c ... eId=159623

We find this description of one of the films:

Among those Behind Bars is Eleanor Parker in Caged (1950) as a naïve young inmate preyed upon by sadistic lesbo matron Hope Emerson.

Now...lord knows I wouldn't expect a movie released in 1950 to be terribly enlightened about homosexuals, female or male. But should an article written in 2007 really use a word like "lesbo?"

I mean, again, maybe I'm wrong, and this is why I'm asking you. But I associate that word with, if not out-and-out insult, then certainly with exploitation. Y'know-"Hot lesbos! Check it out!"

At the very least, it struck me strange. What do you all think?

[Pinocchio1940]

It certainly is strange because I wouldn't even think of those words being used in the 1950's. Even the word "gay" had a "happier" meaning (pun intended.) But if you're talking changes in society, things were different, that's for sure.

[dlline]

I believe that those words weren't used in the 50s... they certainly weren't in the 60s, but the use of the word "gay" to mean "happy" was much more relegated to the 20s and 30s ("Gay Divorcee", for example, a Fred Astaire film from 1934) than to the 50s. In the 50s or 60s, the prison matron was a stereotype that denoted lesbianism (e.g. Rosa Klebb in "From Russia with Love", James Bond, 1963), so describing someone as a "sadistic lesbo matron" was, quite frankly, redundant. The use of the term "lesbo," which in all honesty doesn't offend me in the least, strikes me as campy clarification for a younger audience.

I must admit that it brings joy to my way-too-close-to-50-year-old lesbo soul to see that you, Ben, are offended by this. It shows me that we have indeed made some strides. If you'd like to be offended, I really understand why you are, but considering there are so many real things to be offeneded by (shabby health care and the war in Iraq come screaming to mind), I would suggest that this is so small as to be insignificant. But thank you anyway.

Just my $0.02. I'd love to know what everyone else thinks.

Diane

[Hemiola]

Of course, let's not forget about Willow mentioning that she hadn't fully established her "Lesbo street cred".

[maudmac]

Ah, yes, interesting. Many good points.

I think "lesbo" is one of those words that depends on the context. It can be offensive if it's used as an insult of some kind, but it isn't necessarily offensive all the time. I got the vibe from the description that it was meant to convey the campy vibe Diane mentioned. In all honesty, if TCM had come to me and said "Do you think this is okay?" I would probably have said, "Sure, go ahead." But let's say Showtime came to me and said, "We want to describe The L Word as 'that show about a bunch of lesbos' or 'that lesbo show,'" I would probably say, "Hell no! What is wrong with you?!?"

[Ben Varkentine]

let's say Showtime came to me and said, "We want to describe The L Word as 'that show about a bunch of lesbos' or 'that lesbo show,'" I would probably say, "Hell no! What is wrong with you?!?"

It's funny you say that, actually. There was a litte kerfuffle on AfterEllen the other day. Showtime is promoting the series for a best drama Emmy with an ad that prominently quotes a reviewer saying "No longer 'a show about lesbians,' this series has evolved into a series about people."

Some of the commenters there were surprised to find that it hadn't been a series about people before. Me, I just know that if the television academy even puts The L Word in the same category that West Wing dominated for four years, I will quite simply have no choice but to kill myself.

[maudmac]

Well, crap. I wanted to see the kerfluffle (and what's up with Pratibha Parmar and Helen Reddy and WTF is this Finding t.A.T.u. crap?!?), but....looks like the site's down at the moment.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry at the prospect of The L Word even being considered for Best Drama. It's not the worst show on TV, it has its moments, and the last season was an improvement over the one before it, but I just can't get my mind around it for Best Drama.

(I went hunting for a list of shows that have won Best Drama and it was a nice walk down memory lane. The Rockford Files, yay. Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey. I miss Cagney & Lacey a lot. And, wow, L.A. Law won four times. About all I remember from L.A. Law is Amanda Donahoe.)

"No longer 'a show about lesbians,' this series has evolved into a series about people." That is really funny. I imagine the reviewer didn't mean it sound that way, but, yes, I too am surprised to find that lesbians aren't people. If I think about it some more, I'm sure I'll be able to find a way to be offended by the idea that a show that is about lesbians is somehow stunted or retarded or less than it could be. Whatever.

[Ben Varkentine]

I wanted to see the kerfluffle (and what's up with Pratibha Parmar and Helen Reddy and WTF is this Finding t.A.T.u. crap?!?), but....looks like the site's down at the moment.

Yeah, I noticed that too. Till it's back up, if you do a Google blog search or something you should be able to find a couple of people commenting on it, and the image from the ad.