The Celluloid Closet

The Celluloid Closet, a documentary film based on a book written by Vito Russo gives a very distinct depiction of how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender characters are portrayed in film. The film focuses mainly on men and women that were at some point related to Hollywood. The film relies on the stories of a series of directors, writers, and actors who sympathies with the homosexual community. The men and women tell their stories of how they incorporated subtle homosexual comments or actions into their films. Many of these almost insignificant actions impacted the homosexual and anti homosexuals communities in that they were finally were seen as more acceptable. The movie shows how Hollywood had portrayed these individuals and how sexually free people had been viewed by the world. There were even laws enacted in order to prohibit sexual interaction between same sex individuals on screen. This all began to change as social awareness to the ever present influence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender actors and directors in Hollywood had on the multitude of viewers who watched their films. The directors began to use these subtle remarks encouraging homosexuality in order educate the public on homosexuality and it’s characteristics. I feel this film was designed as sort of a wake up call to society so that the homosexual audience would have more respect in the Hollywood industry. It opened up new venues for future actors and directors to improve on the techniques used in this film. Through this film we also begin to realize how directors and actors in the past have been steadily showing homosexuality in film for a very long time. This helps with accomplishing the ultimate goal of society as a whole accepting the culture as its own. I have a clip from the Celluloid Closet which accurately depicts some subtle and some more evident hints at homosexuality.

Joel Revis