Description
Screened Out is a book by Richard Barrios that explores the portrayal of gay and lesbian characters in American cinema from the early 1900s to present day. The author argues that these depictions, ranging from stereotypical to groundbreaking, have had a significant impact on societal perceptions of the LGBTQ+ community. Through extensive research and analysis of studio records, scripts, and reviews, Barrios paints a comprehensive picture of how Hollywood has used and depicted gay and lesbian characters. The book also challenges the notion of progress in LGBTQ+ representation in both movies and society, and highlights the power of film in shaping identity and providing representation for marginalized communities.
Rapacious dykes, self-loathing closet cases, hustlers, ambiguous sophisticates, and sadomasochistic rich kids: most of what America thought it knew about gay people it learned at the movies. A fresh and revelatory look at sexuality in the Great Age of movie making, Screened Out shows how much gay and lesbian lives have shaped the Big Screen. Spanning popular American cinema from the 1900s until today, distinguished film historian Richard Barrios presents a rich, compulsively readable analysis of how Hollywood has used and depicted gays and the mixed signals it has given us: Marlene in a top hat, Cary Grant in a negligee, a pansy cowboy in The Dude Wrangler. Such iconoclastic images, Barrios argues, send powerful messages about tragedy and obsession, but also about freedom and compassion, even empowerment. Mining studio records, scripts, drafts (including cut scenes), censor notes, reviews, and recollections of viewers, Barrios paints our fullest picture yet of how gays and lesbians were portrayed by the dream factory, warning that we shouldn't congratulate ourselves quite so much on the progress movies - and the real world -- have made since Stonewall. Captivating, myth-breaking, and funny, Screened Out is for all film aficionados and for anyone who has sat in a dark movie theater and drawn strength and a sense of identity from what they saw on screen, no matter how fleeting or coded.
Related Products
