Stereotyping
Homosexuals in Film: The
Celluloid Closet by Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman
How most of us learn about others is through three
factors: one being what we see for ourselves, as in what we can see with our
own eyes about others; the second one being the opposite of that, which is what
other people tell us; the third being our culture (films, books, plays etc.). The
two films watched, The Celluloid Closet and Reel Injun, demonstrate that
stereotypes in films are shown to be extremely harmful to society because
people use it in learning about people.
To understand stereotypes, it is important to make the
comparison between social types and stereotypes. Social types are the people
who live by the rules of society. Stereotypes apply to people who are not
considered the “norm” and are not included in the rules of society. The biggest
difference being is that social types are a choice, whereas stereotypes are
forced upon you. Iconography plays into stereotypes and is shown in our culture
by classifying populations as stereotypes and makes it easy to identify people.
This, in turn shows the use of hegemony in film. Hegemony is demonstrated by
using stereotypes the group in power is able to decided what “the norm” is and
what is and not accepted. “The norm” is what impacted marginal groups
(minorities), and made them thirsty for recognition.
In
the film we are exposed to the three different stereotypes that gay and lesbians
were given, which were the “sissy”, the “victim”, and the “villain”. The sissy
was a more feminine male, used as comedy relief. The “victim” was the gay
character that was depicted as miserable, lonely and pathetic, which was
supposed to make the audience pity them and which usually resulted in their
deaths at the end of the films. Finally, there was the “villain” who was to
demonstrate that people who are gay or lesbian have something wrong with them
and portrayed as people that have no feelings. The “villain” was shown through
the example of the films Dracula and Rebecca. Harvey Fierstein states that
even though the “sissy” was negative, he just wanted any kind of recognition,
kind of like the idea of; no publicity is bad publicity. These roles show how
most of us learn about others, making it clear that film culture plays a big
part in how people view others. These roles also demonstrated iconography,
where people are able to put gays and lesbians in boxes and identify them based
of off these three roles shown in the film. Various other stereotypes that gays
and lesbians face were mentioned such as the “butch dyke”, “lesbian vampire”,
and “sadistic queer” to name a few.
The
film exposes that at the root of these roles and stereotypes is, hegemony. The
prime example being the Hays code, which allowed censorship and restrictions
and is the reason why a lot of the homosexuality in films for a long time was
“seen between the line”. Hegemony allowed the people in power, so white
heterosexual males, to decide what the “norm” was and in turn exclude homosexuals.
This film went up to the year 1995, which means it wasn’t that long ago, but we
have made great advances from that year to present time. In todays day and age
there is greater freedom and platforms for homosexuals to decide how they want
to be presented and viewed.
Native American Stereotypes:
Reel Injun by Neil Diamond
Reel
Injun is a Canadian feature-length documentary film, made in 2009, by filmmakers
Catherine Bainbridge, Neil Diamond and Jeremiah Hayes with goal of
understanding how the myth of the Injun has influenced the world's
understanding and misunderstanding of the Natives threw cinema.
Throughout
the one hour and a half length film, Reel
Injun traces the evolution of cinema's depiction of Native people from the
silent film era to today. They take a look at the Hollywood Indian by exploring
the portrayal of Native Americans through a hundred years of cinema. The film
is separated into multiple parts including: The Savage Injun, A Good Injun, Is
A Dead Injun, The Groovy Injun and finally The Renaissance in order to offer
the viewers a better understanding of the categories and the evolution of the
picture of the Native American that was seen by America. Like in The Celluloid Closet, the portrayal of
homosexuals and the Indians in cinema are categorized in negative ways. In the
film viewed in class, gays in cinema were categorized into three main
categories: the sissy, the killer and the one who always dies at the end. Similarly,
in Reel Injun, Indians are
categorized as savages and inhuman and as the ones who always die.
Throughout
the film, we meet with many celebrities including: Clint Eastwood, Robbie
Robertson and Wes Studi, who discuss the evolution of the image of Indians in
Western films. We also meet with regular Indians themselves who express the
voice of their people through their own eyes and how it has affected them as
individuals, a group and a society. Very early in the film, one important
manner that is brought to light is that the portrayal of Indians in film is
driven by the American people themselves who line up at cinemas to watch movies
about cowboys in the West killing and murdering “savage” Indians.
In
later years, dressing and pretending to be Indian was seen as the new “cool”
but the population’s knowledge of the Indian lifestyle was only known through
films, where the Indian lifestyle was altered in order to fit the Hollywood
picture. Soon after, many American filmmakers attempted to make films solely
about Indians and how they lived today but they were depicting the Indians of
the 1800’s with stereotypical thoughts. Although their goal was to soften the
Indian image in Hollywood, the films were not an accurate portrayal of Indians.
Throughout the documentary, the filmmakers bring the audience on a journey
across America to some of cinema's most iconic landscapes, including Monument
Valley, the setting for Hollywood's greatest Westerns, and the Black Hills of
South Dakota, home to Crazy Horse. Reel
Injun also explored the stereotype of the Drunken Indian as Native
Americans in the United States have historically had extreme difficulty with
the use of alcohol. Many scenes in the movie are clips from dozens of classic
and present Hollywood films about the depiction of the Native people to prove
the concept of the negative portrayal in cinema since the first ever film was
created. Indians themselves voiced the consequences their family has suffered
by the depiction of Indians in Hollywood through countless interviews.
Documentary films and
ourselves
Documentary films can be used as a tool
to educate the public and for self reflection. Both films discuss the topic of
stereotypes; what they are, how they are presented by Hollywood and their
consequences. While viewing these films we begin to understand the impact that
stereotypes can have on the general population and on members of the group
being shown. Through these films, we learn about our
own understanding and knowledge on the issues presented. For example, a native
American will already know much about how they are stereotyped because they
live it, while a non-native American may not. It allows us to look at an issue
from many different perspectives. It may also make us more critical when
watching movies in the future. Questions such as: "Do these stereotypes still occur in film?" and "What
about stereotypical figures such as the sissy?" come to mind after viewing these films. After watching these
documentaries, we may pay more attention to how a group is being presented and
why. As well, we may reflect on our own lives and consider if we have ever
imposed these stereotypes onto someone and become more conscious of it. Many
people have prejudices towards groups that they have learned from their culture
and may be unaware of it.
A study was conducted in 1999 by staff
members in the Department of Psychology at Harvard
University where Asian women were asked to take a difficult math test. Prior to the
test, these women took a short questionnaire, half highlighting the fact that
they were Asian and the other half that they were women. Those who had been
reminded of their Asian heritage performed better than those who had been
reminded of the fact that they were female. I found this study interesting because, as these documentaries
had spoken about, it show’s how negative or positive stereotypes affect those
in the group. While recognizing that these stereotypes and negative images about women continue to be shown in films, I believe there are now more positive female role models now and I find that I am more influenced by them than the negative. To me, this representation helps to combat the negative ones.
Both films were able to successfully
present evidence to their proposed stereotypes by showing many clips of films
on the issues. This allowed the audience to see evidence of these stereotypes
in films and gave them a chance to react to them. Commentary by professional
film critics and people of the group in question were useful to get a better
understanding of the issue at whole. However, for a more personal point of
view, the film makers could have interviewed a few individuals from the group
that were not film critics. This would have demonstrated how the general public
and those outside the film industry understood about the portrayal of their own
group. The celluloid closet had more interpretation
from these professionals, which makes the film more subjective. In contrast,
Neil Diamond chose to make no comment and let the audience interpret by
themselves. For example, he goes to the summer camp Bominay where the camp
goers dance, wear tribal paint and even sing songs about Crazy horse but even
the counsel, David Teufner, admits to only know what he has seen in the films.
As he watches these young boys’ pretend to be native in an inaccurate way, but
does not make a comment, instead moves on in the film and leaves the viewer to
form an opinion.
From the perspective of Kayla and Shannon: I am personally not homosexual or a
native American, therefore watching these films helped me understand better
what the realities of these groups are. I found that I did not have very much
knowledge of these issues and so it opened by eye’s and reminded me that we
should be more critical when watching a film. Simply watching a film and
accepting everything that is, how the characters are, may contribute to
stereotypes and questioning what we watch is a way to avoid this.
From Zach's personal perspective: Watching “The
Celluloid Closet” from a guy’s perspective, although I don't condone it, I was
able to understand the issue at hand because the gay stereotypes in film are
mostly created from men. When watching movies in cinemas that have a gay
character, I can sometimes see the unease of some people in the audience.
Although I don’t think the issue is a prominent anymore and is getting better,
the issue is still present and we should not ignore that.
The use of stereotypes in film
Through these two films we have seen
different way’s that stereotypes are used to portray certain groups in film
throughout history. In The Celluloid Closet, we saw how homosexuals were first
under represented in film, then later stereotyped as the “sissy”, the “victim”, and the
“villain”. Reel Injun spoke about the
way that native American’s have been stereotyped in film in the last decade.
Watching films that bring light to the consequences of these stereotypes and
raise an awareness about them. Even though the use of obvious stereotypes is
less nowadays, it is still occurring in cinema and on television.
