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Chapter
9
Sample
Page
Lesbian
fiction and film
Books and films are an important part of our world.
Sometimes they represent the true heart and feelings about
what is going on during a certain time in history. In the
beginning, lesbians and gay men were usually portrayed as
emotionally sick and full of self-loathing in both books
and film. Today, books have gone past that image, although
most mainstream films are still lagging behind.
I’m not talking about the wonderful independent films
that are winning awards at film festivals across the world
and being viewed in arty film houses. What I am talking
about are the films featuring lesbians as main characters
done by big Hollywood studios. Almost all of these still
portray lesbians as drug addicts, killers, thieves, suicidal,
or confused women who, after some hot love scene with a
lesbian, come to their senses and fall into the first straight
man’s arms they can find. I can only think of one mainstream
film, with well-known actors, where the two women literally
went off into the sunset on a bus. Of course they went off
with a bunch of illegal money from a laundering scam, but
hey, that’s better than them dying tragic deaths like
most of the others.
It is time for a change—for us to be viewed as we really
are. Not as some desperate sex-crazed dykes who would kill
you in a second for money or drugs. Maybe it is because
our lives are so normal that it just doesn’t make good
fiction, but I don’t believe that. For homophobia to
decrease, people need to realize that we are pretty much
just the same as anyone else. Working hard, paying bills,
and living day to day. If we are viewed as the scourge of
society, it gives that same society a reason to believe
all the false stereotypes that they have been fed for years.
Now I know that there are huge financial reasons for having
high drama on the lesbian prairie. I realized this hard
fact when my partner and I went to see “Philadelphia”
and half the people in the theatre walked out when the two
guys kissed. The good thing is I do see a change eventually
happening. With the increase of somewhat normal lesbian
characters on TV featured on shows like "Buffy the
Vampire Slayer" and "ER," more people will
be exposed to the fact that we are not all sick pervs trying
to seduce straight guys’ wives or children.
Some of the top lesbian films
The link below will take you to a list of some of the best
films which deal with lesbianism. Most have been compiled
by Raymond Murray, author of Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia
of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video. Mr. Murray is also the
founder and president of TLA Video, a wonderful company
which features “hip, foreign, alternative movies;”
among these are hundreds of movies featuring gay women and
men. TLA has six stores and a huge Website where you can
buy these great movies without the hassle of ordering from
a local, sometimes homophobic, video store (see the index
for more info or click on the banner to check out TLA).
Thanks to Mr. Murray for giving me permission to use his
great reviews.
See
all 60 film reviews
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