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The New Queer Cinema

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December 13th, 2013 Posted 4:33 pm

Origin and Introduction

“… from the beginning the New Queer Cinema… was meant to catch the beat of a new kind of film- an video-making that was fresh, edgy, low-budget, inventive, unapologetic, sexy and stylistically daring.” –B. Ruby Rich Queer and Present Danger

Born out of the AIDS crisis sweeping through America, many filmmakers (particularly those who were homosexual) felt a need to bring gay rights to the forefront of consciousness. Beginning in the 80’s, the New Queer cinema (a term coined by B. Ruby Rich) is aptly named because it is not the first type of queer cinema. In fact, queer cinema’s origins can be traced back to around the time that synchronized sound was becoming standardized for film (at or around 1930). However, the differences between New Queer Cinema films and the (for the purposes of this article shall be called) “Prior Queer” films before it is in the way narratives unfolded, aesthetic changes, and more openly homosexual themes.

One particular example of the openly homosexual themes can be clearly seen in Todd Haynes 1991 three part film, Poison.

Clip from Poison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AFMVoAwrw4&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5AFMVoAwrw4&has_verified=1

Influences

NQC aesthetics were largely influenced by Avant Garde cinema. Much of the Avant Garde elements NQC were adopted via a different avenue, rather than directly, through the vastly Avant Garde influenced Underground movement. These previous movements show their influence on NQC through experimental narrative structures, and settings that shift (at times) from realistic setting in favor of more symbolic representations of realistic settings. In addition to aesthetic influences, some Underground films included gay themes (such as Andy Warhol’s Flesh from 1968). These “cross-over” films served as examples for NQC directors in how to incorporate gay themes and create narratives centered on gay characters. One Underground director in particular was widely known for incorporating homosexual themes into his films — Kenneth Anger. Anger began his work in the Underground movement then took a break away from film, returning in the prime of the NQC movement.

Inauguration Of The Pleasure Dome (1954)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pThz_nfcUtQ

Note: Kenneth Anger’s Directorial work during the Underground Cinema

Anger Sees Red (2004)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xojlt_anger-sees-red_creation

Note: Anger’s return to film in the NQC

However, NQC directors were not interested in merely taking Underground cinema in a gay issues/AIDS direction, but revving up the presence of gay characters and themes to make socio-political statements.

A second influence, then, clearly comes to mind: Third Cinema. Third Cinema being focused on making social commentary to point out negative aspects of society and provide audiences with a new way of thinking about current issues. NQC adopted these principles in various ways including aesthetics, narrative and the narrative structure.

Themes, Aesthetics, Examples

Although the AIDS virus epidemic was most prominently affecting the gay community, it was a large point of concern that was infiltrating the heterosexual community as well; it served as a common ground between the two groups of peoples.

By the 90s, established NQC directors and some that may not have been largely considered part of the NQC movement were making films independently and with assistance from major distributors, hitting the box office with the same air of excellence many blockbuster films were getting.

Trailer from Philadelphia (1993): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl4B9AU45P4

Note: Directed by Jonathan Demme starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Plot of a man diagnosed with AIDS seeking justice after being fired from his job. It shows how people diagnosed are treated, and how their sexual orientation is questioned.

Trailer from Boys Don’t Cry (1999): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOarssJWHhI

Note: Directed by Kimberly Peirce starring Hilary Swank and Peter Sarsgaard. A woman assumes the identity of a man who pursues women is raped and killed.

Clip from Being John Malkovich (1999): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPeattKV74A

Note: Directed by Spike Jonze starring John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and John Malkovich. Includes character interaction of a woman (Lotte) entering a man’s body (John Malkovich who then falls in love with another woman (Maxine). The love affair continues after Lotte returns to her own body and wishes to continue her pursuit of Maxine.

This proved and helped bring the movement to popularity amongst all audiences, homosexual and heterosexual alike.

To pull audiences out of their natural social mindsets and replacing them with those held by the characters, long takes were far from uncommon. This is an incorporation of Third Cinema, Italian Neorealist, and French New Wave aesthetics.

Spotlight: Influential Directors and Their Works

Gus Van Sant:

My Own Private Idaho (1991), Milk (2008), Paris je t’aime (2006)

Jennie Livingston:

Documentary: Paris is Burning (1990); Short Films: Who’s The Top? (2005), Through The Ice (2006).

Gregg Araki:

Three Bewildered People in the Night (1987), The Long Weekend (O’Despair) (1989), The Living End (1992), The Doom Generation (1995), Mysterious Skin (2004)

Todd Haynes

Poison (1991), Safe (1995), Dottie Gets Spanked (1993), Far From Heaven (2002), and I’m Not There (2007). All of these films reveal, at varied degrees, the struggles that homosexuals faced during and beyond the AIDS crisis through metaphor. For example, the entirety of Safe can be interpreted as a metaphor to the AIDS virus.

NQC in Modern Cinema

Examples:

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Milk (2008)

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)

Orange is the New Black (Netflix Original Series 2013)

There is no doubt that NQC has made a lasting impact on film history and continues to influence cinema today. For anyone that thinks otherwise, there is only this remaining to prove it:

Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F7JGhHLiX0

Sources:

Aron, Michele. New Queer Cinema: An Introduction. New Brunswick: Rutgets University Press, 2004. 3-7. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://books.google.com/books?id=PGd4-qtfyzIC&pg=PR13&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Rich, B. Ruby. “Queer and Present Danger.” BFI. N.p., 10 Feb. 2012. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/80>.

Internet Movie Database. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <www.imdb.com>.

dailymotion. Web. 10 Dec. 2013 <http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xojlt_anger-sees-red_creation>

Wikipedia. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Queer_Cinema> (For general knowledge and starting point for further research)

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American Cinema in the Post-Studio Era

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November 21st, 2013 Posted 4:57 pm

After the 1938 ruling from United States vs. Paramount Pictures hearing forcing studios to sell off exhibition venues for their films, Hollywood cinema was at a pivotal point forcing change. Having vertical integration removed, many studios were forced to limit production quantities and heavily invest in films that were very high risk and ultimately led to the closing of studios.

This caused a higher amount of competition from independent film makers and international films in the U.S. in a way that hadn’t yet been experienced to such an extent. Suddenly, they needed to fight for exhibition space to show films to the public. This led to a decrease in quantity of productions in favor of a “higher quality” production, with less financial risk on the studios themselves; usher in the era of the Blockbuster.

Forming up production teams on a project-by-project basis that would then dissolve immediately following a film’s completion offered a resurgence to the “star system” of earlier Hollywood films (including the furthering of prestige of filmmakers). Big name filmmakers, writers, actors and producers (still working today) such as: George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Dennis Hopper, Stanley Kubrick to name a (incredibly small) few. The goal of the filmmakers and writers were to create films that would have a widespread appeal to the largest audience possible visually, narratively and thematically.

Among the early, most successful, films to hit the cinemas that could, undoubtedly, be considered among the Post-Studio Era films is Bonnie and Clyde, directed by Arther Penn in 1967. Incorporating an incredibly large amount of violence (for the time) and featuring two anti-hero characters, Bonnie and Clyde was made for (estimated) 2.5 million dollars with a total gross profit of over $120 million worldwide ($50,700,00 from the U.S. alone) in theaters. This film became a symbol of the large budget, studio financed and distributed (by Warner Bros.) model that became the Blockbuster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmUpso_xT8

Later, Stanley Kubrick released 2001: A Space Odyssey in 1968 which utilized the Italian NeoRealist deep focus aesthetic, American Underground social commentary and Avant-Garde narrative experimentation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypEaGQb6dJk 2001: A Space Odyssey was produced on an (estimated) $10.5 million budget, with a gross profit over $50 million in the U.S. alone.

The disintegration of the Studio Era also opened a wide door for independent filmmaking in the U.S. This is most easily summarized by the Blaxsploitation films of the 1970s. Many of the Blaxsploitation films were made as a counterculture/rebellion/denouncement of the aesthetics and audience appeals that Hollywood was targeting. Black film makers were funding films (often at great personal expense) to appeal to black audiences with the addition of Avant-Garde, NeoRealist, and New Wave narratives and aesthetics. One example of this is Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song written, directed, and starring Melvin Van Peebles from 1971. Van Peebles funded the $500,000 budget film almost entirely on his own grossing over $15 million in the U.S.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOwMSkPIt3s

This clip contains shots throughout the film.

The success of Sweet Sweetback in the box office and with audiences, black and white, as well as other Blaxsploitation films (e.g. Shaft, Superfly, Coffy), Hollywood began to adopt Blaxsploitation characteristics. Among these characteristics were, predominantly black casts; funk, soul, and jazz soundtracks; and socially/politically satirical narrative themes/humor. The era did not last long (ending at or prior to 1980) as audiences found the stories to be very repetitive.

Additionally the Post-Studio Era saw a resurgence of the Underground movement in the form of highly stylized, Avant-Garde type films. Much of this is thanks to the Nick Zedd Extremist Manifesto after having coined the term “Cinema of Transgression” around 1985. In Zedd’s manifesto, he called for filmmakers to abandon the tantalization of popular (Hollywood) film styles and embrace a more formal form of independent filmmaking wherein narratives, aesthetics, editing, etc. would be manipulated into a more Avant-Garde, Underground film style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXEv7yMxhls This is an interview with Nick Zedd, which feels like a unique blend of traditional interview format with an experimental aesthetic and Zedd sort of playing out a character rather than entirely himself.

The major theme of the Post-Studio Era films is that of “low budget-high return” film making. Although, technically, many of the films (that were at least partially financed by the studios) were being made with larger total budgets than most films from the Studio Era, they were made with smaller investments coming directly from the studio for production. Much of the funds were coming from additional sources, and being directed to other channels of business than toward a film’s production itself. Many studios either sought, or were found, by larger companies that had investments in other forms of media (or no other media at all). Thus, the vertical-integration business method of the Studio Era became a horizontal-integration method in the Post-Studio era.

In the new competitive market, funds needed to be allocated differently than they had during the Studio Era and these parent companies offered far more than simply absorbing financial investment risks: new avenues for profit. These parent companies had investments and experience in marketing a product which meant new ways of further cutting investment costs and new methods for turning profits. Taking advantage of emerging pathways (e.g. television), films were given a second medium to be exhibited much to the delight of viewers and the studio’s ledgers. Television also offered marketing opportunities to further advertise a film with trailers. Furthermore, the parent companies (being invested in many different products/media) could use a film to help promote their products with licensing agreements and a way to cut costs for other elements needed in a film. For example, music — many parent companies were invested in recording studios and thus had deals with music groups, as a benefit to the company, a group’s music could be used in a film serving as advertisement and could be used at discount by the studios.

Contemporary examples of this are riddled through many films, television, and products today. Product placement seems to be everywhere amongst television and film as mutual benefits to studios for funding and product manufacturers for advertising. One example of music integration and advertising in other media can be exemplified by The Fray. The Fray is currently signed with Epic Records, owned by Sony that has some dealings with ABC. For example, they produce ABC’s Shark Tank show and have some equipment dealings as well. The Fray’s “How To Save A Life”, first released in 2006, was featured as the opening theme for Grey’s Anatomy, used later in episodes of Scrubs, One Tree Hill, Ghost Whisperer, The Hills, and NCIS. The Fray’s music has been featured in films including Stealth and She’s Out of My League and continue to have songs occasionally appear in TV episodes and films. The song was immensely popular, in part to it seeming to have a presence everywhere, and because it was so popular, it was common to be used.