The recurring and changing representations of queer in Hollywood.
This thesis will explore the recurring representations of queer in Classical Hollywood films, more specifically lesbianism, by closely analysing William Wyler's melodrama, The Children's Hour (1961) and Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right (2010). With some reference to Cholodenko's earlier drama High Art (1998), it will also touch upon some of the changing representations in queer cinema since the Stonewall Riots.
The Children's Hour was adapted from Lillian Hellman’s play by the same name and was influenced by a real life story of two Scottish female teachers who were accused of having an affair by a pupil. Subsequently to its lesbian themes, the play was banned in numerous major cities across the U.S. Similarly, to the play, the film centres around best friends Karen Wright (Audrey Hepburn) and Martha Dobie (Shirley MacLaine) who co-manage an all-girls private school together, the Wright-Dobie. The two schoolteachers have known each other since they were seventeen and we soon find out Martha is very fond of Karen as she still remembers how she used to dress, stating “I remember thinking, what a pretty girl…”. This is the first indication of queer in the film. Martha is due to get married to her fiancé, Dr Joe Cardin (James Garner), which is displeasing to Martha. This is the second indication. She also does not want to have any children of her own, as she “already has twenty”, referring to her pupils. This is an additional hint that she does not conform to social norms, foreshadowing her coming out scene. Their tranquil lives are destroyed after a mischievous pupil of theirs, Mary Tilford whispers into her grandmother’s ear that the two teachers “have been lovers”. Mary’s lie has stemmed from a kiss on the cheek given to Martha by Karen after an argument, which marks a key moment in the film. Mortified by the news, Mrs Tilford does not allow her granddaughter to carry her education at the school and spreads word around, causing Wright-Dobie to lose all of its pupils. The film was the first mainstream Hollywood production to deal with the theme of lesbianism, and not only that, it was “the first film to have a huge star playing a leading role as a lesbian” (Alison Darren, 2000, p46). The director however denied any intention of this, and therefore what was believed to drive the narrative was “the tragic consequences of a dreadful lie” (Alison Darren, 2000, p45) rather than lesbianism itself.
In the 1995 documentary, The Celluloid Closet, Shirley MacLaine reflects back on the film with criticism by stating “we were in the mindset of not understanding what we were basically doing”, adding that Audrey Hepburn and herself never discussed the underlying theme off screen. This shows the deeply ingrained view in American society at the time, that lesbianism was something ‘immoral’ and that even talking about it was ‘shameful’. In a review for New York Times, Bosley Crowther recognises the idiocy of “educated people” in America, “reacting as violently and cruely to the questionable innuendo” (Bosley Crowther, 1962) as they do in the film, even in 1962. It can be argued by some that The Children’s Hour is therefore not a queer film as the people involved did not intend it to be, however it is important to remember that there is an open interpretation of what queer films are. Furthermore the poster for the film showed Martha touching Karen’s shoulder with the words “different…” as the caption. Again any mention of queer or lesbian was forbidden due to the Production Code. This links to the repeated use of the word “unnatural” which Martha’s Aunt Lily first uses to describe her niece’s jealousy towards anyone else liking Karen. What precisely is unnatural about it is however never specified or discussed, it is only whispered.
One of the most crucial scenes in The Children's Hour is Martha’s heartbreaking coming out scene. Her self-revelation leaves her feeling “guilty”, “sick and dirty”. She cries out “it's all my fault! I've ruined your life, and I've ruined my own”, effectively berating “herself far more severely than any of her accusers would have” (Alison Darren, 2000, p45), making the scene distressing to watch. Her guilt becomes so unbearable that she takes her own life. The notion that “the only good lesbian is a dead one” (Alison Darren, 2000, p45) governed all queer narratives at the time, showing images of desperate, suicidal gay people such as Plato in Rebel Without a Cause (1953) and many more. Though not always victims of their own self-destruction, what all queer characters had and in some cases still have in common is that they always die by the end of the film, confining to traditional representations of queer.
By closely examining other key scenes, there are obvious clues of not just Martha’s romantic love and affection for her best friend but also vice versa. For instance, Karen does not appear to be truly in love with Joe, and her eagerness to get married derives from her desire to have children, not necessarily her desire to be with a man. Additionally, she acknowledges lesbianism as a way of life by stating that “other people haven't been destroyed by it”. In response to Martha’s confession, Karen does not reject her, and instead suggests they go away together and start anew, again implying she wants to spend the rest of her life with Martha.
The Children's Hour was first adapted by Wyler in 1936 under by the name of These Three, and as rightly put by Crowther “it went for scandal down a commoner avenue” (Bosley Crowther, 1962). This was due to the plot being changed to Martha being accused by Mary for having an affair with Joe. Naturally, having her “pass for straight in this film saves her life” (Barbara Munnel, 2012, p34-35). Critic Vincent Candy praised the film in Variety magazine, and disapproved of the latter stating “the use of the taboo subject in this subsidiary vain was unnecessary and rather capricious on the part of the filmmakers” (Vito Russo, 1987, p121). Once again Hollywood’s wariness towards queerness was evident.
From the end of the twentieth century and during the twenty-first century, a new generation of independent queer filmmakers were starting to emerge in Hollywood, which marked the beginning of the New Queer Cinema, a term coined by B. Ruby Rich in 1992. These films “embodied an evolution in thinking” (B. Ruby Rich, 2013, p13) as they did not try to promote positive representations of queer characters, but rather showed sexual identity as fluid. An example of the discovery of this new market is Lisa Cholodenko’s first feature High Art (1998). The film touches upon themes of drug addiction and love by unapologetically examining the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. An ambitious, young assistant editor Syd (Radha Mitchell), falls for her upstairs lesbian neighbour Lucy (Ally Sheedy), who used to be a renowned photographer but chose heroine over her career. High Art, though not a coming out film, is humanist and unapologetic. It challenges the typical “arrival at some point in the action by a man who satisfies the ‘real cravings’ of the woman” (Charlotte Sheldon, 1977, p9) and instead converts this stereotype, making it true to life. Syd is bored and dissatisfied intellectually, emotionally and sexually by her long-term boyfriend. It is inevitable that she becomes confused about her feelings towards Lucy after getting a glimpse of her mysterious and discrete lifestyle. Cholodenko presents us with “one of the most candidly scrutinised sex scenes in American film” (Emanuel Levy, 1998) which parallels with the art theme of the film and juxtaposes with the harsh reality of drug abuse. It therefore makes High Art not solely a queer film, but a film which heterosexual spectators of both sexes can read in the same way, presenting equality and the changing representations of queer in Hollywood.
Comparably, The Kids Are All Right can be seen as a step forward for queer cinema in comparison to The Children’s Hour. However on close examination it shows how far we have not actually come even in 2010. The plot follows a middle aged lesbian married couple Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening), and their two teenage children who are ready to meet their sperm donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). When Paul hires landscape artist Jules to work on his garden, the two soon engage in a steamy sex affair. Despite being a hit at the 2010 Sundance Festival, and winning several awards including a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture, the film was naturally not as well received by queer spectators due to the reinforcing “of the same old stereotypes and tensions surrounding lesbian visibility in the United States” (Vicki L. Eaklor, 2012, p158). In 1977, Caroline Sheldon noted that “lesbian films…serve to reinforce negative images of lesbianism, warning women to stay in safe heterosexual domesticity” (Caroline Sheldon, 1977, p23). Thirty-three years later, lesbian director Cholodenko does the same thing, taking a major step backwards from her first debut. Despite the lesbian characters finally not being portrayed as victims or villains, but as the norm, it is instead hinted that the queer world “mimics the straight one, where economic power goes hand in hand with racial hierarchy” (Daisy Harnandez, 2010) as well as patriarchal power. This can be seen through the Mexican gardener who is fired by Jules due to her fear that he will reveal her dirty secret affair. Not only that, but she falsely accuses him of being a drug addict assuming Nic would believe her, just because he is foreign. Though a small part in the film, this scene puts the queer community in bad light even without intending to.
The filmmaker further falls back into stereotyping by presenting a butch lesbian, carrying male characteristics, and a femme, the easily seduced insecure lesbian. Nic is the economic provider, the ‘man of the house’ which is indicated by her profession as a doctor, masculine clothes, short hair and not to mention, love for drinking. Stereotypically she makes her partner feel unsupported and unappreciated. Additionally, butch women “…are rarely sympathetic characters” (Vicki L. Eaklor, 2012, p158), which is exactly how Nic is presented through most of the film, making her unlikable even after she is cheated on. Jules “balances this with her longer hair and generally more feminine appearance” (Vicki L. Eaklor, 2012, p159). She is indecisive about her career, and is seduced by Paul the minute they are first alone together. This suggests the standardised idea that women cannot be sexually satisfied without a penis. In a review of the film for the Guardian, Mark Ruffalo’s character is described as “almost eerily perfect” (Peter Bradshaw, 2010), and in the New York Times, critic A. U. Scott states “nothing is more disruptive to domestic order than an unattached heterosexual man” (A. U. Scott, 2010) adding that “the performances are all close to perfect”. The reviews leave no mention of the theme of lesbianism, nor do they give any criticism of the film. This indicates that Hollywood is still oblivious to the queer issues and when “a space for the visibility of the same sex desire between women” is created “that desire is always predicated on the presence…of the phallus” (Jane Garrity, 2000).
In conclusion, even though the queer community is attaining more and more visibility in cinema, representations are not always positive nor accurate. There continues to be scepticism towards queer subjects being explored on film, not so much due to taboos but because of box office figures.
Bibliography:
Crowther, Bosley. (1962). ‘The Screen: New 'Children's Hour’: Another Film Version of Play Arrives Shirley MacLaine and Audrey Hepburn Star’, New York Times
Darren, Alison. (2000). The Children’s Hour, Lesbian Film Guide. Continuum International Publishing
Dyer, Richard and Sheldon, Caroline. (1977) ‘Lesbians in Film: Some Thoughts’, Gays and Film. British Film Institute
Eaklor, Vicki L. (2012). ‘The Kids Are All Right But the Lesbians Aren’t: The Illusion of Progress in Popular Film’, Historical Reflections, Vol. 38, pp. 153-170. Berghahn Journals
Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema. (2006). [documentary]. U.S. Lisa Ades, Lesli Klainberg
Hernandez, Daisy. (2010). ‘The Kids Are All Right, But Not the Queer Movement’, ColorLines
Kahan, Benjamin. (2013). ‘The Walk-in Closet: Situational Homosexuality and Homosexual Panic in Hellman's The Children's Hour’, Vol.55(2), pp.177-201
Levy, Emanuel. (1998). Review: ‘High Art’, Variety
Mennel, Barbara. (2012). Queer cinema: Schoolgirls, Vampires and Gay Cowboys. Columbia University Press
Rich, Ruby B. (2013). New Queer Cinema. Duke University Press
Russo, Vito. (1987). The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies, Harper Paperbacks
The Celluloid Closet. (1995). [documentary]. U.S. Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
