Why Do Most Gay Movies Have Sad Endings?
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| "Call Me by your Name" |
Over the past couple of years, there has been an increase of LGBT stories in filmmaking, including the recently released Call Me By Your Name and Oscar-winning Moonlight, which famously won Best Picture at last year’s Academy Awards after an envelope mix up. However, it’s worth noting that the vast majority of these releases either take place in an utterly depressing setting or conclude on a tragic note.
This trend in LGBT filmmaking is so abundantly clear that it is worth asking exactly why LGBT movies always have a sad ending – because while it’s important to tell the stories of LGBT people and relationships in movies, it’s also important to tell all parts of those stories instead of focusing on just the negative aspects.
One reason for the many sad or negative stories seen in LGBT cinema could be due to the stereotypes about LGBT people, which are driven by a society that accommodates many who disapprove of LGBT people. The discriminatory views of LGBT people is of course nothing new. However, its impact on filmmaking is something that has largely not been considered.
In my view, the systematic discrimination of LGBT people ultimately derives from religious and institutional ideologies, including past laws that restricted gay couples from marrying or even existing without criminal charges. Influential political and religious voices who have promoted this type of rhetoric have a teaching effect on society as a whole, so it’s not a big stretch to think that LGBT cinema could have been negatively influenced.
Ultimately, movie studios’ main concern is profit. Andre Holland and Trevante Rhodes in Moonlight (Picture: David Bornfriend/A24) A film that displays an LGBT story as an entirely positive one will no doubt be considered risky for alienating the wider heterosexual population – and it’s interesting to ponder how this affects the content of LGBT movies. One quite drastic theory is that this trend in LGBT cinema comes from some kind of anti-LGBT agenda, whether it be obvious or subtle. There is a notion that this agenda could be behind what drives some filmmakers and movie studios to ensure that LGBT stories often end in tragedy, which in turn reinforces the notion that an LGBT lifestyle is somehow wrong.
Do I buy into this theory of there being an discriminatory agenda, which has influenced films such as Brokeback Mountain and Call Me By Your Name? Absolutely not – because the makers of these more recent releases have been overtly pro-LGBT and in many cases part of that community. I do, however, believe that historically, film and television releases have been affected by a kind of anti-LGBT agenda, though this has come from society as a whole as opposed to a distinctive group.
Perhaps one form of an anti-LGBT agenda within the film industry can be seen during awards season.
It’s fairly obvious to anyone with some form of social awareness that even the biggest award shows in Hollywood are renowned for rarely including LGBT cinema, and although there have been exceptions to this rule, it’s not often that LGBT films and actors actually go on to win the biggest awards. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain (Picture: Focus Features) We saw this with Brokeback Mountain’s monumental snub at the 2006 Academy Awards. Movie experts and bookies had been forecasting its Best Picture victory for the weeks leading up to the ceremony only for a much less deserving film to scoop the top prize. The shock result left many questioning if there was a discriminatory factor behind the Academy’s decision, and in my opinion they were right to do so. Another element of potential homophobia found within the Hollywood elite can be seen in the choice of casting in front of, and behind the camera.
It appears to be the norm that many of the biggest LGBT movie productions either include heterosexual actors playing the lead role, or have a heterosexual director – or both. Surely a film that attempts to tell an LGBT story can’t be completely authentic if the perspective is coming from people who don’t have a perspective in that area? And surely that will have an effect on the outcome of a film’s direction?
MORE: LGBT Girl suspended from high school for asking her girlfriend to prom Welsh Assembly is the best place to work for LGBT staff Trans woman almost raped on her first date as a woman 'Does your dad sleep around?' 5 things not to say to someone with gay parents This isn’t to say that any movie which is largely LGBT can’t have creative input from heterosexual actors and directors, but it’s worth asking how the dominance of non-LGBT influence in gay cinema has affected the way in which the stories are told.
Ultimately, the most plausible reason for those tragic endings could be down to the personal experiences of the people behind the story. Due to centuries of discrimination against LGBT people in society, it’s common for LGBT people to have suffered some form of discrimination or sadness in their lives, so it’s not surprising that their personal experiences may filter into their storytelling. As society becomes more and more comfortable with LGBT people and their relationships, the films that aim to tell LGBT stories will most likely become more and more positive – especially after so many countries made same-sex marriage legal in recent years, which for some has arguably been one of the biggest ever victories for the LGBT community.
An example of positive LGBT storytelling is the BAFTA-nominated film God’s Own Country, which depicts the story of a gay relationship without pandering to negative themes. Alec Secareanu and Josh O’Connor in God’s Own Country (Picture: Picturehouse Entertainment) In fact, one of the stars of the film, Josh O’Connor, recently stated that ‘it’s good for the industry to know there is a hunger for films like this and the narratives like these’. It should also be made clear that this acknowledgement of LGBT movie stereotypes is not to say the stories that happen to be sad or end on a depressing note are deprived of their quality. Many recent releases including Moonlight have been cinematic triumphs and widely celebrated within the movie industry.
The issue is that there simply aren’t enough of the positive stories out there. Many would argue against this notion by pointing out that many heterosexual love stories also include sad or tragic endings – but this point of view becomes unfounded when considering the sheer amount of straight love stories that have been told throughout cinema history compared to LGBT. The reason why it’s important to make sure positive elements of LGBT life is represented more often in movies is because persistently focusing on the negative will only reinforce the idea that LGBT stories are somehow lesser than, and that’s a viewpoint we as a society need to change.
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