Welcome to a Film Tangent
Hello! This week has been very tedious in terms of the project. I have been collecting movie clips I want to use for the documentary which was tedious on its own but I then have to either download them or screen record them so that they can be inserted into the documentary. All was going well until my computer started giving me error messages instead of recording clips (I briefly considered throwing it at the wall) so I had to switch to using my phone for recording and then downloading that on to my computer. It is taking entirely too much time but will hopefully be worth it.
On a fun tangent though, while getting clips I was looking for scenes from a film called The Watermelon Woman. This led to me watching videos surrounding the film movement it was a part of, New Queer Cinema. I already planned to briefly discuss this movement in the documentary but only briefly as the primary movies of the movement were not themselves horror.
New Queer Cinema was a movement started not long after the AIDS epidemic. Any positive progress regarding queer representation in films was quickly reversed with negative ideas and villainizing of queer people throughout the media. New Queer Cinema was started by queer filmmakers often independent or starting their own production companies creating movies for and about queer people. These movies captured the anger at the government’s handling of AIDS as well as the desire to live and tell their stories because they weren’t sure how long they would be able to. This movement was used to create unique and authentic films regarding queer people and communities and showed a variety of stories covering real people and discussion around intersectionality and identity. These films were low budget and featured non actors in lead roles and stories based on the real scene and events around them. They were angry and unapologetic in a time where it could be dangerous to do so. These movies were a call to action and helped make way for the queer films we have now, including horror films.
One such horror movie that came shortly after this movement was Hellbent, a gay slasher, and many more movies followed suit. More recently horror movies like I Saw The TV Glow hit theaters and gave the audience a trans story with a trans writer. Representation has come a long way and horror is just one shape it has taken.
I know this is a bit off topic but I found this movement really interesting and wanted to share more of it since it is only briefly mentioned in the project’s final product.
Thank you for reading!
If you are curious about this movement I have linked below a video that covers some of the most influential movies of New Queer Cinema:
https://youtu.be/pB_FKpnv_kY?si=GYNHq4ZR8jk0d12_
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