"The month of June is Gay & Lesbian Pride Month so in honor of that, we have put together a list of some of the most influential gay films which have helped inspire, educate, and encourage audiences to make a change and support equal rights. 5. Philadelphia (1993) - Philadelphia is a great gay/Aids movie starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Antonio Banderas. The film tells the story of Andrew Beckett (Hanks), a gay lawyer infected with AIDS who is fired from his law firm because his colleagues fear they might contract AIDs. This film is important because it was one of the first all-star casts, which could pull in big audiences, that tackled the issues of AIDs in the United States, and also introduced a more realistic picture of gays and lesbians. Although the film is about two gay lovers, the AIDs issue in the film was meant for everyone not only the gay, and it was the first time people thought about it that way on film. The film exploited the discrimination that gays and AIDs patients still undergo in our democratic society and began the change towards AIDs no longer with just the homosexual community but in all communities.4. Bad Education (2004) - A stand-out film by Pedro Almodóvar, about two childhood friends who discovered love and cinema as young pupils. The film deals with sexual abuse, trans-sexuality and gender abuse, and it is known for it’s nearly all-male cast and considered one of Almodóvar’s more serious films. The film doesn’t let anyone off the hook especially the Catholic church. It brings awareness to the sexual abuse happening in churches everywhere; from the priest to the young boys that spend there days inside the church.
Overall it holds a powerful message that churches can be just as hypocritical as anyone. It’s better to be a good person than to say you’re a good person, and being gay doesn’t make you either.3. Fire (1996) - Get’s points for a unique perspective on the gay community. Fire is the first Indian film to explicitly show homosexual relations, and after its release many right-wing Hindu groups violently protested against homosexuality. In the film, two daughters-in-law who were forced to marry into the family on an arranged marriage become lovers. The women go through some hardships, but end up together. Although many critics loved the film calling it “explosive” and “pathbreaking,” many were outraged by the explicit lesbian relationship shown in the film.
There were many protest against the film, but gay activist Ashok Row Kavi criticized the protest as “gay bashing” and argued against lesbianism being against Indian tradition. Director of the film Deepa Mehta said in an interview about the film, “Fire is not a film about lesbians [but rather about] the choices we make in life.” 2. Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Why? Because this film is iconic. Perhaps the issues of homosexuality aren’t in the forefront as they are with some others but Ang Lee’s film consists of some of the finest performances (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) and an extremely personal exploration of the pain of hiding who one really is.The thing about Brokeback Mountain is that although it isn’t outwardly about gay rights, it’s about the misery of having to live in secret and denying one’s true self. Instead of taking an activist perspective, it went through the struggles of real people and shows how lying to oneself doesn’t make things better, it destroys lives.
What could inspire more honest activism then a message like that?
Brokeback Mountain made over $170 million worldwide and seemed to be well received by audiences all over.1. Milk (2008) - Milk is an award winning biopic film about the life of activist and politician Harvey Milk. Milk has received very high acclaim and redefined Queer Cinema. I had never seen a gay film like Milk; most gay films are about two or three characters, but Milk is about the suffrage of an entire people. Although the movement started in Castro it stretched far and wide, and now with the film hopefully Milk’s message can stretch even further especially in a time when it’s needed most. Sadly, we haven’t come that since the 60’s-70’s, in fact some people may even say we’ve taken some steps backwards.
The disappointing thing about this film is that not many people went to see it. In fact, for the most part it was only pro-gay audiences who were already accepting. That being said, this film was not made to persuade people, it was made to move them. Although Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black both won Academy Awards for the film it was probably the least well received, which shows that people aren’t ready for change. So what better time than now to let this great film motivate you. You can’t just sit and let things happen, get out there and make a difference like Black is currently doing with the couragecampaign and more!
Milk has made over $53 million so far, and I believe Milk to be a film that deserves a month like June to honor it because it’s currently out fighting to make a difference". Source: screencrave.com
"The Liberty Media studio has signed up for a modern take on "Hamlet" and attached a slew of big names to pull off the task."Twilight" and "Thirteen" director Catherine Hardwicke is attached to direct, with Emile Hirsch, who helped conceive the idea, attached to star as the title character. "Milk" producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen will produce via their Jinks/Cohen banner.
The company said it is awaiting a finished script in the coming months and hopes to go into production not long after.
The new "Hamlet" will center on similar themes as the original play but will be set in contemporary America. In the new version, a young man must decide whether to kill his uncle to avenge the death of his father.
Jinks and Cohen said their "goal is to present the story as a suspense thriller. We want to make it exciting and accessible for an audience today."
Overture CEO and COO Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett noted that "with its universal themes of death, revenge, love and even teenangst -- the story of Hamlet is perhaps as timely and influential today as it was when it was written over 400 years ago."
Shakespeare has undergone a series of retellings in the past decade, with teen pic "10 Things I Hate About You," which was a retelling of "Taming of the Shrew",and Ethan Hawke starring in a Hamlet update that focused on corporate politics". Source: www.hollywoodreporter.com
"According to Entertainment Weekly, the idea was initially proposed by Hirsch, Nikki Reed and Emile Hirsch in "Lords of Dogtown" (2005)
who worked with Hardwicke on Lords of Dogtown. I have more faith in Emile Hirsch, who is an underrated young actor choosing excellent roles in his rise to stardom. He’s a few steps behind Leonardo DiCaprio’s great career and at this pace he could be a formidable fixture in Hollywood for some time. I imagine his work with Sean Penn and the equally great James Franco in Milk will be even more historic in hindsight. I’m looking forward to his Hamlet, even if it has been done so many times before". Source: newsinfilm.com
"In one photo, the young Monroe lies in bliss, reading on a park bench, which editors at Life.com believe was shot at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. In another, her face is serene as she is perched over a bridge barefoot. The shoot, which dates to 1950, was conducted by Life photographer Ed Clark.
It's a side of Monroe that the American public has rarely seen.
"She hasn't really exploded as a star, yet she was on the brink of something big," says Dawnie Walton, deputy editor at Life.com, a Web site harboring more than 7 million Life magazine photographs. The site was launched in March. "I was amazed looking at her face. Although she looks very innocent, there is something very ... sexy." Upon investigating the photos, Walton says, she found there were few notes left on the negatives. She says the photos were probably taken for a cover shoot that was never used. Monroe appeared on her first Life magazine cover in 1952.
"It just got lost and stowed away," Walton said. "It was just ... somewhere in a warehouse in New Jersey." Source: edition.cnn.com
"SCIENTISTS have identified the Marilyn Monroe hormone that is linked to an hour-glass body shape in women, and also an increased desire to trade-up to new men.Women who have high levels of oestradoil also show elevated confidence and a greater inclination to have sex outside of their current relationship, according to the US-based research.
The ovarian steroid hormone is also associated with having a symmetrical face, large breasts and a low waist-to-hip ratio. "Marilyn Monroe is actually a really good example of a woman who was almost certainly high in oestradoil," Australian sexologist Dr Frances Quirk said in response to the research."She was a classic hour-glass figure and because of her relationship pattern - she was a serial monogamist.
"Her relationships last three or four years or slightly longer, and if you look at the men she had relationships with, they increased in status." "High-oestradiol women were considered significantly more physically attractive by themselves and others," the study, published in the journal Biology Letters, concluded.Dr Quirk, Associate Professor at James Cook University, said because of these traits, high-oestradoil women "may also be the sort of women that other women don't like too much". Source: www.news.com.au
"Megan recently took some time out from her hectic schedule of swimming in flesh-toned nipple patches and toggling David Silver's balls to sit down with GQ magazine and give her take on her profession.“When you think about it, we actors are kind of prostitutes. We get paid to feign attraction and love. Other people are paying to watch us kissing someone, touching someone, doing things people in a normal monogamous relationship would never do with anyone who’s not their partner. It’s really kind of gross." Source: www.celebnewswire.com "I`m a whore, all actors are whores. We sell our bodies to the highest bidder". -William Holden
"Every government is a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy, the whores are us". -P.J. O`Rourke
5. Philadelphia (1993) - Philadelphia is a great gay/Aids movie starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Antonio Banderas. The film tells the story of Andrew Beckett (Hanks), a gay lawyer infected with AIDS who is fired from his law firm because his colleagues fear they might contract AIDs. This film is important because it was one of the first all-star casts, which could pull in big audiences, that tackled the issues of AIDs in the United States, and also introduced a more realistic picture of gays and lesbians. Although the film is about two gay lovers, the AIDs issue in the film was meant for everyone not only the gay, and it was the first time people thought about it that way on film. The film exploited the discrimination that gays and AIDs patients still undergo in our democratic society and began the change towards AIDs no longer with just the homosexual community but in all communities.
4. Bad Education (2004) - A stand-out film by Pedro Almodóvar, about two childhood friends who discovered love and cinema as young pupils. The film deals with sexual abuse, trans-sexuality and gender abuse, and it is known for it’s nearly all-male cast and considered one of Almodóvar’s more serious films. The film doesn’t let anyone off the hook especially the Catholic church. It brings awareness to the sexual abuse happening in churches everywhere; from the priest to the young boys that spend there days inside the church.
3. Fire (1996) - Get’s points for a unique perspective on the gay community. Fire is the first Indian film to explicitly show homosexual relations, and after its release many right-wing Hindu groups violently protested against homosexuality. In the film, two daughters-in-law who were forced to marry into the family on an arranged marriage become lovers. The women go through some hardships, but end up together. Although many critics loved the film calling it “explosive” and “pathbreaking,” many were outraged by the explicit lesbian relationship shown in the film.
2. Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Why? Because this film is iconic. Perhaps the issues of homosexuality aren’t in the forefront as they are with some others but Ang Lee’s film consists of some of the finest performances (Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) and an extremely personal exploration of the pain of hiding who one really is.
The thing about Brokeback Mountain is that although it isn’t outwardly about gay rights, it’s about the misery of having to live in secret and denying one’s true self. Instead of taking an activist perspective, it went through the struggles of real people and shows how lying to oneself doesn’t make things better, it destroys lives.
1. Milk (2008) - Milk is an award winning biopic film about the life of activist and politician Harvey Milk. Milk has received very high acclaim and redefined Queer Cinema. I had never seen a gay film like Milk; most gay films are about two or three characters, but Milk is about the suffrage of an entire people. Although the movement started in Castro it stretched far and wide, and now with the film hopefully Milk’s message can stretch even further especially in a time when it’s needed most. Sadly, we haven’t come that since the 60’s-70’s, in fact some people may even say we’ve taken some steps backwards.
Although Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black both won Academy Awards for the film it was probably the least well received, which shows that people aren’t ready for change. So what better time than now to let this great film motivate you. You can’t just sit and let things happen, get out there and make a difference like Black is currently doing with the couragecampaign and more!
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