Matters Cinematic: Good Morning, Baltimore (2 of 2)
I would also have liked to see more discussion about what constitutes a queer film--there was discussion about documentaries, so clearly both fiction and non-fiction films count.
Apropos of fandom, several interviewees talked about broad trends in queer film--starting from centering around questions of sexuality, moving to questions of gender and ethnicity. Which, of course, reminded me of the move within fanfic, whether on grounds of "been there, done that" or the need for a stronger and stronger dose to get the same buzz, from vanilla to edgier subjects like chan, BDSM, and incest.
Fabulous! has a little to say about changes in distribution methods and lower-tech filmmaking, but not that much to say about economics. The surprising thing was how LITTLE was said about porn--speaking of a significant genre both in queer filmmaking and in creation of (especially male) community cohesion.
(cut for length)
One of the interviewees was Heather Matarazzo, who said that when she was a kid and just figuring out the whole liking-girls thing, she just wanted to see more movies with girlkissing. Coincidentally, the movie I rented today was "Saved!" which features Matarazzo, and (although there's no big deal about it) takes places in Baltimore.
"Saved!" came and went very quickly in 2004 in a flurry of disastrous reviews. While I'd be lying if I called it an unsung masterpiece, I thought it was quite enjoyable, very strongly cast (Jena Malone is a darling). What with the exclamation point and the Baltimore-Matarazzo connection, I sort of expected it to be, as it were, Watered-down sacrilege but it's actually very affectionate and sweet-natured. It's about a good-hearted although not excessively sophisticated Christian high school girl who decides that Jesus wants her to give her virginity to save her gay boyfriend's imperiled soul, with predictable results nine months later.
In another Degree of Separation, Martin Donovan is in Saved! as well as, of course, "The Opposite of Sex"--which is the polar opposite in terms of affect, although both of them have a first-person pregnant teenage girl narrator (and fundamentalists). Jena Malone's character winds up with a not-entirely-unbelievable Rainbow Family, including her boyfriend, the baby's father, the father's boyfriend, the one Jewish kid in school (she got kicked out of all the other schools in town), and the villainess' brother, who happens to use a wheelchair and is the Jewish girl's boyfriend. What I really liked was the sense that even though several of the characters really are hypocritical assholes (the villainess is sort of Fundie!Cordelia), that Hypocritical Assholes Need Love Too.
Apropos of fandom, several interviewees talked about broad trends in queer film--starting from centering around questions of sexuality, moving to questions of gender and ethnicity. Which, of course, reminded me of the move within fanfic, whether on grounds of "been there, done that" or the need for a stronger and stronger dose to get the same buzz, from vanilla to edgier subjects like chan, BDSM, and incest.
Fabulous! has a little to say about changes in distribution methods and lower-tech filmmaking, but not that much to say about economics. The surprising thing was how LITTLE was said about porn--speaking of a significant genre both in queer filmmaking and in creation of (especially male) community cohesion.
(cut for length)
One of the interviewees was Heather Matarazzo, who said that when she was a kid and just figuring out the whole liking-girls thing, she just wanted to see more movies with girlkissing. Coincidentally, the movie I rented today was "Saved!" which features Matarazzo, and (although there's no big deal about it) takes places in Baltimore.
"Saved!" came and went very quickly in 2004 in a flurry of disastrous reviews. While I'd be lying if I called it an unsung masterpiece, I thought it was quite enjoyable, very strongly cast (Jena Malone is a darling). What with the exclamation point and the Baltimore-Matarazzo connection, I sort of expected it to be, as it were, Watered-down sacrilege but it's actually very affectionate and sweet-natured. It's about a good-hearted although not excessively sophisticated Christian high school girl who decides that Jesus wants her to give her virginity to save her gay boyfriend's imperiled soul, with predictable results nine months later.
In another Degree of Separation, Martin Donovan is in Saved! as well as, of course, "The Opposite of Sex"--which is the polar opposite in terms of affect, although both of them have a first-person pregnant teenage girl narrator (and fundamentalists). Jena Malone's character winds up with a not-entirely-unbelievable Rainbow Family, including her boyfriend, the baby's father, the father's boyfriend, the one Jewish kid in school (she got kicked out of all the other schools in town), and the villainess' brother, who happens to use a wheelchair and is the Jewish girl's boyfriend. What I really liked was the sense that even though several of the characters really are hypocritical assholes (the villainess is sort of Fundie!Cordelia), that Hypocritical Assholes Need Love Too.