When thinking about times of the year to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride, most minds would jump to June, Pride Month. While June is typically a time to attend pride festivals and highlight queer joy, for the past thirty years or so, the month of February has been deemed LGBTQ+ History Month; it has become more serious time to talk about queer history and consider the future. In the past few years, the amount of queer content in mainstream film has skyrocketed, but between censorship laws and using queer identities as a joke, this positive depiction has not always been around. While Pride Month is a time for joyful queer film viewing, this LGBTQ+ History Month, we at MXDWN have compiled a list of some of the most iconic and groundbreaking queer films throughout the relatively short history of queer cinema.
The Dickson Experimental Sound Film 1894
As the earliest film with live-recorded sound, The Dickson Experimental Sound Film was groundbreaking in more ways than one. It is a short film, only running seventeen seconds, but it features two men dancing together to a third man playing a violin. It was initially meant to test Thomas Edison’s new invention, the kinetophone, hence why it was an ‘experimental sound film’. While the narrative is not explicitly queer, it is often credited as being the first film to ever display queer themes with the subjects being two people of the same gender sharing a dance.
Salomé 1922
Based on the play of the same name by the iconic gay writer Oscar Wilde, Salomé is a silent film that loosely follows the biblical story of King Harold’s execution of John the Baptist. In a tribute to Oscar Wilde, while it was never confirmed because of restrictions of the time, it was widely rumored that the entire cast of this film identified as gay or bisexual. Beyond this, two of the main characters were suggested to be gay, and many of the female characters were portrayed by men in drag.
Pandora’s Box 1929
Also based on a play, Pandora’s Box is a silent film rendition of Frank Wedekind’s Erdgeist/”Earth Spirit” (1895) and Die Büchse der Pandora/”Pandora’s Box” (1904). It is a classic femme fatale story about a woman named Lulu who uses her charms to seduce those around her, bringing them and herself to ruin. This film is one of the first to depict an intentionally written lesbian character, with Alice Roberts playing one of Lulu’s admirers, Countess Geschwitz.
Rebel Without Cause 1955
As probably one of the better-known films on this list, Rebel Without a Cause was initially created as a social critique of modern parenting, urban culture, and generational dissonance. The plot follows rebellious teenager Jim Stark as he moves to a new town and tries to find friends and a place for himself while still fighting the demons of his past. The reason this film is on this list is that while it can be seen as queerbaiting with the relationship between Jim and his friend Plato, Plato’s actor Sal Mineo later was one of the first Hollywood actors to come out as gay, acknowledging the chemistry between Jim and Plato and declaring Plato ‘the first gay teenager on screen’.
The Gay Deceivers 1969
The Gay Deceivers is a bit of an unknown gem in queer cinema, with many iconic quotes that live beyond the source material. The plot focuses on two straight men who pretend to be gay lovers to dodge the draft. While their relationship is fake, it is one of the first films with an openly gay actor, Michael Greer. Greer plays an incredibly flamboyant gay man who lives near the protagonists, but Greer himself worked closely with the screenwriters to improve the image of homosexuality in his character rather than playing into many of the harmful stereotypes of the time, paving the way for many future films.
The Boys in the Band 1970
When thinking of the history of queer film, it is impossible to leave off The Boys in the Band. While it has since been remade in 2020, the original film was based on screenwriter Mart Crowley’s off-Broadway production of the same name and is often credited as being the first film to ever revolve around gay characters and their lives. The story follows a gay group of friends throwing a birthday party when an old friend stops by. The night takes a turn when the party’s host, Michael, initiates a cruel game of making each partygoer confess to the person that they love. While this film is a major milestone with its queer representation, it also reinforces internalized homophobia in all the characters, showing their identities as something to hate rather than celebrate.
Parting Glances 1986
The AIDS epidemic was one of the most significant periods in modern queer history as it decimated the community, especially in big cities. While there have now been some steps in preventing its spread, the reverberations are still felt today. As such, queer films coming out from the 80s onwards often mention the disease and the culture of fear and protest around it. Parting Glances was a groundbreaking milestone in mainstream cinema as one of the first films to deal openly and realistically with AIDS. The plot lasts about 36 hours and follows a couple, Robert and Michael, living in New York. Robert is leaving to work in Africa for two years, leaving Michael at home. The couple deals with the implications of a long-distance relationship while, at the same time, Michael has become one of the caregivers for his ex-boyfriend, Nick, who has AIDS but whom Michael still has feelings for.
Paris Is Burning 1990
While this is the only documentary on this list, it’s impossible to leave out. The film presents New York City’s drag ballroom culture, highlighting the overlap between Black, Latino, and transgender individuals in the scene. It follows specific artists like Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, Angie Xtravaganza, and Willi Ninja, taking their interviews and footage of pageants to educate viewers on what it means to take part in this culture and the history of the art form. Paris is Burning is often credited as one of the most significant films to bring drag and ball culture to the mainstream. With the help of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, the film has become increasingly iconic in queer culture.
Philadelphia 1993
Besides Rebel Without a Cause, Philadelphia might be one of the few films on this list that more mainstream audiences will recognize. Coming out at the same time as Parting Glances, Philadelphia also deals with the AIDS epidemic but in a very different light. Inspired by true story, Philadelphia is a legal film that follows gay attorney Andrew Beckett, who seeks out the help of personal injury attorney Joe Miller when Beckett was fired after being diagnosed with AIDS. Miller struggles with his homophobia, but Beckett’s story and Miller’s desire to fight for him makes for a compelling story. This film isn’t incredibly unique to many of the other films that were coming out about AIDS, besides showing proof that playing a gay character will not damage a straight actor’s career. Tom Hank’s performance as Andrew Beckett won him an Oscar, and the film serves as the first major Hollywood film to focus on AIDS, making it an essential addition to the queer canon.
To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar 1995
Five years after Paris is Burning, the road trip comedy To Wong Foo hit the big screens, essentially introducing drag to mainstream culture. The plot follows three New York drag queens as they embark on a road trip, with the title of the film referring to a signed photo by Julie Newmar that they carry with them during the journey. While none of the three leads are drag queens outside of this film or identify as queer, they spent time in the drag scene researching and were assigned a drag queen ‘mentor’ to prepare for the roles. Besides this, many iconic queens did make small cameos, including RuPaul, Lady Bunny, and Miss Understood. While it could have been better to have actors who were also professional drag queens play the lead roles, the intentionality of the research and highlight of the community still made this film as authentic a representation of drag culture as a mainstream film could be in the mid-90s.
The past 30 years have seen some incredible queer representation building on the foundation that these films started. However, even now, the canon still has a long way to go regarding inclusion and representation. Queer cinema still tends to focus on white cisgender male stories, leaving the lesbian, transgender, asexual, and gender non-conforming communities far behind. While these films and those we see gaining traction today, like Love, Simon, Red, White, and Royal Blue, and Bros, are all fantastic in showing glimpse at the queer experience, it’s important to recognize the significance of other films like Moonlight, Bottoms, and Fanfic in depicting a more intersectional queer experience. This LGBTQ+ History Month, let’s reflect on the history of queer film as we continue to move forward to embrace more unique identities and their representations in mainstream cinema.
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