There was an error in the weighting of questions in Part I which should have had a combined weight of 60% (hence 7.5% per question, not 12% per question). The Exam wasfirst graded with the intended weighting of 7.5% per question for Part I, 15% for Part II, and 25% for Part II. However, whenever the stipulated weighting of 12% per question in Part I (questions 1-8), 15% for Question 9, and 25% for Question 10 [total 136%] improved a student's grade that weighting was used. This happened in three cases and affected grades no moe than by a + or -.

The distribution of grades was:

A: 8

B: 14

C: 5

D: 1

F: 0

A. "Fill in the Blank"

Note: For each of these questions the correct answser(s) is(are) indicated in each blank. If further explanations are required, they are given after the completed paragraphs.

1. Terms such as `queer,' `dyke', and `queen' have been used by heterosexuals as derogatory or abuse terms for gays and/or lesbians. However, the use of these terms originates within the gay and lesbian communities. _____C or A_______ originally were used self-referentially by gays and/or lesbians. For example, ___E____ originally meant "strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint". It first was used self-referentially by homosexuals, but by 1925 had become a term of heterosexist abuse and contempt. Today the term often is used generically within the gay/lesbian subcultures to encompass gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendereds. ___F____ originally was a term used by gays to refer to male homosexuals who dressed or behaved in a flamboyantly effeminate manner. The term also is used generically for male homosexuals, though its appropriateness is very context sensitive. It is often used with a qualifier such as _____M____. The term ___G___ is a bit different in that it began as a term used pejoratively by upwardly mobile lesbians with reference to ____J or H______ . Today it often is used as a positive label for lesbians though its appropriateness is very context sensitive. Today many gays and lesbians have reclaimed these terms from homophobic straights and use them self-referentially as terms of pride. Other gays and lesbians still find them offensive.

Note that while butch or diesel dykes were generally lower class, use of "dyke" focused in the mannerisms of the dykes, not their social class. E.g., lower-class fems were not called dykes.

a) `queer,' `dyke,' and `queen'

b) `dyke' and `queen'

c) `queer' and `queen'

d) `dyke' and `queer'

e) `queer'

f) `queen'

g) `dyke'

h) `Butch'

i) `fag'

j) diesel dykes

k) less affluent lesbians

l) lesbians who used dildoes to "plug" each other

m) "size queens" and "leather queens"

n) "size fags" and "leatherfags"

o) "diesel dykes" and "dykes on bikes"

[Sources: Chauncey, Kennedy & Davis texts; Random House New Collegiate Dictionary; PHIL 407 lecture notes including the long quotation read from David B. Feinberg, Eighty-Sixed (NY: Penguin, 1989), pp. 96-97.]

2. Because sexual orientation ____A____ gays and lesbians can "pass" as straight when it is to their advantage to and want to. During the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s attempts were made to render gays and lesbians invisible and even persecute those who were discovered. For example, ______C_______ (enacted in 1930), overseen by autocratic Code Czar Will Hayes, forbade the depiction of homosexuals, homosexual stereotypes, homosexual culture, etc. from 1934-1961. The ______G_______ attempted to identify closeted homosexuals in the government and have them fired as security risks. Such efforts had the _______I_____. Being "in the closet" refers to ______L______. The term probably is derivative from the metaphor "keeping skeletons in the closet" for hiding scandalous family matters (such as Uncle Bill being queer).

Self-denial and _____Q____ are hiding one's homosexuality from oneself or from others. _____N_____ is the act or process of acknowledging one's homosexuality to oneself or to others; _______T_____. More generally, it refers to the selective disclosure of aspects of one's queer lifestyle (such as being into SM, a leather fag, being promiscuous, etc.). The term `coming out' is a queer expropriation of terminology from High Society "coming out" balls.

a) rarely is obvious, most

b) usually is obvious, few

c) the Motion Picture Production Code

d) New York State censorship legislation

e) U. S. Postal obscenity regulations

f) White House

g) McCarthy Army hearings

h) Television networks

i) effect of forcing most homosexuals into the closet

j) revenge effect of angering homosexuals enough that many thousands came out of the closet in protest.

k) hiding one's homosexuality from others but not to those cases where one is in self-denial as to one's sexual orientation.

l) both hiding one's homosexuality from others and to those cases where one is in self-denial as to one's sexual orientation.

m) those cases where one is in self-denial as to one's sexual orientation but not to hiding one's homosexuality from others

n) "coming out"

o) "outing"

p) "ACT-ing UP"

q) "passing"

r) "duplicity"

s) it is single act of declaration one typically does when one first adopts a queer lifestyle

t) since many queers can pass as straight at will, it is an on-going part of queer life

[Sources: Chauncey 1994; PHIL 407 lecture notes; "The Celluloid Closet"; "Before Stoenwall"; Dr. Suppe's course listserv "National Coming Out Day" post of Oct. 11, 1995, which can be accessed on the class web site through the Queer Picture Gallery link from his "coming out" tattoo picture (http://carnap.umd.edu:90/queer/picture_gallery/Coming_out.html).]

3. Just because gays and lesbians are a potentially ____B_____ minority, becoming _____A____ was central to the emergence of gay and lesbian communities and their emerging subculture. ___C____ institutions emerged with the influx of unmarried workers from immigrant ethnic classes and from rural exodus to the cities. It was in the larger institutions and practices of ____F________ that social institutions such as outdoor cruising, the baths, gay bars, etc. emerged. But initially gays used these same social resources side by side with straights. It thus became important for gays to be able to identify each other in these places. This was accomplished in various ways such as _______H__________ and _______J_______. All these served to make gays more visible to each other. When attempts were made to suppress homosexuality through entrapment, abuse of disorderly conduct laws, etc. beginning in the 1930s, gays evolved non-verbal means of communicating sexual orientation and interest in cruising and other circumstances. This enabled gays to remain visible to each other despite moralist efforts to render homosexuals invisible.

When an attempted cure to a "problem" backfires and has the effect of making the problem much worse, this is known as a _____M______ . When the "problems" involve minority groups and the "cures" are repressive moralistic actions by the majority, ________O_____ . An example is the building of YMCAs to provide an alternative to the immorality of the saloons whereupon the Y became a favored place for gay men to congregate and have sex. Another revenge effect was that moralistic efforts concentrated homosexual activity to exclusively gay safe places such as gay baths and gay bars that paid off the police -- which served to make the gay minority more visible to other gays and ultimately more visible to the larger population. As such exclusively or predominantly gay institutions emerged, gays tended to locate near them thus producing a geographical concentration and an associated proliferation of social support services within the community. The result was the emergence of gay enclaves approximating institutional completeness. By such means a gay subculture emerged. Essentially the same dynamics worked in the emergence of lesbian communities _______P______. Indeed, many of the institutions and associated subculture catered to or encompassed both gays and lesbians.

a) visible

b) invisible

c) Gay

d) Lesbian

e) Gay and Lesbian

f) immigrant and working class single men

g) upwardly affluent men

h) modes of dress that signaled one's queerness

i) secret handshakes

j) congregating at places known to cater to or be frequented by homosexuals

k) hidden queer sub-texts in motion pictures and plays

l) a political gaffe

m) a revenge effect

n) revenge effects are deliberate, politically organized efforts of the minorities to take targeted revenge on the repressive majority by sabotaging their efforts.

o) revenge effects unintentionally facilitate the very behaviors or institutions that the reformers seek to repress or eliminate.

p) although the extent of geographical concentration was much less.

q) which tended to be as geographically concentrated as gay enclaves, but located in less expensive parts of town.

[Sources: Phil 407 lecture notes; Chauncey; Kennedy & Davis]

4. ____A______ are composites of transitory characteristics of persons, hence easily changeable. ____B____ are relatively enduring and not readily malleable characteristics of persons. Whether homosexuality is a trait or a state is a matter of debate and has implications for the treatment of homosexuals, especially discrimination against them and the demands of Gay liberation that such discrimination cease. If homosexuality is a trait, then ____C______. If homosexuality is a state then _______D_______. In the latter case, acceptance of homosexuals will require a changed evaluation of the worth or desirability of homosexuals.

According to ____E______ certain characteristics define the nature of persons. Among these is one's sexual ______H______ . Western morality traditionally has defined morality in terms of behavior conforming to one's nature or essence, and in the actualization of one's potential as defined by that essence. Traditionally it was presumed that _____J____ was part of the human essence. Social constructivism (a) ______M_________ and (b) maintains that heterosexuality and homosexuality are culture-dependent notions. There are forms of anti-essentialism other than social constructivism (e.g., Wilde's individualism).

Chauncey and some others maintain that the social construction of homosexuality is intertwined with the emergence of a robust gay community and subculture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. On this view, the construction of homosexuals is a result of stereotyping and stigmatizing a segment of the population that the ruling culture does not approve of, and the responses and reactions of the stigmatized people. Thus persons engaging in same-sex behavior came to be stereotyped and labeled as homosexuals (pansies, and other terms of abuse) thereby giving visibility to such persons who more readily could identify one another through exploitation of and reinscription of the stigmatizing stereotypes. Through this interaction of the dominant culture and the groups they attempt to marginalize, a community of homosexuals emerged, and with that community The Homosexual was constructed. Heterosexuality and heterosexuals _______P_______. According to most social constructivists, homosexuality is as social construct of latter 19th C and 20th C western culture, and the notion is ______S_____ to other cultures and times .

The debates over social constructivism should not obscure the fact that _____U______ has been around throughout history. That is a fact regardless whether homosexuality is a trait, a state, an essence, or even a social construct.

a) states

b) traits

c) it is unjust to penalize persons for being homosexual

d) it has a cause and the persons can be held responsible for it

e) essentialism

f) nominalism

g) behavior

h) orientation

i) self-image

j) heterosexuality

k) bisexuality

l) gender but not sexual orientation

m) rejects essentialism in any form

n) rejects just those essentialisms that define the human essence as heterosexual

o) denies that sexual orientation is part of the human essence

p) were socially constructed by the very same process (they are the non-homosexuals and thus their existence is parasitic on the social construction of homosexuality)

q) were not socially constructed since heterosexuality is natural

r) applicable

s) inapplicable

t) homosexuality

u) sexual acts between persons of the same gender

[Sources: PHIL 407 lecture notes; Dyer 1993; Mohr 1988; Chauncey 1994.]

5. Queers managed to recognize each other despite efforts to render gays and lesbians invisible. One explanation how gays could do this is that they possess a "queer sensibility" that straights do not. This sensibility centers round the "camp" aesthetic which traces its origins back to _____A____ `s transgressive aesthetic of individuality and artifice where the survival strategies of subordination (subterfuge, lying, evasion) become transformed into weapons of attack that work through irony, ambiguity, mimicry, and impersonation. Camp is easier to identify than to define. According to _____G____ camp is an outrageous pure aesthetic of style and exaggeration for it's own sake that is anti-serious that is the essence of gay sensitivity deployed transgressively. _______F______ characterizes camp as an inversion and subversion of other sensibilities that works by parody, pastiche, and exaggeration, maintains that camp thus _______I________ , but denies that there is a single gay sensibility or sensitivity shared by queer men.

____E______ writes that camp is profoundly denaturalizing in that it constantly draws attention to the artifices that pervade our notions of what is natural. Camp especially attacks our notions of gender and what is viewed as "normal" to men and women. Camp thus "renders gender a question of aesthetics" as when women bemoan the fact that they cannot be as feminine or glamorous as some drag queen they are watching perform. In such episodes Dollimore observes that we come to see much that is viewed as natural and gendered is in fact "an effect of convention, genre, form, or some other kind of artifice. Examples of this are Dyer's four queer types that are caught up in, exploit, and transgress the total web of the system of cultural meanings: ____K______ (the queen and the dyke) which involves a refusal of rigid sex role-playing where, through paradoxical inversion, there is a refusal to play those sex roles; ____M_______ which is an exaggerated masculinity where working-class male clothing is transformed into a consciously erotic look that marks homosexuality as an excess of masculinity; ______N_____ which is a young man neither fully developed male, nor female, nor androgynous who has not yet achieved assertive masculine hardness and often is a martyr figure; and ______L________ which sees women as having a special and even mystical relationship to nature and is a way to achieve full recognition of femininity in a manner divorced from the repressive, destructive presence of masculinity and male sexuality. These queer types or tropes thus are subversive to the dominant culture's notions of masculinity and femininity, of maleness and femaleness. At the same time they provide means for queers to readily recognize each other. A common denominator to each of these types is ______O______ since they all are travesties of conventional masculinity and femininity that subvert and pervert the prevailing social order. They serve to remove the social essences of masculine and feminine gender role from the essence of gender, and indeed __________S_______ . If there are ______U__________ then there are no truths about gender, only artifice and style. According to Claudia Card, genderfuck can be either an attitude of being relatively autonomous and self-determining or a style that takes purported essences and performs them to excess thereby undermining gender essentialism by taking it beyond its own limits. This is the exaggeration of camp.

a) Oscar Wilde

b) Jean Genet

c) Andre Gide

d) Michel Foucault

e) Richard Dyer

f) Jonathan Dollimore

g) Susan Sontag

h) is a transgressive aesthetic

i) is transgressive reinscription

j) drag

k) in-betweenism

l) lesbian feminism

m) macho

n) the sad young man

o) Genderfuck

p) transgressive reinscription

q) transgressive aesthetics

r) are a version of Gide's transgressive aesthetics where queer essences differ from the heterosexual essence

s) are a version of Wilde's transgressive aesthetics where essences are denied.

t) different homosexual and heterosexual essences

u) no essences

[Sources: Dollimore; Dyer, Chapter 4; Card; Sontag; PHIL 407 Lecture Notes]

B. "Correct the Statement"

Each of the following statements is approximately, but not quite, correct. Make the minimal changes needed to convert it to a correct statement according to course materials. For clarity your alterations should be in bold face CAPS, or some other contrasting type style or font. If you wish to give reasons for your alterations, you may do so (keeping such reasons clearly differentiated from your alterations); but this is neither expected nor required. However it may help me give better feedback.

Deletions or replacements are indicated by enclosing the deleted or removed text or brackets and boding the offending text that falsifies the statement. Inserted or replacement text is in bold. Explanations for why changes are made are in braces {} and the text italicized.

6. Sexual orientation is a poly-dimensional component of one's sexual identity. Research identifies the following components of sexual orientation:

• [gender identity] {This is a component of sexual identity but not sexual orientation.}

• physical sexual activity - the gender patterns of one's interpersonal sexual behavior

• interpersonal affection - the gender patterns of one's affectional relationships

• erotic fantasy structure - the gendered patterns of fantasized behaviors and interpersonal affections

• arousal cue response pattern - the patterns of gender correlation in cues that trigger or inhibit sexual arousal.

The terms `homosexuality' and `heterosexuality' strictly speaking refer to sexual orientation and are used with reference to each of its components. However since each of these dimensions is independent, one may be heterosexual in one component, homosexual in another, and ungendered with respect to others. Thus there is no single homosexual orientation, but rather a huge variety of sexual orientations which may be in part homosexual or heterosexual. One's self-labeling as queer or straight sometimes is included as a dimension of sexual orientation. Homosexuality and heterosexuality often are conflated with other components of sexual identity such as social sex role conformity and biological gender.

[Sources: Suppe 1984; PHIL 407 Lecture notes]

7. A subculture is a readily-identifiable marginalized and stigmatized segment of society congregated in geographical concentrations that enable institutional completeness (the full range of institutions and resources of living can be obtained within the subculture). Thus the gay ghettos of the Castro in San Francisco, Boys Town in Chicago, and Dupont Circle in Washington, DC are centers of the queer subculture that enjoy relatively full institutional completeness. Other queers not living at the center of the sub-culture may still identify with it and participate in it to varying degrees.

[Before the gay and lesbian subcultures could emerge, the organized gay/lesbian liberation political movement had to gain full momentum.] Symbolically the Stonewall Riots mark the beginnings of the modern Gay Liberation movement. (The Stonewall was a New York City gay bar that police raided in 1969, but unlike other such raids the queers -- mostly a mixture of drag queens and dykes -- fought back trapping the police inside the bar and throwing Molotov cocktails.) Thus although gays and lesbians had ways of recognizing each other, the gay and lesbian sub-cultures [only came into existence around] already existed by 1969 or [later] earlier. [Sources: PHIL 407 lecture notes; Chauncey; Kennedy & Davis; D'Emilio]

8. Cultures categorize their members, and often use standardized conventions or images, known as stereotypes, to represent categories. They are used ideologically to put/keep marginalized groups in their place and to stigmatize membership in the group. Members of the group, however, may appropriate stereotypes for their own use. For example, gays, who ordinarily are members of an invisible minority, may use or modify stereotypes as ways of being visible or recognizable by others in the group. Thus the "macho", "in-between," "sad young man," and naturalistic lesbian" are in-group stereotypes used by queers to identify each other.

A transgressive aesthetic is a theory about art, literature, etc. that goes contrary to or undercuts the prevailing moral order or the exemplification of such an order in various literary or artistic works. In the context of homosexuality, transgressive aesthetics challenged the heterosexual order's notion that persons were by nature heterosexual by two means: (a) articulating a theory about human nature that denied there was a heterosexual essence and hence that homosexual behavior was immoral in virtue of going contrary to the natural order; and (b) rendering that conception plausible to the larger society through literary works that embodied and brought to life the redefined notions. Dollimore distinguishes two versions: Gide's which maintains there is a homosexual essence or nature distinct from heterosexuals' and Wilde's which denies there is any essence at all, maintaining all is artifice.

Transgressive reinscription also undercuts or goes contrary to the prevailing moral order, but it does so by taking moralistic notions and categories and reworking their meanings. To inscribe is to enclose within a boundary, so transgressive reinscription involves redrawing the boundaries of a concept's applicability in a manner that transgresses or is subversive to the prevailing moral order.

Examples of Genderfuck are obvious drag, mixtures of hypermasculinity with women's clothing, etc. Genderfuck thus presupposes stereotypes and exploits them [rather than reinscribing them]. Genderfuck is an activity, not a theory; and it is repugnant to many straights. [Thus Genderfuck has nothing to do with either transgressive aesthetic or transgressive reinscription.] [Sources: Dollimore; Dyer 1993; Mohr 1988, Ch 1; Random House Collegiate Dictionary; PHIL 407 Lecture notes.]

9. In 700 words or less, discuss the ways in which the film "The Gang's All Here" embodies the camp aesthetic. [Hint: Use question 5 above as a guide to the range of considerations that appropriately might figure in your discussion.]

In case you hadn’t noted the fact, the exam was designed in such a manner that the objective questions in Part I helped you become clear about all revenant concepts that would show up in or be relevant to the short answer and essay question (while covering other key concepts or ideas as well). Thus the objective questions were intended to sensitize you to key considerations and clarify crucial notions prior to writing your short-answers and essays.

The film "The Gang's All Here" is a fine example of the camp aesthetic as discussed in class. Busby Berkely's extravagant undertaking fulfills the three prime criteria for something to be labeled camp: (1) Style (2) Exaggerated story line and (3) Exaggerated characters.

"The Gang's All Here" is produced in an overdone manner that takes the viewer out of reality in the first glimpse. As the film opens, the cast is on a dock as a large cargo ship enters port surrounded by REAL water and animals. Camera pans left, and right, to display a large set the gradually becomes less life-like and more and more staged as the number goes on. Upon the duration of the opening number, the scene is a smoke filled lounge were the only set decoration is a canvas backdrop with a poorly painted ship and some free standing fake palms. Berkely reiterates this notion of grandiosity over and over in his musical numbers throughout the film. Every color is the brightest shade possible of that color. Each camera pan sweeps dramatically across the set. Pinpoint zooms (from far to near and vice-versa) lasting nearly a minute exaggerate the distance traveled by the viewer into this camp world. Even the costume design is in trademark camp style. three woman, two of which are unfamiliar to each other, travel in a car to the wealthy estate. Each ladies wardrobe perfectly complements the others in a mixture of yellow with black polka dots and navy blue. The hat on one lady and the belt from another are identical in material and pattern. Unrealistic... but very attractive.

Secondly, as in many movies of the camp aesthetic, "The Gang's All Here" does not rely on the power of the script to entertain the viewer. the above said style being the main focus and draw, camp films have very ambiguous plots that hastily move you from one extravagant number to the next with little or no contextual flow. "The Gang's All Here" revolves around the century-old plot of boy has girl, boy meets new girl who he isn't completely honest with, both falls for new girl. Only this camp version of the infamous love triangle involves lighthearted escapes from conflict and an fascinating way of not dealing with relatable experiences. As undefined and simple the plot is, it is complex when compared with the shallow characters that embodies the camp aesthetic.

Finally, the names and faces you become familiar in camp films are specific to the genre. It is very hard to imagine the Brazilian bombshell, Dorita, popping up in a film that is not as over-the-top as this one. Blossom Potter and Dorita both exemplify the camp trait of an obvious drag that regresses itself back on what would be regularly expected. While exotic and sexy, Dorita behaves as if she were a man playing a woman in the role. Dorita's overly feminine arm and hip gestures accompanied with sharp masculine facial characteristics remover her subtly from womanly to fabulously sheik. Blossom Potter, too, perverts what is expected of this high class mother. The viewer learn that the tall, awkward looking woman was once a graceful dance on the banks of France. It is only under the strict supervision of her stereotypical doldrum husband that she can be tamed and suppress her thirst for dance. however, in true camp style she regresses and performs a series of amazing high-kicks around the patio with her long lost dance partner.

Camp can not be defined by criteria or words alone. Camp is a category that takes itself serious, while simultaneously removing the viewer from reality. Camp is overdone and somewhat gaudy. Camp is also beautiful when done correctly, such as "The Gang' s All Here" can be an outlet for gay interpretations in a time when the Haye's Code did not allow overtly gay material to be released.

(647 words)

With the emergence of the minority gay sub-culture came the immediate necessity for repression by the majority heterosexual community.[1] In the midst of a public lack of acceptance strengthened by strictly enforced anti-gay legislation, an uncomfortable hostility quickly kept homosexuality submerged while constraining gay people from openly acknowledging their presence in society (D’Emilio, 22). The most consequential step in the prevention of gay visibility came with the birth of the Motion Picture Production Code, allowing for the depiction of adultery and murder, among numerous other immoral practices, while prohibiting any reference to sexual perversion, namely, homosexuality. In an attempt to eradicate the homosexual from the entertainment industry (thus an attempt to eradicate the homosexual from public visibility), these new regulations failed to prevent the associated behavior of gay life from inspiring popular culture. The result of this regenerating effect was a revitalization of the camp aesthetic,[2] most clearly demonstrated in Busby Berkeley’s "The Gang’s All Here".

Not easily defined, the notion of "camp" finds its roots in a "love of the unnatural" (Sontag, 275). A sort of theatrical debauchery, if you will, camp thrives on its central purpose as an "invasion and subversion of other sensibilities" (Dollimore, 311) to the extent that the seriousness of these other sensibilities is removed. Camp is "anti-serious" and because it is labeled as such, it encourages the actor(s) to throw inhibition out the door and "let one’s hair down" (an idiom commonly associated with camp). In "the spirit of exaggeration" (Sontag, 293) camp is, more often than not, "too much", which allows for it (camp) to unintentionally not be taken seriously. Such is the case in "The Gang’s All Here", where outrageously decorated and choreographed dance numbers shift the viewers locus of attention from a more serious Ginger Rogers-Fred Astaire-esque love affair to a frivolous sequence of production numbers involving enormous pieces of simulated fruit.

Under the Motion Picture Production Code, Berkeley was restricted from directly portraying homosexuality in its entirety in his script. However, aided by his own creativity and the ingenuity of camp, Berkeley was able to transgress the intent of this code and therefore incorporate enough queer subtext that "The Gang’s All Here" could even be interpreted as a heterosexualized queer story. The most noticeable transgression occurs on the surface with the ridiculously overblown musical numbers. The scenery and props (the use of fruit, with "fruit" being a common slang term for being gay) scream camp and furthermore heighten ones awareness of the (questionable) gay sensibility. Working her way through this exotic and erotic setting is the epitome of the heterosexualized Drag Queen- -Carmen Miranda herself. The extremity of her costume and the detail of her makeup in this and each of her other Hollywood performances immortalized the Queen for future generation homosexuals and transgenderds.

Less obvious, but still a major factor in the "campiness" of "The Gang’s All Here" is the role of the queer surrogate. Edwards Evert Horton’s Peyton Potter (often referred to as "Pottsey" a nickname with feminine connotations) is a heterosexual character in context, yet this is only a masking of his "unnatural" sexual tendency. For example, his marriage, which lacks the affectionate and sexual demeanor associated with most married couples, is more of a societal conformation than it is a choice made out of love. The painfully "obvious phallic symbolism" of the enlarged bananas only adds to the homoerotic undertones in the film along with numerous inferences to typically gay-stereotyped sayings and methods of behavior.

The prevalence of camp in this film sets out to prove the ambiguity in distinguishing between heterosexuality (assumed to be "normal behavior) and homosexuality (presumably unnatural behavior) formally in the entertainment industry. Despite attempts to render homosexuality invisible from public view, camp transcends this obstacle and ends up as a positive influence on this struggling sub-culture. It manages to do this while leaving the concerned heterosexual population satisfied with the absence of homosexuals on the big screen. What they do not realize is that this so-called gay sensibility has simply been disguised as heterosexual. Then again, you will never find what you are not looking for.

(684 words)

"The Gang’s All Here" is perhaps the most identifiable film embodying the camp aesthetic we’ve had the pleasure of being exposed to in class. Sontag writes "the essence of camp is its love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration." Furthermore, Dollimore identifies camp as "an invasion an subversion of other sensibilities, and works via parody, pastiche, and exaggeration." And Chauncy notes that "camp was a style of interaction and display that used irony, incongruity, theatricality, and humor to highlight the artifice of social convention…" Bringing all these ideas together helps to bring to the mind of the viewer the purpose behind creating such an artificial and conventionally confusing film. It has been said that this film was made for the soul purpose of making a film that defied all practiced processes of film making. In doing so The Gang’s All Here becomes central to the idea of camp and the camp aesthetic. It possesses the spirit of exaggeration and outrageous aestheticism that Susan Sontag expresses as being central to the idea of the camp aesthetic. It is certainly an unnatural film using explosive exaggeration through theatrical performances. We have said that gay sensibility is the heart of the camp aesthetic and is discoverable in everything from inanimate objects to people. Clothing, music, films, ballets, architecture, almost anything can embody the camp aesthetic and a gay sensibility; this particular film certainly does. The purpose behind camp is not humorous to say the least but is meant more as a break from reality utilizing aspects of style, appearance, and taste for their own individual sakes. The camp aesthetic is somewhat difficult to verbalize but perhaps going into some examples from The Gang’s All Here" can bring it to light. The idea of camp is present in nearly every scene of this film and briefly described below.

Black homosexuals and lesbians were more quickly allowed to represent their queerness on the screen. A representation of this fact is the movie "Next Stop Greenwich Village", which depicted black gay men openly on the screen. Why it was more socially acceptable to have black gay men on the screen as opposed to white gay men is undoubtedly tied to the racism at the time the movie was released. It was easier for the majority to see a minority they looked down upon engaging in what they considered lewd and indecent behavior then it is for them to see their own engage in that same behavior. In a similar fashion, lesbianism was more permissible on the silver screen because people had the recourse of thinking of the women as prostitutes or flimflams. In both cases queerness was allowed because people could differentiate themselves from the people in the films that they could not as easily do when the actors were white males.

"Before Stonewall" offered a perspective view of the gay and lesbian culture prior to the time of the Stonewall riot, better put before the formal gay liberation movement. The stories of those involved were illustrated using interviews from those alive and active during the first half of the century as well as by using various types of memorabilia. "The Celluloid Closet" examines the portrayal of gays and gay ideas throughout the history of movies. Clips, interviews with those in the motion picture business, and expert opinions set up the story. Both pictures explore visibility, stereotyping, trangsressive reinscription, repression, and the emergence of subcultures, but do so in very different ways.

In "Before Stonewall" gays discuss the ways that they identified each other. There was a heavy concentration on the emergence of various gay and lesbian clubs and bars that served as gathering places. Gays and lesbians had places where they could go and meet other homosexuals, but had to sneak around the law. Both World Wars created an urbanization of America as well as had large number of men and women together in the military. Sailors going from port to port found lovers and a large number of women in the military were lesbians. This sudden concentration of homosexuals allowed people to be around others who felt as they did and gained visibility through strength in numbers.

"Before Stonewall" also explored how gays and lesbians would use the arts and literature to gain visibility. Newspapers and novels were printed with homosexual themes. Many of the early clubs grew out of black music type clubs that became accepting to homosexuals. "The Celluloid Closet" digs deeper into the arts. The Motion Picture Production Codes made it impossible for blatant homosexual themes, among other things, to be displayed in movies. Movie makers had to be very clever in order to work these themes into movies, thus gaining visibility. Characters such as the "Pansy" showed a person who did not fit into the typical view of gender. The pansy took on characteristics such as a lisp, but the viewing public did not exactly know that they were watching a gay subliminal message and began to accept it. A large portion of the people in Hollywood were homosexual and had the desire to see themselves on the screen, even if they had to camouflage it a bit. The result was that gay stories were told with straight characters, the roles of drag queens were played by women, and with the use of jokes straights wouldn’t get.

"Before Stonewall" explored how stereotypes were a hindrance to gays and lesbians. They were not trusted and assumed to be perverts and child molesters. Therefore, it was valid and perfectly legal to fire somebody because of suspected homosexuality. Also, they could be denied housing and basically any other human right. The truly successful people in the documentary proved to be the people who embraced their homosexual identity but blew aside stereotypes. I particularly liked the story of the woman who was in the military who was called into her commanding officer’s office and ordered to get rid of the lesbians. When the secretary and she told the officer point blank that they were lesbians, and he realized that it did not make a difference in their job performance and they had survived suppression at the hands of stereotypes long before a full blown liberation movement.

"The Celluloid Closet" showed how gay stereotypes had evolved over the century. In "The Children’s Hour" one of the characters is so ashamed at her lesbianism she ends up hanging herself. She is brought to this point because of public outrage and condemnation that makes her think that she is dirty and evil. Also, in other movies homosexuals were vampires, murders, and most usually died at the end of the movie when the prevailing (straight) moral order wins. Fast forward a couple decades, in the past 20 years or so movies have begun to show gays and lesbians in realistic lights. Negative stereotypes are blown out of the water when successful, happy relationship are shown on the screen. Gays and lesbians are shown as normal people with real problems just like everyone else. Hollywood is not perfect and many negative images of oversexed gays and abusive lesbians still are visible, but the situation is a lot better. Also, movies put a face on AIDS and destroyed the stereotype of drug abusing, slutty gays spreading the awful disease around.

In "Before Stonewall" the people being interviewed explained how they took the condemnation being placed on them and used it as excuses to speak out. This transgressive reinscription was helpful in taking shame away from the gay person. I loved the woman who said, "I think the whole world is queer." She was a cute, little old lady who turned conventional thinking on its heals. To the prevailing society somewhere in the definition of "normal" was the word straight. This woman changed what normal is and said that normal is gay. At face value her view is a bit extremist, but that type of thinking is needed in order to turn the negative into positive. People showed how they took something met as an insult, but instead embraced it and made those trying to push them down look foolish.

The hardest hurdle to overcome is often the repression forced on you from governing bodies. "Before Stonewall" dove into this very topic. Film and photograph evidence was used to show police raids on gay and lesbian establishment and arrests bases solely on sexual preference. It was illegal to be gay, and there is no greater repression than the letter of the law. The people in the film spoke of having to try and be successful members of society all the while society seems to wish you to fail. Homosexuality was seen as wrong and doctors and therapists sought to change people. The people in the movie spoke of meeting in secret and forming organizations just so they could have love lives.

Perhaps the greatest repression of gays in the movie business was the Motion Picture Production Codes. The codes were meant to protect a moral ideal on the screen. On the surface the codes erased homosexuals from the big screen, but in affect it ended up getting them into more story lines. The codes forced movie makers to disguise homosexual ideas and stories, as previously stated. This allowed for wider understanding and acceptance, even though the public did not know that was what was happening.

The driving factor, above all, in the gay and lesbian liberation movement has been the access to subcultures. The people in "Before Stonewall" described how the urbanization of America, specifically during the World Wars enabled gays and lesbians to be in higher concentrations and therefore formed communities and created institutional completeness. It was easier for the gay men to do so, because lesbians were single women and it was hard for them to have economic stability. Once women joined the work force in WWII they were able to survive on their own and could further expand communities. Gays and lesbians moved into areas, such as Harlem, where minorities were already gaining acceptance. They started clubs, bars, bookstores, and today in gay communities you can find anything you need. As was stated in class, "even a gay shrink."

The arts are also a vital part of a subculture. Movies gave a connecting force for gays and lesbians. In "The Celluloid Closet" several people talk about how the "drag" scene in Morocco was so special to them. Even though the story was heterosexual, it gave something for gays and lesbians to cling to and to see themselves in. Recently, movies also helped in showing the subculture in a realistic view. Relationship, communities, and typically gay environments are depicted in numerous movies. There is also the example of the movie that is shown in both "Before Stonewall" and "The Celluloid Closet" of the men dressed in French maid costumes in a café. These "waitresses" perform a song and dance number in a style that would be automatically labeled as gay today. Many times movies mirror life. It is helpful to the development and to the continuation of a subculture when the larger culture is not scared or afraid of them. Movies help to take the mystery away from gay and lesbian subcultures.

"Before Stonewall" and "The Celluloid Closet" show two sides of the gay and lesbian story. "Before Stonewall" uses real people and real stories, whereas "The Celluloid Closet" relies on fictional movies. But, in the end the stories are similar. Gays and lesbians have stopped dying in every movie and it is okay for clubs to proudly display a flag outside its doors. This is not to say that the world is a perfect accepting place for homosexuals, my friend who has a rainbow sticker on her car got her tires slashed when she was at the movies with her girlfriend this weekend, but society as a whole has come a long way towards acceptance. The fact that these movies are available for the general public will hopefully move the above ideas into more minds.

(1635 words)

This semester we have identified several main themes that are relevant to the study of gay and lesbian philosophy. A pre-Stonewall era has been defined and exemplified through the film Before Stonewall. Another film, The Celluloid Closet, has dealt with gay and lesbian representation in the movies before and after the Stonewall riots. Each of the films are relevant to the discussion of queer visibility, queer stereotyping, transgressive reinscription, repression, and the emergence of gay and lesbian subcultures that follows.

Queer visibility in early movies is a reflection of their visibility in larger society. Richard Dyer explains this phenomenon by saying, "We could only express ourselves indirectly, just as people on the screen could only express themselves indirectly... the characters are in the closet, the movie is in the closet, and we were in the closet." Before Stonewall makes reference to the fact that gays were not able to be openly gay before the liberation movement began. They had to find secret identifiers such as handkerchiefs placed creatively and red scarves. They were forced into the closet by the laws of society, and so were the filmmakers. We see several examples of characters from various movies who are in the closet while watching The Celluloid Closet. Queen Christina, a lesbian queen in Sweden, had a side relationship with her lady in waiting while she married into an "acceptable" heterosexual one. Sebastian Venable was a gay man whose face was never seen. He was always portrayed in flashbacks of a dark past in which a homosexual relationship had occurred.

It was not until the Stonewall Riots that the queer subculture began to see recognition in films. It began with inaccurate portrayals of unhappy, lonely gay men who usually had the fate of death, and gradually became outright representations of gay males as they flourished in cities everywhere. The first example of this being Antonio Fargas’ roles as a drag queen in Next Stop Greenwhich Village and Car Wash. Now, gays are portrayed in mainstream films but are most accurately and generously represented in independent films.

From the movie The Celluloid Closet comes several instances of queer stereotypes that were developed in the movies. The most perfect illustration is the sissy character that came to be recognized as a comedic figure. At the time when the limp wristed, effeminate man began being depicted in films, this was not a stereotype of the gay man at all. However, it gave rise to a stereotype that is lasting even today. At the time it was used to slide by censorship laws, but it was turned into a joke and now is used negatively to refer to homosexual men. Another stereotype that arose from film is the early portrayal of lesbians in the 1950s. They were generally bulldykes. Again, at the time this was at least a unifying point for lesbians but it has become a negative generalization that all lesbians are necessarily tough and masculine. As is became more acceptable to portray queers in film another variety of stereotypes arose: the villain. As seen in Dracula’s Daughter, a character’s homosexual tendencies were seen as just another villainous trait that added to our hatred of them.

One scene in particular has challenged all stereotypes by using Genderfuck. It is Marlene Dietrich’s scene in Morocco. She takes what is unusual and makes it ordinary. At the time a woman kissing a woman would be highly unacceptable, however Marlene playing a man is able to kiss a woman without cause for alarm. She is also able to dress as a man because it is part of her "act". The common conceptions of masculinity and femininity are challenged here because the strong points of each concept are being exemplified through the opposite dimension. Marlene’s masculine tuxedo looks fantastic on a feminine being, and her feminine voice radiates from a very masculine appearance.

Marlene has transgressively reinscribed the common stereotypes of masculinity and femininity. Another stereotype discussed in The Celluloid Closet is that of the sissy. This character, although negative is able to give back power to many gay men. Harvey Fierstein comments about the sissy: "I like the sissy. Is it used in negative ways? Yeah, but... I'd rather have negative than nothing. That's just my own particular view -- and also cause I am a sissy!" He has taken the stereotype and reinscribed it to have a positive role in his life. It is representation, which is better than invisibility. Before Stonewall discusses the history of the gay subculture before the gay liberation, therefore it is hard for me to identify transgressive reinscription occurring within the movie. However, similar stereotypes are discussed in Before Stonewall that will eventually be taken and reinscribed.

Stereotypes are seen in both films as means to identify gays in an excessively repressive society. At the time, homosexuality was considered illegal and had very serious repercussions for anyone caught in a "sexually perverted" act. As discussed, during the height of the homophobia that spread through New York, state laws were passed that centered on stifling the activity of gays. The heaviest impact was felt by gay bars and their patrons who were repeatedly harassed by police. Gay bars were often raided with all of the people inside being arrested. The mass media, at the time newspapers, would then report the names and employers of everyone arrested in the bars the night before. The result was the loss of jobs, unwanted outing to family members, possible unwanted psychological evaluation, and humiliation.

The New York State Laws were a major impetus for the development of the Motion Picture Production Code that is discussed in The Celluloid Closet. The code began when Will Hayes was elected to head a committee that investigated the presence of gay representation in the movies. He initially formed the Hayes Code, which was little more than a gesture to the people who had elected him. Later, the Catholic Church became involved in the censorship and spurned Hayes into action by developing its own rating system. The Legion of Decency began by rating movies on a scale of "A," "B," or "C." An A signified that the movie was morally sound. A B that the movie was morally questionable and a C that the movie was morally corrupt. After this system was in place, Will Hayes was forced to develop his own set of by-laws. Initially, the official Motion Picture Production Code denied any film the ability to portray any aspect that may be seen as homosexual. The enforcers of the Code actually edited scripts and cut scenes on the basis of moral righteousness.

It was in the face of this extremely repressive society that the camp aesthetic arose and the stereotypes discussed earlier became essential to identifying gay characters. Because the movies were so highly restricted and it became such a challenge to depict queer scenes, a multitude of queer filmmakers entered the industry. This led to one of the two ways in which gay and lesbian subcultures emerged. In Hollywood an aesthetic subversion, in which a disproportionate impact of gay and lesbian films, began. Thus the gay subculture finally became visible to the larger society and gave gays a rallying point for a move toward liberation. At the same time, ghettos were forming in the major metropolitan cities of the United States. Before WWII, these ghettos were occupied by unmarried immigrant workers who were able to find institutional completeness within their ethnic or sexual group. After WWII, the ghettos were filled with returning soldiers who had had their first homosexual experiences while overseas. The institutionally complete ghettos that were waiting for them had been in existence for years but had been hidden from view.

With the aesthetic subversion occurring in Hollywood making the gay subculture more visible and the concentration of gays into ghettos, the groundwork had been laid for a revolution. In 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn on another routine night of repression. This night was different. The drag queens and dykes inside the bar fought back with the strength of everyone in the bar, the ghetto, and the subculture behind them. The police were barricaded in the bar and for two days the riots went unchecked. The beginning of a gay revolution had begun. No longer could the queer population be controlled or dismissed as simply a comedic aspect in a movie.

(1395 words)

The documentary film "Before Stonewall" opens with the observation that the gay liberation movement that can be traced to the Stonewall Riots of 1969 has become an enduring and prominant aspect of contemporary American culture and then poses the question of how it became possible for such a movement to have such lasting effects. The remainder of the film attempts to answer this question by showing how the gay and lesbian subcultures that were necessary to sustain the gay liberation movement had gradually emerged and survived over several decades prior to Stonewall, despite the dominant culture's efforts to repress homosexuality. The film traces these subcultures at least as far back as the bohemian neighborhoods that developed in several major cities during the era of prohibition, but I think there is an implication that they may have originated even earlier, since homosexuality had been openly depicted in silent films. The reason one might expect that there may have been a gay or lesbian subculture when homosexuality was so openly depicted in silent movies is that such films made homosexuals visible to one another, and such in-group visibility was a prerequisite for the formation of gay and lesbian subcultures. In the 1920s, it was easier for homosexuals to maintain visibility between themselves because it was more acceptable for homosexuality to be visible to heterosexuals. But in later decades, when some segments of the heterosexual culture increased their efforts to repress homosexuality, it became more difficult for homosexuals to remain visible to one another because they had to strike a delicate balance between making themselves visible to other homosexuals and making themselves invisible to hostile heterosexuals.

Indeed, film is one of many vehicles of expression in which it became necessary to strike this delicate balance. "Before Stonewall" mentions the Hayes Code as a symptom of the more heterosexist climate of the 1930s, but "The Celluloid Closet" focuses much more attention on the Hayes Code as a restriction that forced film makers to produce films that stay in the closet for heterosexual audiences but come out to gay and lesbian audiences. "The Celluloid Closet" shows us how the Hayes Code had this effect by showing how several films produced during the years that the Code was enforced featured characters that were recognizably queer to queer viewers but not to the censors whose vision was too straight. For instance, in reference to "Calamity Jane," Richard Dyer says that the expression of homosexuality in the movie is indirect, and that the movie is in that respect like life. The character is in the closet, the movie is in the closet, and we're in the closet with the movie. [This paraphase is a near quote of Dyer's own words.]

When censorship of representations of homosexuality in hollywood films was lifted in the early 1960s, gay characters began to come out of the celluloid closet, but when they did so, they came out as stereotypical rather than realistic gay characters. One of the ways in which the gay characters in the films of this period were stereotypical was that they were too often depicted as dying a violent death, often by suicide, which served to reinforce the image of homosexuals as mentally ill. And when homosexuals in later films such as "Cruising" and "Basic Instinct" were depicted as being victimizers rather than victims, the homicidal characters in these movies served to reinforce the image of homosexuals as criminals. But perhaps such films were not less realistic than some that were produced prior to the Hayes Code, since male homosexuals in such movies tended to play the stock role of The Sissy, a stereotype representative of the misconception that all gay men are effeminate. [9] The Sissy character, however, may have been less objectionable than gay stereotypes that have been used in more recent films; it's much better to be womanly than it is to be dead or a killer. Or, as Harvey Fierstein would have it, it's better to be a Sissy than it is to be invisible.

But while homosexuals were rendered relatively invisible in films during the Hayes Code era, other factors enabled homosexuals to become more visible to one another during this same time period. World War II especially did much to bring gay men together with gay men and lesbians together with other lesbians. Many gay men who had been isolated in rural areas of the United States met other men like themselves for the first time when they served as soldiers in the war, and for some gay men such as George Buse, the war also provided an opportunity to transgressively reinscribe the concept of a gay man. In a conscious effort to reject the stereotype of the gay man as sissy, Buse joined the marines to prove that he could live up to the standards of the most demanding branch of the American armed forces. In fact, many gay men must have had a similar experience in the war since many of the men who became involved in the masculinist leather subculture were World War II veterans.[10]

The war also helped some lesbians to meet other lesbians who served during the war, but for the most part, the lesbians who met each other because of the war were women who stayed home but enjoyed unprecedented independence from men for a variety of reasons. Many women had a new found economic freedom since they were able to take jobs in the defense industry and other fields that were left open to them when so many men left their jobs to serve in the war. Also, many married women were free to socialize with lesbians while their husband's were away at war. So many, in fact, that Mable Hampton was lead to believe that fully one half of the world is queer.

After the war, perhaps more American gays and lesbians had become visible to one another than ever before. But shortly thereafter, the cold war set in, and repression of homosexuality in America increased dramatically with the McCarthy Army hearings. But while the U.S. government became even more aggressive towards homosexuals than it had in the past, gay and lesbian activists began to lay the groundwork for the gay liberation movement that would flourish after Stonewall. In the face of McCarthyism, the first gay and lesbian activist organizations were formed: Harry Hay and Chuck Rowlands sarted The Mattachine Society, while Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon founded The Daughter's of Bilitis. And thus the homophile movement that would serve as a precursor for the later gay lib movement was inititiated despite, or perhaps because of, McCarthyism. That is, it may well be that the homophile movement was a revenge effect that occurred in response to McCarthyism. This is certainly a valid way of explaining how Frank Kameny began his career as an activist since he became an activist when he lost his job through the McCarthy trials.

The homophile movement also served to increase visibility between homosexuals. For many men and women, the early meetings of The Mattachine Society and The Daughters of Bilitis provided the first non-bar, non-sexual opportunity to meet with a group of homosexuals. And both of these organizations produced publications that would reach homosexuals living outside the metropolitan areas where they met. This type of networking was critical for the success of the gay liberation movement that was sparked by Stonewall. For it brought more people from areas to the homosexual communities developing in most major cities, and later gay publications such as "The Advocate" would bring news of the Stonewall Riots to the larger gay and lesbian community. Of course, establishing gay and lesbian subcultures was not the only reason for the success of gay lib: gay liberation rode piggy back and the black civil rights movement, and research such as that of Kinsey helped to normalize homosexuality. But it is probably not innaccurate to say that the emergence of gay and lesbian subcultures was a necessary precondition for the success of the gay liberation movement.

(1336 words)

The films "The Celluloid Closet" and "Before Stonewall" both discussed and presented the reality of which the course has studied thus far. They both dealt with historical fact and the attitude concerning homosexuality in the first half of the twentieth century. While these sources of information are no more truthful then the literature we have been studying, the film medium provided for a more "honest" look at what exactly was going on. By focusing on the depiction of such major ideas of visibility, stereotyping, transgressive reinscription, and repression, a comprehensive view of that era can be established.

During the earlier half of the twentieth century, many issues have stemmed from the concept of visibility in terms of gays and lesbians. As exemplified by "Before Stonewall", the general public had a real problem with the possible existence of gays and lesbians. Considering that the majority did not even want to think about gays and lesbians, it is not hard to understand why the general public would want to think about such lifestyles in any way. A prime method to keeping such ideas taboo, was to simply refuse to accept it. A part of this denial, was refusing to see such activities, and banning all visual representation that could even insinuate such a reality.

"The Celluloid Closet" discussed the way that the motion picture production code restricted all film representation of homosexuality. However, crafty directors were able to bypass these restrictions by writing homosexual subtext. An example of this is the gay subtext in "Sparticus" . Rather then bluntly depict the gay bond between the two main male characters, the director chose to leave it as an unsaid, but very visible message.[11] This concept was also used in literature. As shown in "Before Stonewall", a plethora of novels were written at the time with gay and lesbian themes, but were done so in such a way as not to be recognized by mainstream society.

William S. Burrows[12] describes a heroin addict’s ability to see through the façade of everyday modern life to the junk dealing underworld; as if the junkie at hand is able to see subtle signs and hints in the movements of others. Turn this concept from junk to queer, and we have the simple concept of "gaydar[13]". Basically, because gays and lesbians had certain interests that differ from mainstream society, they could see the queer subtext within these films and books, while the straight movie-goers/readers could not. This underground communication allowed for an invisibility to mainstream society, while providing a visibility to members of said subculture.[14] Mainstream society would view a man in drag as nothing more then a silly farce, whereas a gay viewer would understand what the director was trying to say. The queer subculture (I know, it was not a subculture yet, but I can’t think of a better term to use) remained invisible to the majority, but was visible to each other. "Before Stonewall" also described certain manners of dress which could work as a "code" of sorts to reveal one’s queerness, but only to other queers.

Stereotyping of gays and lesbians was visible in film and novels of this time period. As shown in "The Celluloid Closet", films such as "The Maltese Falcon" could use a gay stereotype to depict a character, just as long as the film-maker did not come right out and state the man’s sexuality. While it is true that the motion picture production code restricted the depiction of blatant homosexuality, a film could show a man was gay without being outrageously obvious. By depicting a character as stylish, effeminate, and altogether flirty, filmmakers were able to slip by. Eventually these stereotypes became commonplace within films. A common character was "the sissy". This effeminate male character was usually put in for comedic purposes, and was accepted by society simply a silly individual, not as being gay. "The Celluloid Closet" gives numerous examples of "the sissy" stereotype, and shows how truly gay the characters were.

The nature of the term "transgressive reinscription" concerns the re-evaluating and re-direction of negative terminology. By taking bigotrous slang and empowering it, gays and lesbians were able to use negative stereotyping to their own advantage. The film "Before Stonewall" depicts the harsh reality that existed in the early twentieth century. In this time period, newspapers reffered to gays as "perverts", and tried to explain homosexuality through means of psychological disorder. While these terms and actions were not transgressive reinscription in and of themselves, such terminology would provide material for transgressive reinscription to work with in the future. In the 60’s and 70’s, the slanderous terminology that once attacked and provoked gays and lesbians would become a means of empowerment. While this is similar to a revenge effect concept, the terms in and of themselves did not cause this rebellion. It was only a matter of time and growth for gays and lesbians to take the terms, internalize them, and thus empower them. In the same way that the black community of today uses the term "nigger" due to it’s implications in the previous centuries, the gay community of today uses terms such as "homo" or "fag". The unfair labeling depicted in "Before Stonewall" gave rise to the transgressive reinscription of the terms, and eventually, the empowerment of the gay and lesbian subculture.

The concept of repression was widely visible and practiced in the pre-Stonewall time period. As shown in "Before Stonewall", the majority made being gay a very difficult task indeed. The most direct and obtrusive example of this repression came from the police. Bars and establishments known to be frequented by gays were often raided. Such a raid would not only result in the harassment and arrest of gay patrons, but also led to the destruction of personality of gays. Also in the time period, was the McCarthy "red scare". However, instead of focusing solely on communists, the McCarthy investigations had a habit of singling out gays in the U.S. government. It was the belief of the majority that a gay individual was so perverse and immoral, that communism and other anti-nationalistic actions were not far behind.

When such discovery took place, newspapers would print the names and employers of individuals arrested for their seemingly "perverse" behavior. This would not only lead to the public humiliation of said individuals (humiliation for the reprimand, not necessarily for being gay; many people were not "sorry" for being who they were), but often times the loss of employment. Considering the negative view the majority took of homosexuality, an employer discovering that one of his employees was gay would give the company a bad name. Naturally, this would result in firing the gay "offender".

With the penalties and social stigmatisms in mind, it becomes quite clear that the safest way to be gay in the U.S. during this time period, was hide it. The scare tactics of the majority were succeeding in repressing the gay and lesbian population, for the moment. However, what the majority could not foresee was the retaliation such an oppressive movement would bring upon itself.

The McCarthy witch-trials outraged so many closeted gays and lesbians, that a revenge effect began to take place. Gays and lesbians began coming out in droves, and frequenting gay establishments even more. Gays and lesbians knew that what they were doing was not wrong, but simply that it was illegal. And laws can be changed. The majority’s push for repression and control is what gave the gay and lesbian population the motivation to begin to emerge, and to begin to become a subculture. Places like New York and San Francisco began to see massive influxes of gays and lesbians. Slowly, and level of institutional completeness began to take shape. This recognition and retaliation against the unfair majority is what united, empowered, and brought about the emergence of the gay and lesbian subculture. All that was left was for a highly visible and recognizable event to take place. A time for gays and lesbians to, in addition to coming out and forcing the acceptance of their existence on society, stand up and fight back. And that’s what the Stonewall riot was.

(1350 words)

Bringing together the ideas illustrated in the two films "The Celluloid Closet" and "Before Stonewall" is going to be a little difficult considering the time that has elapsed since first viewing them several weeks ago. However, I’m going to attempt to attack this essay somewhat systematically by first giving a brief outline of each film and then attempting to tie them together with the main themes and ideas covered so far this semester. First of all, these two films are radically different in content but similarly portray an environment of repression for the gay and lesbian subcultures in the United States. On the one hand, Before Stonewall is focused specifically on historical events prior the Stonewall Riots in 1969 that affected or helped to define the gay and lesbian subcultures up to that point. Examples would be prohibition, W.W.I, and the McCarthy Era. The Celluloid Closet attempts to portray a history of queer actors and film makers and their adaptation into a society and industry which was in the early 1900’s somewhat anti-gay despite the overwhelming presence of queers in Hollywood. It is a 100-year history of gays and lesbians portrayed in film. The common themes of these two movies is of course the repression of the gay subculture and how this repression actually lead to increased visibility of homosexuals among the dominant culture.

This is, for the most part, a well-written interesting discussion of the two films in a manner that relates them to many course themes and idea. The main lapse is no explicit discussion of transgressive reinscription, although you do bring in the notion in th without callin\