GAYDAR: The Trouble With QFest
BY AARON STELLA GAYDAR EDITOR With a snappy new name that aspires to put the the non-gay among us at ease, a fattened marketing budget, and walk-ons by gay cinema stars (Bruce Cambell, Sharon Gless, Chad Allen) and straight power brokers (hello Mayor Nutter!), QFest seems destined to please everyone — everyone, that is, except for the rank and file of Philly’s gay community. Consider these man-in-a-gay-bar responses when the topic of QFest was raised by yours truly:
“I don’t bother any more. None of the shows have any substance.”
“I went this year, and was more disappointed than usual.”
“This festival only hurts the gay community.”
“A bunch of heightened unreality and sappy stories. It’s what mainstream anybody wants.”
“Most the films are easily accessible to a fault. They require no thought, so they’re successful.”
Not exactly the response that Q’Fest’s organizers hoped the festival’s makeover would evoke. Many of these disdainful comments come from elder statesmen of Philadelphia’s gay community, many of who have been attending the festival since TLA Entertainment founded it in 1995. In years past, the festival was a destination for gays throughout the tri-state area, but even then, it was more the promise of lively company than the films themselves that attracted the crowds.
Which is not to say that the films were completely devoid of charm.
“I’ll never say no to seeing a 19-year-old boy with his shirt off, especially if he’s going at it with another hot, hung young thing” said a long-time patron at Woody’s, remembering when he would hop from one titillating festival flick to another in fests past. Festival fare always came loaded with steamy plot twists, which seemed to climax over and over again in conjunction with dramatized orgasms, which was a big part of their appeal and power to put asses in the seats. Sex sells, no matter what the audience: throw in a couple of hunky dudes with clumsily concealed erections and douse them in sweat and we got ourselves a gay and lesbian film festival. Now, not that there’s anything wrong with on-screen love-makin’, but if a film is entirely predicated on flaunting hot young ass, then it might as well be consigned to the discount bin at the local porn shoppe. If anything, the overabundance of erotic films at Q’Fest past and present is more a sign that gays adhere to a stereotype preset by society–they as promiscuous hedonists.
Gay film continues to espouse this stereotype even in its depictions of gay drama (no pun intended, I think…). But this time, as sissy sentimentalists.
Hollywood, even with it hordes of closeted homosexuals (looking at you Tom Cruise), purposefully abstains from exploring the complexity of relationships outside the bounds of heterosexuality — even Broke Back Mountain is no exception. The plot of Broke Back follows the dubious and often vapid tradition of gay dramas shown at gay and lesbian film fests, wherein mawkish yet harrowing narratives suggest that once a homosexual comes to terms with his or hers sexuality that their personal struggles vanish overnight, without so much as glancing at all the other potentially precarious aspects of personhood.
In that sense, much of gay film, be it salacious or schmaltzy, mimics the hackneyed, superficiality of films in mainstream. Wait a minute: wasn’t the gay and lesbian civil rights movement another opponent to super-herterosexualized, patriarchal and censorious art of mainstream Hollywood? “Five years ago, when the festival was at its pinnacle, the imperative switched to seeing how big it could become from how nice it could be. Now there are twice the movies, and back five years ago, there was already more than enough. The selection was noticeably better, too,” says Sal Gardner, a Realtor for CITYSPACE.
Coincidentally, it was about fives ago when gay marriage climbed to hot-button-issue notoriety, gaining the gay community nation-wide attention, support and scrutiny. For many gays, the prospect of legalizing same-sex marriage was their shot at gaining equal rights, and subsequently, equal regard in other arenas, such as Hollywood film. Is it possible that this chance for equality has perhaps incentivized the gay community to unwittingly embrace Hollywood’s brand of facile cinema? Have gay film producers chosen to assimilate rather than challenge those very values which have condoned, if not perpetuated, gay persecution since the fall of Rome? You might say gays aren’t assimilating, and there is some gay theater to prove that, but having two guys/girls make out on a screen set to a cloying orchestral score is just as cheesy a conceit as would it be with a hetero couple. The same goes for the vacuous story lines, flat characters, and improbable happy endings. Let’s face it there are only two kinds of movies: good and bad. Just because a movie is about gays, doesn’t mean that it’s good. I recognize that they’re isn’t much gay film out there, insofar that some gays are tempted to settle for what they can get. But that’s like saying that there aren’t any good men in the world so better to settle than chance being alone.
What do gays think about being gay? Problems with gay film seem to stem from this question. Because the answer, at least the one offered by gay films, seems to be that homosexuality defines a person, just as heterosexuality defines straight people. But in reality, there isn’t anything more to being gay or straight than the gender of one’s sexual partners. Any other conclusions derived about a person based on the premise of orientation is plain prejudice, and asserting that a gay person lives happily ever after accepting his or her sexuality is a form of that prejudice. I want to see a gay film where homosexuality is merely a backdrop to a multitude of struggles a person faces, where it’s not the foundation on which a person’s strife engenders. Gay or straight, people are complex; and no matter how you look at it, the part never defines the whole. If this principle were kept in mind, I believe that we would see qualitatively better films at Q’Fest in the coming years, and a wider audience that will come back for more. Let’s appeal to the profundity of the human soul by actually plumbing its depths. Whether in film or in life, we deserve it. Everyone deserves it. Until next time…
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Phawker.com's
July 20th, 2009 at 11:03 am
This is nearly as infuriating as Philebrity’s “QFest sucks because there are no famous people” post. Say what you will about the woeful state of alt-weeklies, but at least the PW and the Citypaper presented comprehensive and informed perspectives on the fest and the movies therein. This is just a hackneyed collection of hearsay and overwrought ignorance. QFest hurts the gay community? None of the shows have any substance? Really? None? A person would have had to have seen every single film in the fest to legitimately make that claim, and judging from Stella’s incisive critique of any actual, specific film in this year’s line-up (of which there is none), he hasn’t seen enough of the fest to submit an informed opinion.
Stella, don’t mistake the thumping that eminates from Woody’s with the pulse of the queer community. Besides talking to the “rank and file”, did you speak to women and people of color? The queer experience is diverse and its representations are valuable to the community, but neither you nor anyone you spoke with seems to have bothered with much of it. If you had, you would have seen films that embodied your desire for complexity. Maybe your oggler of 19yo hot bodies should’ve gotten out of his comfort zone and checked out a lesbian drama, and if he didn’t, does the blame lie with the fest?
And, If there was no such thing as a distinct gay culture, as you imply towards the end of your post (“Any other conclusions derived about a person based on the premise of orientation is plain prejudice”), then why does Phawker have a Gaydar editor? — To be certain, the prejudice IS plain, but it’s not any further than the end of your own nose.
July 31st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
To QFest Volunteer:
First off, documentaries shown at Qfest are worth watching. Absolutely. Just wanted to get that out of the way. And yes, you are right, I did not cite any of the films, frankly because that wasn’t the point of the article. I do not have the stamina to elect or critique any film in particular that one could argue as a microcosm of gay film. I admit, that registers as a major flaw for most readers, however, again, this article serves a different purpose.
Queer theory, which this article almost entirely revolves around, is a complex and byzantine thing that naturally warrant lengthy dissertations. I would have loved to flush out my perspectives more. But that’s neither here nor there. Now, I never said that EVERY film at qfest wasn’t worth seeing. Yet, many of them we could do without. And I never pin blame on the fest. If anything, it’s the directors and filmmakers. However, the fest does promote their films regardless.
Gay culture. There most certainly is a gay culture. Do I like what it is, what it seems to embody? not so much. You didn’t pay any respects to my thoughts on that, and film being an expression of the stereotypes gays tend, however unwittingly, to espouse. I think that’s incontrovertible.
Ah, but I could go on forever about this. But listen, reread my last sentiment. I thin what I’m calling for isn’t bad at all. Take a look. I appreciate your thoughtfulness with this article. And I think we desire the same things: equality, respect, and fairness.
August 21st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Well, I guess when you write, you have to confine yourself to certain topics; you can’t cover everything. I, myself, did not attend the event in question (and I live hundreds of miles away). But, when I read what people write, it stimulates my thoughts. Okay- now don’t jump all over me for the website I will quote from in case it’s not politically correct or something like that. I am older folk and I don’t stay updated on quite so many of the controversial topics like I did thirty or forty years ago. I had been looking for some articles that agreed with what Aaron said about plumbing the depths of the human soul and gays being people, varied and complex, and I came across this article online and liked what it said. It expressed my thoughts and beliefs, so I am using it here since I feel that just stating my own personal thoughts and beliefs will not be enough for some readers. So the website is Gay South Africa Interactive (you can be legally and publicly gay in S.A.). I personally believe that homosexuality is a deviation from the norm. But you live your life and I’ll live mine. I’m not casting stones. I figure that I pretty much have my hands full just trying to live my own life decently without having to go around pronouncing judgment upon others. To me, the important thing is we are all people. I don’t care so much with whom you sleep as I do whether you are honest, trustworthy, kind, compassionate, generous, loyal, have a good attitude and are trying to realize your potential. I know, love and respect many people, among them those who have chosen to be celibate, those who live identifiably heterosexual lives, and there are also those of a homosexual orientation, like my wonderful son, Aaron. However, I do not classify them by their sexuality when I think about them or spend time with them. I think about who they are-as people. So now you see the lines along which Aaron’s article got me thinking. And here’s a bit of what the article said that I read on Gay South Africa:
“In reality, the lives of gays and lesbians are as varied as the lives of heterosexuals (Garnets & Kimmel, 1993)….The lives of homosexuals, like the lives of heterosexuals are about much more than sex…Many people do not even realize that they know someone who is gay…. Aren’t homosexuals promiscuous? Promiscuity has nothing to do with one’s sexual orientation, but rather one’s values and beliefs. Just as in the heterosexual community, some gay people are promiscuous, some are not….The truth is most gay people are not out to make a statement. They simply want to be able to incorporate the many aspects of their lives the way heterosexuals are permitted to do.”