Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 2 of 5)
To read all 5 parts of the article, click on the links below:
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 1 of 5) INTRO (2018)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 2 of 5)(2018)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 3 of 5) LGBTQ FILMS/ INFLUENCES (2018)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 5 of 5) CONCLUSION (2018)
Or read the article in its’ entirely by clicking on the link below:
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 1–5) (2018) (Original Article in its’ Entirety.)
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SOME THOUGHTS ON THE STATE OF LESBIAN FILMMAKING IN THE US
I have a bit of a confession to make and that is that I’m not entirely satisfied with the state of lesbian filmmaking. I haven’t seen everything that’s out there, and certainly not on an international level, or else my views on that would probably be a little different. But from a lot of what I do see I’ve kind of come to the conclusion that a lot of lesbian fare tends to be rather lighthearted and comedic in tone, and I really don’t understand why. (This is also fare mostly produced by white women, not so incidentally.)
But we are some of the most marginalized people on earth, both as women and as LGBTQ members, and yet there is all this emphasis on comedy. Now I don’t personally subscribe to the idea that film is entertainment and view this as a quintessential American idea, for in Europe (and surely other places as well) the medium of film is just another extension of art, and therefore viewed as art.
I don’t subscribe to the idea that if you have enough problems in your life you just want to relax, or worse, escape, when watching films. I’m sorry but that is what weed is there for, relaxing that is. If you want to escape the realities of life you have something else going on entirely.
Film is supposed to be an art form, and art is not there for you to relax or escape through. Film, as any art form, if done well, is there to clarify the problems of your daily life, to take the sprawling, seemingly disconnected, experiences, and all over the place emotions and thoughts you have in your day to day existence and bring some order to it all, and so to confirm the validity of your existence.
This does not mean that art is supposed to be humorless or that good comedy does not exist but there is so much room for all kinds of emotions in a single film and so why reduce it to this very simplified view of things? (I have similar misgivings about the horror genre as well, and find the idea of a whole film dedicated to the idea of scaring an audience a cheap trick, even unethical. Again, I am not saying that the emotion of fear is not valid and shouldn’t be touched upon, it should, and I’m not even claiming no good horror films exist, but overall I find it to be a cheap trope.)
Great films and art contain a combination of comedy and tragedy and everything in between, are supposed to engage your thoughts and emotions actively, and be life affirming as well.
I could never stand the American overemphasis on superhero stuff either and find it simply propaganda, for the whole world to view and fear America as the number one super power in the world. And being a world superpower by the way has absolutely nothing to do with being a leader of the free world.
A leader of the free world ensures the rights of its’ citizens are protected, and sets an example for the world to see and follow that way, and I have always viewed my own country, the Netherlands, as coming much closer to this definition than the US has ever been. A superpower apparently spreads “democracy” through invasion and war all over the world.
(It’s also not coincidental that it was the Netherlands that brought democracy as well as the constitutional principles of individual rights to the US to begin but the US ended up siding with its’ very enemy England instead and reverted from Dutch Protestantism to English Puritanism. There’s much more to this of course but this the underlying reason why capitalism does not work in the US, and that in the US religion overpowered the government. The Dutch brought the idea of the separation of powers to the US, including separation of state and church and separation of state and economics but the US just mixed everything up freely in the name of greed and control and this is basically why we are in the mess that we are in today.)
Essentially a hero is simply a fairly ordinary person being challenged by conflict of extraordinary circumstances and overcoming them somehow, (even if losing or dying in the process,) having the courage to challenge the status quo, not because of being fearless but despite fear. A hero is someone who dares to love in a world full of hate.
I have no idea what a superhero is really, besides America propaganda. (Super powers are unnatural powers, and so a superhero is an unnatural person, closer to the demi-gods of mythology than a real flesh and blood human being with human fears and desires to deal with.)
And so this isn’t a critique of lesbians in particular and has much more to do with the way America in general views art, as well as philosophy by the way, writing them both of as pretentious at best and laughable and immature at worst. Both art and philosophy are actually indispensable in life and it is no wonder that the US revers both entertainment and religion at the cost of science because of this very attitude.
We should aim for, and get accustomed to, Low-Budget and meaningful filmmaking, instead of hoping for a Lesbian/ Queer super hero to come along. But I find it a real shame that there aren’t more choices of mature, complex lesbian fare out for us to see.
(It’s bad enough that lesbian bars have closed up all over the country, including in West Hollywood. And West Hollywood had one lesbian coffeehouse back in the mid-90s, Little Frida’s, and one LGBTQ bookstore, A Different Light, and they are both long gone. And seriously, why isn’t there an LGBTQ movie theater in West Hollywood? I don’t mean an X-rated theater neither, obviously, but maybe a tiny, little art house of sorts. The place to go to for LGBTQ films has only ever been the Laemmle’s Sunset 5, not an official LGBTQ art house, just part of an art house chain that fortunately played a lot of LGBTQ fare because of it’s particular location on the border of West Hollywood and Hollywood, and they are also long gone.
There are a bunch of sunglasses and yogurt stores, dog grooming places, tanning salons and gyms, and sex toy stores and gay male bars. Is a little LGBTQ art house to keep our history and art alive really too much to ask for? This is of course pretty telling of who really runs West Hollywood and what their priorities are. It’s nearly impossible to get lesbian financing in place for just about anything, since men, heterosexual and homosexual, have the real spending money, but won’t get “a piece of it.”)
So I’m thankful for all the screenings that Outfest organizes all over town however, and there’s thankfully certainly no shortage of great LGBTQ documentary films in general nowadays but it’s feature narrative films like Dee Rees’ ‘Pariah,’ Maryam Keshavarz’ ‘Circumstance,’ Todd Haynes’ ‘Carol,’ Stephen Daldry’s ‘The Hours,’ (yes, that’s a lesbian film,) and Kimberly Peirce’s ‘Boys Don’t Cry,’ (not technically even a lesbian film,) the kinds of films I love and ache to see more of, that are in short supply. In the meantime I guess I have to contend with creating my own material and await the reboot of ‘The L Word.’
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My name is Gabriella Bregman, I am a Hollywood-based Writer, Filmmaker and Producer, currently in production of a Feature Documentary about LGBTQ US-Immigration Exclusion-Policy, including my personal story of US immigration discrimination during DOMA, (Defense Of Marriage Act, of 1996–2015,) titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights,’ through my film production company Bregman Films.
The 2001 John Cassavetes Film Retrospective ‘Gena and John: A Cassavetes Retrospective’ at the Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles is a Bregman Films Production.
I am also the Founder of a Nonprofit Film Organization Queer Female Filmmakers Los Angeles — A Media Site & LA Film Mixers (2018.)
In 2018 I am publishing my story and essays in a book, titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights & Other Essays.’
I identify as a Gender Nonconforming Lesbian, “non-op” Trans-Masculine, and Bi-Racial, from the Netherlands, Los Angeles-based.
My pronouns are: they/them/theirs.
Please check out my other articles on LGBTQ- and Immigration Issues, the State of Women and LGBTQ People in Film, and Lesbian/Queer Film as well as Queer Female Sexuality and Gender Identity at medium.com/@gabriellabregman
A few titles:
Resume/FILM BIO: Gabriella Bregman (2018) (2018)
2018 Update on Documentary ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights’ (2018)
A Note on the State of Women in Film (2016)
A Few Notes On LGBTQ Filmmaking (2017)
Some Thoughts on the State of Lesbian Filmmaking in the US (part 1 of 5) (2018)
John Cassavetes Film Retrospective (2001) (2018)
On ‘Moonlight’ and the Subject of Positive Representation (2017)
My 2018 Oscar Pick for Best Picture (2018)
In Defense of Rationality (2018)
In Defense of Individual Rights (2018)
A Few Notes on US Immigration Exclusion Policies Towards Women- and LGBTQ Immigrants (2014)
The Root Cause Of Misogyny, And The Necessity Of Free Will (Gender Binary System notes, part 1 of 7) (2016)
The Male And Female Brain, And The “Cause” Of Transgenderism(Gender Binary System notes, part 2 of 7) (2016)
The Gender-Binary System Was Created For Population Control And Slavery, Including Sex Slavery (Gender Binary System notes, part 7 of 7)
All Articles Written by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Pictures Owned by Gabriella Bregman (TM). All Rights Reserved (2018)
