Following Stonewall – the gay riots that took place when one too many cops abused one too many queer party people at a hangout in Greenwich Village, one sultry evening in 1969 – the culture went mad for anything gay.
The 1970s, therefore, was a hotbed of LGBTQ+ representation on screen with Gay Liberation movements unleashing a wave of visibility across global cinema screens. And it’s that moment that is being celebrated in a new festival for Pride month down at London’s glittering Barbican.
During the 70s, for the first time, LGBTQ+ directors stepped forward to tell stories from their own perspectives, moving away from the stereotypical portrayals of queer characters as victims or villains. Instead, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and intersex individuals took centre stage, often portrayed with authenticity and afforded the possibility of… wait for it… actual happy endings.
The collection at the Barbican is called Queer 70s – because why complicate things? – and celebrates the diversity of this cinematic renaissance with movies that skid from comedies and melodramas to experimental films, even extending to a Roman epic and a pornographic film (though the Roman epic, Derek Jarman’s Sebastiane [pictured], is fairly nudey itself). Viewers can discover treasures from Australia, Belgium, India, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States in a hands-across-the-oceans moment for old-school queer cinema.
Included in the line-up, alongside the aforementioned Sebastiane are Bye Bye Love, a ‘wild and violent genderqueer road trip’, The Set, where a ‘naive man is chewed up and spat out by Sydney’s high society’ (though the idea of there being high society in Sydney is in itself fairly entertaining!), Car Wash, the disco movie, which will be intro-seduced by the peerless, flawless Mzz Kimberley, and Badnam Basti, considered to be India’s first queer film.
There will also be lesbian films which are perfect for those people who like that sort of thing. Though we did love Bound.
- https://www.faroutmagazine.co.uk/1970s-influential-decade-lgbtq-cinema/ – This URL supports the claim that the 1970s were a seminal decade for LGBTQ+ cinema by highlighting the influence of underground filmmakers and the emergence of mainstream films featuring queer characters.
- https://creativebc.com/creative-equity-road/a-history-of-lgbtq-representation-in-film/ – This source discusses the rise of queer camp in the 1970s, including films like ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, which contributed to increased visibility for LGBTQ+ stories.
- https://movieweb.com/lgbtq-movies-70s/ – This link provides a list of influential LGBTQ+ movies from the 1970s, such as ‘Cabaret’ and ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’, highlighting their impact on exploring themes like bisexuality and gender identity.
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