Masculinity In Some Like It Hot

Ever since filmmakers started to explore the idea of focusing the story idea around ‘queer’ figures, people in society have been having mixed feelings about them. ‘Queer’ figures are basically people who are not within the male-female dichotomy. It is a term used to refer to homosexuals, transgenders and others who are unclear about their sexual preference. The queer film phenomenon was introduced in fall 1991 at Toronto’s Festival of Festivals, the best spot in North America for tracking new cinematic trends. (Rich 2013, Page 16) This got the ball rolling for more filmmakers to make films of different genres and subjectivity on this group of people. In this academic essay, the following thesis statement will be discussed – “The violence and

The representation of the LGBT community in the film industry has long been a topic of much debate. In her article, “It Ain’t Easy Being Bisexual on TV,” Amy Zimmerman addresses this topic with specific interest on bisexual representation. By appealing to the logic of her audience, using an informal tone, and referring to relatable content, Zimmerman constructs an argument which persuades readers of The Daily Beast that the film industry is unfairly and inaccurately representing bisexuals. However, her argument holds little influence over those who are not movie fans or The Daily Beast readers.

Drag queens have spent years performing for themselves and for many other people. Their shows today are a way to express themselves and make people question what they know about gender and sexuality. Rupp and Taylor in their book, “Drag Queens at the 801 Cabaret” discuss this subject in detail, calling their performances a form of protest. They question the roles that society has put them into, and in turn provoke their audiences to question these things, such as gender and sexuality. This type of social protest is called “subversion.” Through this book, we can more specifically look at two types of subversion that played a major role in the 801 drag queen’s performances. The first, and most obvious, is the idea of masculinity versus femininity, and how the Queens use different techniques to break free from the traditional way of thinking about these concepts. The second is the overt way that the Queens portray sex and sexuality, in ways that are impossible for the audience to ignore. Both these types of subversion have an overarching theme of crossing boundaries, whether over the division of the gender binary, or the limits of what is socially acceptable to talk about regarding sex. Drag queens envelop the audience and take many of them out of their comfort zone.

The theme that we have been focusing on in class for the past two weeks is sexual orientation. Sexual orientation is more complex than just the gender a person is attracted to. Instead sexual orientation is on more of a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum a person can be solely heterosexual and on the opposite side a person can be completely homosexual. This also means that a person can be bisexual if they identify more in the middle of the spectrum. The spectrum allows for all individuals of all different sexualities to have a place on the spectrum. In the films Chasing Amy and XXY we see two individuals who are more fluid with their sexuality and do not identify with being solely homosexual or solely heterosexual.

Renowned feminist film theorist, Laura Mulvey, explores how classic Hollywood cinema is shown through a masculine perspective that fetishisizes women as objects of desire. This perspective is also known as the “male gaze”, which creates a voyeuristic and scopophilic layer to the viewing of film. According to Mulvey, “in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” One of the staples of classic Hollywood cinema is women consistently being put or made into a visually erotic role for both the male characters on screen, and the audience. This staple is of course found in the

Before celebrating the strides of queer representation in all ages media, it is important to look back at queer representation in the past. The late film scholar Vito Russo painstakingly researched the evolution of queer representation in cinema in his landmark book The Celluloid Closet. In both the book and the documentary based of the book, Russo details the

This shows how the film industries use sexuality to gain audience, since it is fairly common in our society nowadays. For this paper, I will be focusing on how gender,

The shirt still didn’t fit quite right and I didn’t like how the leggings were skin tight. I never thought about how uncomfortable girls clothing could be.

As we relate it back to the 1950s, we can see how masculinity was depicted especially in TV shows. These issues started to evolve within the Hollywood film industry where it is represented in a bigger platform. It’s expanded in a way where audience members can see what the directors are bringing to the table. Despite acknowledging the issues of gender roles, this reflects the changes in American society especially in the

The movie subverts traditional gender roles through cross dressing and discuss the concept of marriage about homosexuality and marital monogamy. Two man cross dressed as women in film is the most challenged part of gender roles. Traditional gender roles included appearance, body language and character of family. The classic image of American women are beautiful and sexy, such as Sugar in film.

Within the last decade society has become more open to ideology and lifestyles that years ago were tabo. This is largely due to the fact that the millennial generation may be one of the most laid back and accepting generations of all time. One major lifestyle that was rarely expected was homosexuality within the last decade this issue is no longer in the closet. Most people feel comfortable being open about their lifestyle choice and even show it off. Shortly after the acceptance of gays by society a new issue presented itself and this is transgender people. The community as whole fights for their rights together and it is referred to as LGBTQ. LGBTQ means lesbians, gays, transgender, bisexual, and queer. The LGBTQ community has made great progress in the last decade they have become more open about their community and have gained rights that they should have always had. Even though the community has made progress they still have a long way way to go especially within the workplace.

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

Like most popular gender-bending films, Some Like It Hot calls us to critique constructions of sexuality and gender both within the context of historicized moment of the films production and from the perspective of later

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals, also known as LGBT population have experienced a great deal of oppression worldwide. These particular individuals undergo discrimination from society, whether for reasons of ignorance, fear or intolerance, this population faces challenges in multiple areas of social justice sexual. Although the LGBT culture has made some strides in the areas of state and federal legislation, there is still a wide range of criminalization that takes place within our culture. Understanding the LGBT community and the history of their oppression may be the first step in becoming culturally competent. For many years this culture was denied their basic constitutional rights that were afforded to their equal heterosexual peers. Basic rights such as, adoption and marriage were uncommon to this culture until the 20th century.

In today’s day in age, different sexualities and gender identities are quickly becoming more accepted in mainstream society. Despite this change, there are many people who believe that having a different sexual orientation or gender identity is a choice that is frowned upon. In order to refute this belief, research and biology of the brain is necessary. Researching the brain on the basis of sexuality is a fairly new topic of discussion because it is somewhat difficult and confusing. This paper will explore the different identities of gender, sex and sexual orientation and the main biological reasons behind these. There is also some validity of different sexual orientations and identities through the evidence of sexual disorders like