Monday 1 January 2007

Year in Queer Entertainment



AfterElton and AfterEllen.com do a fabulous job of rounding up the year in queer entertainment for all of you movie and TV fiends. The following links are recommended if you want a recap of the good, the bad and the ugly in 2006.

In the 'Year in Queer 2006: Movies,'
writer Brian Juergens tackles the silver screen and breaks things into bite-size pieces including mainstream and indies, as well as films made specifically for gay audiences.  "Overall, 2006 brought us a group of fairly fresh gay characters in an incredibly diverse sampling of films — and there's nothing wrong with that. Perhaps 'Brokeback' sent the message that American audiences are ready to see their gay characters as something other than a hairdresser or florist or the catty bitch next door — that if a cowboy can be gay, so can just about everyone else," says Juergens.

Focusing on lesbians and film, Karman Kregloe writes: "A bisexual murder victim, a sociopathic lesbian mom and an obsessive, closeted school teacher — not exactly the plethora of iconic queer roles any of us might have been hoping for. The representation of lesbian and bisexual women in mainstream film this year was dodgy at best." Get her recap of lesbian movies here.


AfterElton editor extraordinaire Michael Jensen looks to the small screen in 'The Year in Queer TV: Eleven Highs and Lows From 2006,'
dissecting gays and race, gay youth, the "F" word (faggot) and a new genre called "bromance" (two straight men in love). About lesbian TV, Malinda Lo gives reality TV good marks for lesbian visibility, scores scripted broadcast and cable TV shows poorly, and looks ahead at 2007.

Finally, both sites hand out their own Visibility Awards in a wide variety of entertainment categories. AfterEllen's glamorously intelligent editor Sarah Warn reveals the "best moments" in lesbian TV and movies, and names two women as "best high-profile lesbian(s)." Click here to find out who they are.

On the men's side, the AfterElton man of the year is named, along with a slew of best and worst moments in entertainment, including "The Sissy Boys Rule Award" (my personal favorite).

Here's an easy-click listing of the embedded links from above. Check these out, they are worth the trip.

AfterEllen:
The Year in Queer 2006: Movies

Year in Queer 2006: Television
2006 Visibility Awards

AfterElton:
The Year in Queer 2006: Movies

Year in Queer 2006: Television
2006 Visibility Awards

Do you have some favorite queer characters or movie or TV moments you want to share? Let's hear 'em.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that SHORTBUS was absolutely phenomenal. A movie about intimacy in relationships and how barriers and blockages affect people, was just masterful. The plot line with James as an ex-rent-boy who drew the line at receptive sex and dragged that baggage into his relationship with Jaime as a barrier to receiving emotional intimacy, was profoundly moving.


Anonymous said...

to Chandler77: I completely agree with you about 'Shortbus.' The movie was so fresh and original from its casting to its storytelling and, most of all, the revolutioinary way it treated sex. The movie is stunning in every way.

Anonymous said...

I seem to remember a charming scene in "Kinky Boots" when the drag performer Lola, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor the icy villain from "Serenity,"checks into her room in a small town boarding house all tarted up and locals makng fun of how she looks.  The innkeeper shows Lola to her room and very politely asks in her inimitable British way, "Will you be using the men's or the lady's?" as if none of it makes a difference to her.  

Anonymous said...

I saw KINKY BOOTS in 2005 and it was my favorite film of that year. I ran out and bought the sound track (which has no picture of Lola BTW). The songs "I want to be dirty" and "Not in these shoes" are priceless.

Anonymous said...

AfterElton definitely got it right when they said Steve Carell had the best gay role and performance of the year in Little Miss Sunshine.

Anonymous said...

WHAT IS ABAUT ALL THIS GAY TALK ?
GOD CREATED US THE SAME .GAY POEPLE ARE POEPLE TO!!!!!!!!!WY JUdGe them /
it has been a 100 % proven that it is ,the way they are born
so many of us are so fast to say o this quer or lesbian .
think abuat it they are the best dress desighners dancers and kind not like bullie i know .
Please leave them alone they are one of us like it or not .
WE CAME ALL FROM THE SAME CREATER THAT IS   GOD ,AND HE CREATED US EQUEL . ALL THIS NAME CALLING AND HATE ,IS UNAMERICAN.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't go so far as to say we were all created equal... As blog comments tend to prove, some of us cannot spell for shit.