#torch song trilogy 1988

[zanephillips]

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

[tedhead]

torch song trilogy (1988) dir. paul bogart

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[citizenscreen]

I hope you’re watching Anne Bancroft day on #TCM today for #SummerUnderTheStars lots of great stuff!

Dear to me: The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1974), To Be or Not To Be (1983), Torch Song Trilogy (1988).

standout performances: The Miracle Worker (1962), The Pumpkin Eater (1965), 84 Charing Cross Road (1987).

Iconic: The Graduate (1968)

[deramin2]

I don't know how to really express this except to come across as a "kids these days" scold, but so much of the criticism of queerness in Good Omens would simply not be a thing if kids these days watched more 20th century queer media. Or more complex indie queer media in general.

People seem to want a show that's like the straight stories they grew up with but gay. Or the gay fanfiction they grew up with. But that's not really the tradition it's coming from. First off the novel was released in 1990. Queer film classics of the time are Dead Poet's Society (1989) and Torch Song Trilogy (1988). The TV miniseries Tales of the City (1993) wasn't made until 3 years later and it was so far out there it never had a huge audience. Philadelphia (1993) is also 3 years out and was basically the first big studio queer film. The first fluffy queer Hallmark-style romcom wasn't until Big Eden in 2000, a full 10 years after publication.

Queer stories from the time it was written were about complex and often fraught relationships between people who the world was trying to force apart. There is an incredibly strong tradition in queer films of relationships with no guarantees they will work out both in the face of their personal baggage and the weight of the world. Take a film like Torch Song Trilogy that's about the two great loves of Arnold Beckoff's life over 9 years and how homophobia shapes them. Both externally (especially Allen) and internally like Ed struggling with his bisexuality and being terrified of being publicly out. Written and starred in by Harvey Fierstein, who identified as a gay man at the time and only came out as nonbinary last year.

The Boys In The Band (1968 play, filmed 1970 and 2020) was a monumental moment in Broadway history where finally there was a play about gay men in their own words where no one died and very strongly showed that homosexuality doesn't make people miserable but homophobia sure does. But that homophobia also throws their personal lives into constant turmoil and none of them are in happy relationships, although Hank and Larry are devoted to each other in their own fucked up way.

"Relationships are complicated and hard to make work and sometimes a struggle against the odds" is an aesthetic of classic queer film making. Partly it was influenced by the Hays Code (although independent films were not bound to it), partly influenced by the rampant queerphobia in society at the time that was inescapable. But it's also an aesthetic choice to resist the banal and unrealistic relationship depictions of straight media. There are actual stakes to the relationship. Queer people were actively resisting a world that said "Romance is seeing someone across the room and instantly falling in love with each other and little conflicts happen along the way but ultimately they're destined to be together and everything is happily ever after." Recall that "stalking as romance" was a completely inescapable trope in 1980s straight romance films, and every goddamn movie was being turned into a romance film.

So queer people in film and television when they can make what they please have a long tradition of saying instead "People don't always realize the feelings they've developed for a queer partner right away. They may have reasons for denying those feelings that are both a reflection of the cruelty in society and of their own insecurities. People struggle with where they belong and their relationships reflect that. Loving someone doesn't mean they don't also drive you crazy and you might fight with them constantly. But that doesn't negate the love or that feeling that even if things aren't okay, they're better with that person around. But maybe that person can't stay around. The world may be against you. And also maybe you don't just want that one person in your life. Soulmates is a very flawed model. Sometimes the strongest love is a struggle with yourself and the world and your person. You have to overcome yourself first. Happily ever after is a lie. You may be happy for a while, and hopefully for a long while, but everything ends. And you have to be ready to love again. Also your platonic bonds are just as important and life-altering as your romantic ones. Sometimes those platonic bonds include fucking if you want them to. Real life isn't a bunch of platitudes and world-altering moments, it's daily work to better yourself and the world around you. Especially when things just fucking suck. But also remember to have fun and fuck the haters. People who don't support you can eat rocks and you should yell at them more to shut the fuck up."

That is a fundamentally different outlook on what a "good relationship depiction" looks like. Personally, I thought I hated romance movies and then I started watching queer romance movies and discovered I love them and watch them all the time. Because it turns out what I hated was relationships being shown that had nothing at all to do with reality and privileged incredibly toxic ideals. Finally there was complexity, there were stakes, and there were people who had to truly want to be together enough to fight the world for it and not because they happened to be there. There were people actually talking out their problems and looking for resolutions. (And sometimes that resolutions was "I can't fucking deal with this bullshit anymore and I'm out.") For the first time it felt real.

I'm an aroace trans gay man. Nothing about relationships or being in relationships has come easy to me, and the whole paradigm of straight patriarchal romance depictions makes absolutely no sense to me. It's completely alien. Queer romance stories actually feel human.

And that's the tradition Good Omens is coming from, even as it's being retold in 2019-2023 and hopefully beyond. Gaiman's work has always been based in that queer media paradigm. (I've been remiss and daunted and haven't read Pratchett but from what I do know his work also seems to sit more in that world view.) It's a beautiful cinematic tradition and it's baffling to me that people would resist it instead of embracing it for being honest.

And that's when I turn into a crotchety old man complaining about the youth not connecting with the history of their beautiful culture and instead begging for assimilation into a shithole allocishet media landscape that doesn't actually want them except for their money and has nothing at all interesting or valuable to say. But it's very funny (annoying) to me when people claim Good Omens is someone against queer culture when it's so thoroughly bathed in the best of queer media's storytelling traditions and what people are asking for is straight media with the serial numbers filed off. Like, stop being boring please and know literally anything about the culture the adults in the room lived through and were influenced by. The world didn't begin in 2015.

EDIT: I also want to add that in straight media arcs are linear. Traditionally in queer media arcs are cyclical. Queer media very often depicts people going around in circles relearning the same lesson over and over as they inch towards it sinking in. But every time they go through the cycle they gain just a little bit more enlightenment and slowly move towards a better place. From the comments this is an immensely important distinction. People don't actually have cathartic moments where suddenly all their past bad programming is shed and they saunter forward a new person with none of their old baggage. In reality people fall into the same patterns over and over even though they have had every opportunity to learn better. "People magically get better" is a trope of straight media that's an outright and frankly dangerous lie. Again, Good Omens follows the queer tradition not the straight one and it's depicted 6,000 years of that cycle. The world didn't end, and the wheel keeps turning, as it always has and always will. That's so fundamental to queer storytelling traditions I forgot to even mention it.

[whosafraidofvirginiawoolf]

torch song trilogy (1988) dir. paul bogart

[fromisstar]

Queer Poster Wall in Wu Bi's Bedroom:

Torch Song Trilogy, 1988 film and play written by Harvey Fierstein Vive L'Amour, 1994 film directed by Tsai Ming-liang Blue, 1993 film directed by Derek Jarman Aladdin Sane, 1973 album by David Bowie

[mysmorgasbordoffantabulosa]

What's your fav lgbt movie?

I have many favs, but I'll give you 3 that think are classics:

Longtime Companion

My Beautiful Laundrette

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

I also love:

The Birdcage (1996)

Fire Island (2022)

Orlando (1992)

Call Me By Your Name (2017)

God's Own Country (2017)

Pride (2014)

Maurice (1987)

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

Boys (2014)

Just Friends (2018)

North Sea Texas (2011)

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023)

Kill Your Darlings (2013)

Young Soul Rebels (1991)

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

Steam: The Turkish Bath (1997)

The Flower of My Secret (1995)

Law of Desire (1987)

[johnwatersvhs]

FAVORITE FIRST WATCHES OF AUGUST, 2024.

torch song trilogy [1988], carnival of souls [1962] and i'm not there [2007]

[studebakerhearse]

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

[nubiannewyorkers]

#MovieTime - "Torch Song Trilogy" is a heartwarming and hilarious 1988 film about a drag queen named Arnold Beckoff (played by the fabulous Harvey Fierstein). Arnold is on a journey to find love and acceptance in a world that doesn't always understand him. Through a series of ups and downs, Arnold navigates his relationships with his mom, his ex-boyfriend, and a new love interest. Along the way, there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and touching scenes that will make you root for Arnold every step of the way.

[tedhead]

+ torch song trilogy (1988) but the loose poster was pissing me off

@troublewithangels tagged me to post my fave five of august. there was a lot of life changing cinema for me last month especially do the right thing (my first spike lee joint!) and opening night (which i watched for the first time in tribute to gena <3). a filmed play for television is still a movie, right? well, a moon for the misbegotten gave me colleen dewhurst so i’m putting it on the list. as for breathing lessons, i got a text message in the middle of the night from an irl friend asking why i logged it and the only response i could think of was “i’d watch anything for joanne woodward” but that movie slaps also i wanna make mad love to 64 year old joanne. finally, torch song trilogy was incredible and i’ll be revisiting it over and over again.

tagging @beefonethousand, @nickyandmikey, @hoppersdrugmart, @rostovs, and @reztruck

[queerinfilm]

Matthew Broderick’s Queer Role:

🎥 Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

Alan is a gay man and has a partner named Arnold. They planned to adopt together, but soon tragedy strikes.

[evildilf2]

I was tagged by @16mmshrine to post my favorite first watches from 2022!

The films are: Showgirls (1995), The Act of Killing (2012), Frankenhooker (1990), Crash (1996), Torch Song Trilogy (1988), Swiss Army Man (2016), Possession (1981), Ravenous (1999), Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

I tag @westerberg @criminalanarchy @rednines @odekirk @itsmecartoonistgirl @countrylife1974

[deramin2]

Just thought of the parallels between Good Omens Season 2 and queer cinema classics Torch Song Trilogy (1988). Trying to be vague. But it's the inherent lack of certainty to queer love stories where straight romance prizes inevitable destiny and eternity. I could also point to Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), Love! Valour! Compassion! (1997), Spoiler Alert (2022), Bros (2022), Naz & Maalik (2015), Moonlight (2016), The Boys In The Band (1970, 2020), Cloudburst (2011), and many other queer films.

Especially where coming out of the closet and possible or real rejection are concerned. But also the reality of relationships between very different people who want different things but are also stubbornly in love with each other despite everything that should be between them. And the reality that is constant work with constant choices that overwhelms people at times.

Naz & Maalik might be the best parallel for the conflict at the end of Good Omens Season 2 because religion and disownment is a direct part of it.

I hope to get into what I mean more directly after Sunday, but if you know you know and I don't want to lose this. Good Omens is so clearly entrenched in the history and styles of queer media. Straight media would not and could not tell this story.