Other changes which may be considered as reflecting a changing or variable Zeitgeist, are the emergence of a variety of genres, an increase in the number of female and lesbian filmmakers (albeit mostly in the arena of independently produced lesbian-themed films), a gradual shift from tragic endings to more optimistic, yet sometimes implied, endings of reconciliation and overcoming a difficulty, as well as a shift in the intertextuality and interdiscursivity of films, namely by changing from being associated with reprimanding and restricting biblical and Greek tragedy discourses, through the comic genre, to self-discovery and love stories, then to genres emphasizing friendship and female display of strength, to a discourse of examination of
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bad, lesbian vs. non-lesbian, femme vs. butch, inclusion vs. exclusion, black vs. white, S&M roles, etc. It seems that, as Ruby Rich (Bad Object-Choices, 1991: 275) observed, the purpose of such dichotomy, or rather such flattening of lesbian characters, is to create "a form of differentiation between two people of the same gender," albeit on the expense of genuine and thought provoking character complexity.
Finally, the in-depth analysis of two chronological end-point films, The Children's Hour (1961) and The Kids Are All Right (2010), presented in Chapters Four and Five, points to a great similarity between the two films, despite the 50 years chronological gap between these …show more content…
Each film, however, uses specific verbal and non-verbal mechanisms, namely specific word systems and strategies of communication, to underline its extra-linguistic message. Nonetheless, in both films these mechanisms also reflect the stereotypical and negative view of lesbianism (and homosexuality): revolving around polar concepts of truth and lie, expression and suppression, creation and destruction, harmony and disharmony, and good and bad, as well as around strategies of communication emphasizing the use oppositions and the avoidance of referring directly to the forbidden words 'lesbian' or 'lesbianism' (The Children's Hour (1961)), or around concepts related to exercising or losing control, and to sexuality and explicit sexual acts, as well as around strategies of communication emphasizing the use profanity and phallic references thus glorifying manhood and heterosexuality (The Kids Are All Right
bad, lesbian vs. non-lesbian, femme vs. butch, inclusion vs. exclusion, black vs. white, S&M roles, etc. It seems that, as Ruby Rich (Bad Object-Choices, 1991: 275) observed, the purpose of such dichotomy, or rather such flattening of lesbian characters, is to create "a form of differentiation between two people of the same gender," albeit on the expense of genuine and thought provoking character complexity.
Finally, the in-depth analysis of two chronological end-point films, The Children's Hour (1961) and The Kids Are All Right (2010), presented in Chapters Four and Five, points to a great similarity between the two films, despite the 50 years chronological gap between these …show more content…
Each film, however, uses specific verbal and non-verbal mechanisms, namely specific word systems and strategies of communication, to underline its extra-linguistic message. Nonetheless, in both films these mechanisms also reflect the stereotypical and negative view of lesbianism (and homosexuality): revolving around polar concepts of truth and lie, expression and suppression, creation and destruction, harmony and disharmony, and good and bad, as well as around strategies of communication emphasizing the use oppositions and the avoidance of referring directly to the forbidden words 'lesbian' or 'lesbianism' (The Children's Hour (1961)), or around concepts related to exercising or losing control, and to sexuality and explicit sexual acts, as well as around strategies of communication emphasizing the use profanity and phallic references thus glorifying manhood and heterosexuality (The Kids Are All Right