Warchus said, then began chuckling at his unintended reference. “When I first heard of the script, I was slightly wary, to be honest, because it seemed as though it might be a bit of a fairy tale,” Mr. The result is a film that takes a light touch to its deeply political and heart-tugging content, instead offering a closely observed character study that comes by its tears honestly. Warchus - best known as a theater director for the hits “ Matilda the Musical” and “God of Carnage” - also sought to avoid easy laughs from the strange-bedfellows plot, for instance, by asking the actors to drop their endearingly nervous grins in the scene where the gay activists arrive at the miners’ hall. The script had some preachy lines that are not in the final cut, and Mr. Yet he and the film’s screenwriter, Stephen Beresford, were ruthless in stripping away mush. In salvaging this nearly forgotten footnote of history, the filmmakers could have easily allowed “Pride” to slide into sentimentality and liberal righteousness: “a story of goodies and baddies that just manipulated the audience,” as the film’s director, Matthew Warchus, put it. Events and Offers Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates.While the yearlong strike by the National Union of Mineworkers is still widely remembered in Britain, as both a high point of Thatcherism and the beginning of the end of the country’s trade union movement, neither the creators of “Pride” nor its leading actors were aware of the helping hand from the gay coalition back then, they said in recent interviews. Ideas and Letters A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section and the NS archive, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. Weekly Highlights A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. The Culture Edit Our weekly culture newsletter – from books and art to pop culture and memes – sent every Friday. This Week in Business A handy, three-minute glance at the week ahead in companies, markets, regulation and investment, landing in your inbox every Monday morning. Green Times The New Statesman’s weekly environment email on the politics, business and culture of the climate and nature crises - in your inbox every Thursday. The New Statesman Daily The best of the New Statesman, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. World Review The New Statesman’s global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. Morning Call Quick and essential guide to domestic and global politics from the New Statesman's politics team. Sign up for The New Statesman’s newsletters Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive.
The homosexuality of the characters in A Single Man is presented matter-of-factly, which is how it should be.
It is almost entirely irrelevant to the characters and how they lead their lives. One of the best gay movies ever made, A Single Man, by fashion designer turned filmmaker Tom Ford (himself a gay man) plays homosexuality as inconsequential. Hollywood sees gays as the kind of camp caricatures you’d find in Modern Family and Adam Sandler movies – not “normal”. The problem isn’t just about the lack of gay characters and gay movies, it’s about the portrayal.
So what if Sean Penn got an Oscar for playing Harvey Milk or that Dallas Buyers Club (the straightest gay movie ever made) was a big winner at this year’s Academy Awards? These are the exceptions to the rule. Hollywood does not care about gay people. The only place where you will find gay films is an independent theatre or as it’s 2014, on Netflix or another video-on-demand service. It will come as no surprise that a survey conducted by GLAAD found that of the 102 movies released by studios in 2013 that only 17 of them featured characters who identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. And that is essentially the problem with the movie – it was embraced and became a hit because it starred two of the biggest sex symbols in America, not two gay men. The most famous gay movie released by mainstream Hollywood was of course Brokeback Mountain, which starred the very beautiful and very straight pairing of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger (despite the fact the book on which the film is based specifically downplays the handsomeness of the two men). Everyone from Seth MacFarlane to Tilda Swinton is a fervent campaigner for gay rights, yet it has done nothing to represent gay lives on screen in a realistic and accurate manner. Liberal Hollywood has long positioned itself as a friend of the gay community.