AllMovie

A term used to describe movies centering on the lives of gay and lesbian individuals. Though many of these films often focus conflict and narrative action on romantic dilemmas or how homosexuals cope with adversity from society, family and/or friends, to call it a genre is not necessarily accurate. Doing so ignores the numerous types of film that feature gays and lesbians as protagonists. Though Hollywood either stereotyped or neglected homosexual lifestyles until the ‘70s (some would argue this hasn't really changed), gay and lesbian independent filmmakers have since offered serious, varied representations (starting in 1970, with The Boys in the Band) of the gay perspective. Subgenres such as Romance (Go Fish, Mala Noche), Melodrama (Longtime Companion, Bent), Crime (The Living End), Teenage Drama (Totally F***ed Up, My Own Private Idaho), Screwball Comedy (The Wedding Banquet, The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love), Documentary (Paris is Burning, The Life and Times of Harvey Milk) and Film Noir (Bound) prove that, cinematically, gay and lesbian filmmaking is finally out of the closet, and far from homogeneous.