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Gay representation in cinema was at its most immediate during new queer cinema, a term coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in 1992 to define a surging independent film movement centered on gay themes and gay filmmakers. The most politically charged contributions to new queer cinema were directly in step with the poststructuralist ideas surrounding queer theory, particularly in the way they posited sexual and gender divisions as socially relativist and subject to change with cultural shifts. You can see my five favorite films from the era after the jump.
- The Garden (dir. Derek Jarman, 1990) As Jonathan Rosenbaum aptly notes in his review, one’s ultimate appreciation for this visually resplendent film “depends on a fascination with sadomasochism that many viewers won’t share.” Indeed, this is the kind of hyperpersonal work that might alienate some viewers, but that’s precisely the point. Jarman links together images in a manner that resembles abstract freestyle poetry; most of it goes over your head, but its instinctual and messy construction is pure of heart.
