So inspired by our discussion today, I visited Netflix. Interestingly enough under the “gay and lesbian” section they only have 25 films, 20 of which include naked bodies or sexually suggestive cover art. Also, the only evidence of ethnic minorities exist in group shots, no leading roles here.
Even more telling is that films like “Brokeback Mountain and “Boys Don’t Cry” aren’t even featured in this section even though Netflix carries these films! Thoughts?
From that description alone, the category seems like it’s more concerned with the stereotype of the hypersexualized white gay/lesbian figures. It almost seems to imply that the more dramatic portrayals of queer individuals transcend this categorization and they’re more in line with “straight” films. Meanwhile, the “gay and lesbian” films you described sound like they’re advertising themselves on their erotic value, almost as if they’re pandering to audiences on a sexual level rather than trying to sell themselves on their dramatic worth.
(Also, maybe it’s just because I’m looking online and don’t have an account, but Boys Don’t Cry and other films I thought would be under the genre categorization were there. Here’s the web page for Boys Don’t Cry with its genres listed for reference: http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Boys-Don-t-Cry/27422770?trkid=180484)
I was surprised that this category did not come up on my homepage for Netflix. Instead, I had to search for it. I get the same vibe regarding the sexually suggestive cover art. What I did find interesting, however, was the Social and Cultural Documentaries category that did come up on my homepage, which does feature Boys Don’t Cry. I plan on finding some similarities within the Gay and Lesbian films in order to begin to analyze how a film makes the cut for this category. I agree with Matt that it seems as though they’re advertising themselves based off of erotic value.