Hollywood Homophobia and Racism

Until the end of the twentieth century, the history of Hollywood cinema had been largely one of invisibility with respect to portrayals of homosexuals and African Americans. When homosexuals or African Americans were portrayed, they were linked to images that reinforced mainstream stereotypes and roles, prejudice, and racism. From outright censorship of homosexual images, like completely changing sexuality or sexual issues to ôheterosexualö ones in a number of films of Tennessee WilliamsÆ plays to the portrayal of African Americans as ômammiesö or ôuncle Toms,ö homosexuals and Blacks have remained largely obscured in the shadows of Hollywood cinema. White, mainstream, primarily male Hollywood maintained unequal power relations so that the final product on screens reinforced their view of the world, society, and of the ôother.ö

FoucaultÆs notion of power as ôa system of domination which controls everything and which leaves no room for freedomö applied to HollywoodÆs power to shape gender, sexuality, relationships and love toward white, mainstream heterosexual norms (Hooks 116). The resulting distortion of gender, identity, and sexuality foisted on minority subcultures (Blacks, homosexuals, etc.) is reinforced through the social institution of the media, specifically the cinema in this case, leading to homophobia, racism, and distorted images in the general public. The impact of such processes have resulted in a gene

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ce expressions of Black gay culture, like voguing and SNAP. As Munoz (6) argues, ôSocially encoded scripts of identity are often formatted by phobic energies around race, sexuality, gender, and various other identificatory distinctions.ö We see this in ôTongues Untiedö as Riggs attempts to rip the shroud of invisibility and silence off of the Black gay subculture in American society through images, documentary footage, performance theater and testimony focusing on Black culture, Black gay culture, gay culture, and White culture. Riggs (1990) argues the revolutionary act is ôBlack men loving black men,ö but in this video the filmmaker maintains that Black homosexuals are largely ignored within gay culture and face discrimination from Black heterosexuals. We see how Riggs (1990) provides a critique of the sea of vanilla he is immersed in living in American society. In California though, Riggs (1990) comes to learn that his chasing white boys makes no difference to mainstream society or gay culture as he remains invisible, ôCruising white boys, I played out adolescent dreams deferred. Patterns of black upon white upon black upon white mesmerized meàI was an invisible man; still, I had no shadow, no substance. No history, no p
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Some common words found in the essay are:
African Americans, Harlem Appearing, Furthermore Brandon, American Black, Black Black, Wilson Livingston, Untiedö Riggs, Tom John, California Riggs, Succumbing AIDS, black gay, ôtongues untiedö, gay culture, ôparis burningö, riggs 1990, african americans, ôthe watermelon, ôlooking langstonö, ôthe watermelon womanö, dunye 1996, watermelon womanö, black gay culture, ôboys donÆt cryö, homosexuals african americans, untiedö marlon riggs,
Approximate Word count = 3718
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)