There are a number of queer filmmakers working outside the Hollywood studios who have re-imagined classical Hollywood presentations of homosexuals, which were either rendered invisible or pathological by a majority of previous Hollywood films. Films from Directors like Todd Haynes and Gus Van Sant demonstrate a broader range of characterizations, issues, and expressions of homosexuals than former generations of filmmakers. While the intent of such re-imaginings is to liberate homosexuals from the limiting and stereotypical images of the past, this new breed of director also raises new images and issues that are characteristic of contemporary homosexuals and society. We see this in HaynesÆ ôFar From Heaven,ö which basically traps us within the stiflingly oppressive and destructive norms and values of 1950s American society, and it is evident in Van SantÆs ôMy Own Private Idaho,ö which explores the damaged psyche and drifting need for love within the homosexual community through Mike Waters. This analysis will discuss the liberating imagery in the works of queer filmmakers, but also demonstrate how new issues and images are offered not only to liberate from the past but to challenge the future.
In ôFar From Heaven,ö Todd Haynes provides an objective portrait of the values, norms, and attitudes of 1950s society that reinvents the eraÆs homophobia, racism, and stereotypes in a way that permits reflection. In this reflection, we are able to judge the invalid nature of those values and norms without abandoning them as an important measure of progress, growth and liberation. We see in the film that in 1950s society, homosexuality was not only views as a ôillness,ö but that it remained silent and invisible (Haynes 2002). We see this when Frank is arrested and called a ôloitererö and how, even when Frank falls in love with a young man their love must play itself out in motel rooms and clandestine meetings (Haynes 2002)....