QUEER FILM SERIES
Episode 4:
50s Hayes Code Era Part I
(Queering Male Desire)

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Please be considerate of the audience and subject-mater, HUME is a safe-space and anyone who acts otherwise will be asked to leave.

Bring your friends!!
BYOB and BYOP (Bring your own pillow for comfort!!)
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Hey ya’ll,

A reminder that from here on out, hopefully, we’ll be able to focus on 4 movies each month centered within a specific time period/subject matter/theme/director/etc. Which also means more opportunties to catch the queer films considering everyone’s busy schedules!

This month we’ll continue our journey through Hollywood films made during the Hayes Code era, the first installment focusing on male/male gaze and an introduction to gay male authorship through experimental short films and the queering of traditionally male/masculine pastimes and roles. Our second installment will be focused on two Hitchcock directed films featuring male relationships with plenty of coded language and homoeroticism.

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For those of you who missed the first one, here’s my mission statement:

My goals for this series is to educate and spread awareness of films not normally sought out by the straight-cis world or even seen by LGBTQ folks who aren’t cinephiles themselves. Through-out the series, I hope for the audience to gain a greater understanding about the outside forces that suppressed our community for so long (and who continue to do so) and how despite everything, LGBTQ characters continued to appear and eventually break-free of the oppressive hollywood/moralist shackles.

Although for many decades, LGBTQ characters were not shown under a flattering lens and were often sad, suicidal or muderous people, I will do my best to showcase the rare instances of characters being able to take some positive ownership of their sexualities in addition to the darker more “problematic” films.

Also, due to how western society works as well as the distribution of wealth and technology, the majority of the films, at least through the 1970s will also mostly be cis, white and male, but rest assured that there will be more diverse films as the series comes along. I hope to have a few “specials” inbetween the chronological order we will be watching the films in to break things up; including documentaries on LGBT historical/popular figures and films that are Queer-Coded starring LGBTQ icons.

I’m doing my best to read-up as much LGBTQ film theory/history as I can and will be happy to moderate discussion after the films have been shown!

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“Un chant d’amour” (“A Song of Love”) (1950) Short directed by Jean Genet, two prisoners in complete isolation, separated by thick brick walls, and desperately in need of human contact, devise a most unusual kind of communication.

“Fireworks” (1947) Short directed by Kenneth Anger, a dream about the brutal rape and torture of Anger himself (as a teenager) by a group of sailors on the street (after trying to pick one of them up).

“Scorpio Rising” (1963) Short directed by Kenneth Anger, a gang of bikers make their engines roar and ride their way to pain/pleasure as sexual and sadistic symbols are intercut into the dazzling chaos and rhythmic experience of this cult underground film.

“Rebel Without a Cause” (1955) Directed by Nicholas Ray, a rebellious young man with a troubled past comes to a new town, finding friends and enemies.

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Tags: Chicago, HUME, Jean Genet, Kenneth Anger, Logan Square, Nicholas Ray, QUEER FILM Series: Episode 4: Part I