Queering Sundance: What’s Gay At This Year’s Sundance Film Festival?
Mosquita Y Mari
Aurora Guerrero’s coming of age story focuses on the complexities of a budding friendship between high-school girls in L.A.’s Huntington Park. Yolanda is the perfect daughter and student, while Mari, who’s just moved to town with her illegal-immigrant family, naturally feels like an outsider. After a rocky start on the first day of school, the girls form a deep connection—one that confuses them at times.
@Interesting: Or the Sundance programmers think representations of gay themes are intrinsically tied up with the decline of (American) society?
That’s an interesting thing: maybe the direction of gay rights/representation runs counter to most people’s perception of the direction of society as a whole? We’re making progress bit by bit, while society is declining bit by bit – and that’s why some people see a correlation between the two? I was joking about Sundance buying into this and clearly only idiots/bigots would see such a correlation – but it is an interesting difference. Maybe straight society is burning out and we’re the optimists/catalysts of the bright future/ :D
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@Lefty: No, I think its a representation of the limited amount (a) movies made about gays (b) the fact that the people making them have a limited range of subject matter they want to cover (that’s why I was stunned to see low income gays in a movie like Brokeback Mountain- I mean in gayville low income gays don’t exist), (c) The straights aren’t going to cover if we don’t and (d) gay rights is in vogue so “edgy” and “hip” remains including something gay even if its out of step.
The reality of course is that we are just as burnt out as the rest of society. Ever try having a discussion about non-gay issues with a bunch of gays? Ask them about economic issues? If anything, they are worst than the heterosexual majority.
Its just a disappointment that no one has made grade movies about a wide range of gay experiences. Its like when i see movies about African-Americans, and they are all in an urban setting. Its like black people don’t live anywhere else.
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The gay content seems disconnected from our times versus what is being described as looking at America in decline for the rest of the movies in screening.