Best LGBT Movie Characters of 2012
Ben Whishaw and James D'Arcy as the gay lovers at the tangled heart of 'Cloud Atlas'
Have you finished movie-cramming to prepare yourself for the Oscar nominations (January 10th) and your own top ten lists. I've been screening as many titles as possible though I've somehow managed to find time to cry my eyes out through three separate screenings of Les Misérables. But we're already off topic. There are no gay characters of note in that epic musical though who knows what's going on with Marius's (Eddie Redmayne) super handsome band of brothers.
Hollywood is generally behind the curve when it comes to social movements but things are changing and that's even true on the big screen. When
gayness is central to a joke now in the movies it's usually not at the
expense of the gays which is a marked difference than in the past. The
unexpectedly hilarious high school comedy 21 Jump Street
(reviewed) is a perfect example. If I'm remembering it correctly the younger students leap all over the
undercover cops for their 'that's gay' linguistic insensitivity -- the
subtext being that casual homophobia is totally passé.
Not that more controversial gayness isn't still getting plenty of play. The cinema would be a much less vivid playground if you erased all Evil Queers from the celluloid. You'd ruin so many classics! Nobody wants a hopelessly bland entertainment landscape where all gays are noble beings or best friends. So the wildly acclaimed romantic drama Keep The Lights On (starring Thure Lindhardt and Zachary Booth) which is nominated for multiple Spirit Awards, the Southern gothic noir The Paperboy (which might end up with Razzie nominations) and Cloud Atlas have the self-destructive, sexually compulsive and maybe suicidal stereotypes covered for you this year.
TOP TEN LGBT MOVIE CHARACTERS OF 2012... AFTER THE JUMP



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