My name is Zachary Letson (he/him/his) and I am a junior transfer student at Chapman Universitystudying Television Writing and Production. I will be using this scholarly blog to talk about film through the lens of gender and sexuality.
The Celluloid Closet
A History of LGBTQ Representation in Hollywood Films
The Celluloid closet is a 1996 documentary about the history and representation of LGBTQ individuals in mainstream Hollywood Films as early as 1912 and through to 1995.
There is one scene in the film that sticks out vividly in my mind. While it is far from the biggest surprise or the worst injustice referenced in the film, a scene from Charlie Chaplin’s 1916 film Behind the Screen struck me in an unexpected way. There is a scene where Charlie Chaplin’s character; after finding out his fellow worker is not a man, but a woman in men’s clothing- kisses her while in view of another stagehand. The other stagehand thinks that Charlie is kissing another man, begins “prancing” around until he is kicked by Chaplin. Before watching this documentary, there were a few things that I was expecting to see (violence, villification, erasure). But here, in this scene, was a revelatory and surprising anecdote about the persistence of stereotypes. I was floored by the revelation that the stereotype of the ‘effeminate gay man’ could be so deeply entrenched in American culture that, even in a silent film, a character’s mimed behavior could be indicative of their sexuality. It goes further than this though: The character’s mimed behavior is not only indicative of their sexuality, the behavior being used as a punchline means that, as early as 1916, the stereotype of the ‘effeminate gay man’ was prevalent enough in society that the mere observation of effeminate behavior by a man would be enough for an audience to be able to draw a conclusion about a character’s sexuality.
A Shape in Broad Daylight
What does John Carpenter think people are afraid of?
Halloween (1978)
“All I do is go off instinct… I’m just a poor director trying to get by in this terrible world.” [1]
While it is doubtful that John Carpenter set out to make a film with explicit conservative themes or subversive feminist symbolism, there are compelling arguments to be made for both of these positions. On the other hand, it is abundantly clear that John Carpenter made a film with the intention of scaring the audience, and in that, we see a level of intentionality that is far more indicative of the movie’s true themes and intentions. Dictating the characterization and actions of Michael Myers, John Carpenter creates an icon that is the personification of fear. Fear of what?. Michael Myers represents a fear of strangers, specifically the fear of strange men.
It’s no mistake that in the final credits the actor who plays Michael Myers, Nichola Castle is credited as the shape. Michael Myers is the menacing shape of a man’s silhouette, with a rubber mask of a man’s face. The idea of the film using Michael’s shape to threaten both Laurie Strode and the audience is most explicit during the daytime scenes of the film, where he stands menacingly and ominously in the distance. But it is not just his sudden appearance that is scary– even more unsettling is how he disappears just as quickly. Halloween regularly plays with the implication that the only thing more unsettling than knowing predators like Michael Mayers exist is not knowing where they are.
Halloween (1978)
This is likely what drives the decision to include these daylight sequences in the first place. While many horror movies are set primarily during nocturnal hours, in John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978), there was a deliberate choice to feature Michael Myers stalking Laurie Strode in broad daylight. Danger isn’t confined to moonlit nights and scary stories, real danger exists everywhere– even suburbia, in the unknown intentions of strange men.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/oct/10/john-carpenter-interview-anthology-film-scores
Zach's Blog About Gender and Sexuality in Film 
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