Abstract

This paper examines the changing representation of gay characters in Hollywood Films from the 1990s to the present. It questions what has changed since Vito Russo wrote The Celluloid Closet: a time when many activists and writers were optimistic about the growing proliferation of gay representation in film and television. The Celluloid Closet was written in 1981 when new questions about the visibility of homosexuals were examined. The new questions considered issues such as stereotyping, gender inequalities and the quality of media representation. This paper questions whether the optimism about gay representation in the 1980s and 1990s was justified and if progress has been made in gay representation.