Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 16, 2000)
* junftl6.2fl0û W o m e n in th e W o o d s '2000 J uly 20-23 • Join with 100+ lesbians for a magical women-only weekend at Breitenbush Hot Springs resort in Central Oregon, 2 hours drive from Portland • Cozy heated cabins and 3 delicious vegetarian meals daily • Hot springs pools (open meadow and tiled tubs) and lithium sauna • Hiking trails through Oregon's old growth forest • Swimming hole with crystal clear cold water • Massage available • Workshops/discussion groups on anything 2 or more people want to talk about • craftswomen space • amazing talent show • drumming circle • dancing 4 days/3 nights - $240 per person 3 days/2 nights - $160 per person Registration deadline is July 1, 2000. Fees must be paid in full at that time. Call 503-284-0722 for registration form. Our House: A Very Real Documentary About Kids of Gay and Lesbian Parents Through intimate profiles of children, this documentary presents a frank, insightful exploration of growing up in nontraditional families. mm Monday, June 26 Happily ever after Looking for hope on the silver screen never thought I’d be saying this, hut I watched a movie last night starring Meg i Ryan and Tom Hanks— and I liked it. It was late, I was flipping through the channels aimlessly, and there it was. It was You’ve Got Mail, a film I was sure would make me want to retch. But it was that or reruns of The Brady Bunch on Nick at Nite. You can only watch Marcias nose get broken by that football so many times, so I decided to take a chance on Meg and Tom. Much to my surprise, it was charming. O f course, it has the advantage of being based on the wonderful 1940 Jimmy Stewart film The Shop Around the Comer, which was made at a time when people still knew how to make charming films. Still, even in its updated version it manages to retain something that very few films these days have: It made me believe in romance again. I know, I always complain that romance is dead. Well, it is, especially in the movies that pass for romantic comedies these days. Gone are films like It Happened One Night and The Philadelphia Story, movies that had you really hoping the main charac ters would get together by BY the end of the picture. MICHAEL Now we just have anxiety- ridden star vehicles in THOMAS which we’re forced to watch FORD characters undergo 90 minutes of therapy while they try to figure out why they can’t commit to each another before deciding they’re better off single. Let’s face it, the last movie that really gave us a good romantic end ing featured Julia Roberts as a hooker doing Richard Gere a favor. Hardly the stuff of fairy tales. Perhaps I was particular ly susceptible to You've Got Mail because I’d just come from a screening at my local queer film festival of a movie that was anything but romantic. I won’t embarrass the creator by naming the film. I will just say that it was a painful, not very origi nal look at the demise of a dysfunctional gay relation ship. It wa one of those movies where you hate all the charac ters, don’t want any of them to end up happy, and feel the need to shower immediately upon returning home because everyone in the film smoked too much. As I watched Tom and Meg doing their courtship dance, I found myself wondering why all the queer relationship films I’ve ever seen are so depressing. I couldn’t think of even one out of the many I’ve watched over the years after which I felt a sense of hope, a feeling of happiness because the characters really seemed to enjoy being in love and getting lost in the joy of being together. Instead, the films all seem to be about how dismal it is trying to find someone to love. This surprises me. As a rule, gay audiences go wild for those old romantic comedies. At least, most of the guys I know do. We love to see other people’s lives turn out well. But not, apparently, our own lives. The films we make about our romances tend to be pretty bleak, filled with one-night stands that never call back, boyfriends who cheat, and lots and lots of drinking. I think Jeffrey is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but it comes off more as a farce than anything heartwarming. And Love, Valor, Compassion is sweet in its way, although it doesn’t exactly leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. The closest gay cinema has come to creating anything truly like an old-fashioned romantic comedy is last year’s Trick. But it was hard to really become caught up in the trials and tribulations of two guys trying to find a place where they can get off. Although the film tries to redeem itself with a sweet, nonsexual ending, it is a little too late. A stripper nicknamed “Beer C an ” is no match for Cary Grant or Clark Gable. My friend Jeff says there will never be a true queer romantic comedy, because only straight people still fall for the notion.of happily ever after. He thinks gay filmmakers opt for bitterness over senti mentality because it’s more realistic. “Watching two guys looking for a place to have sex is a lot more believable to most of us than watching them do a courtship dance,” he said to me once. “It’s probably because we know that, even if they do fall in love, one of them will leave the other for a guy at the gym six months later.” That does indeed seem to be the basic mes sage of most gay films about relationships. But is it because we really aren’t good at romance, or is it because it’s easier to jump straight to the bitterness and save ourselves the risk of getting hurt by trying something else? Maybe it’s time we gave it another try. After all, if Tom and Meg can do it, so can we. The films we make about our romances tend to be pretty bleak, filled with one-night stands that never call back, boyfriends who cheat, and lots and lots of drinking. H M ichael T homas F ord welcomes e-mail at Shopiltee@aol. com. Congratulations to Michael Thom as Ford, who ju st won his second Lambda Literary Award for his book That’s M r. Faggot to You.
