Once apon a time.. jks ok no it was sometime in January of this year, that i happened to find an article in our local newspaper about a recent poll on the top 10 gay interest films of all time (as voted by someone, probs two random queens who they found working for the paper). The majority of emphasis placed in the article however was on the 1994 film - The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert by Stephen Elliot, a film which i’m sure we all know and love to bits, and how excited everyone was that it came in as #10!! ...Wait, whaaa?? It only just makes the top 10??! At the time this news was somewhat devastating. I was like, how many gay films could there possibly be? Priscilla is amazing! How could you get better?! This is bull shit!! And i spouted to nobody about how it should have been at least top 3, and thought seriously about writing a letter to the editor.. until i actually counted the number of queer related movies that i had in fact seen, realising that it came to a grand total of three, and then of course accepting that i really had no valuable opinion or objection to offer on the matter of gay film polling.
Ah well, i thought, it can just be the #1 gay film in my own private list of three.
I was happy with this compromise, and almost ready to get back to my very important, care-free whims of nothingness, until DEVISTATION - the only other two gay films that i’d seen WEREN’T EVEN ON THE LIST!!?! Is this some kind of sick joke?? A Single Man and Milk are like two of my all time favourite movies! Let alone great gay films!! Who the hell wrote this piece of shit list anyway? Ugh. And it wasn’t just that, it was the fact that i hadn’t even heard of any of the other films in the top 10! (Ok so that’s actually not true, but everyone knows Brokeback Mountain, even if ur not gay).
Now up till then i’d considered myself relatively well adjusted and cultured, i watch movies and read books and go places and do shit; how is it that apparently i know nothing about the only culture that i’m actually a part of?? So, being January, NEW YEARS RESOLUTION: 2012 - watch all the top 10 gay related films, and become a more educated, better, gayer man! Woohoo! Thus - to the internet for research! Because, queens at the Courier Mail, I love you and everything, but i’m watching a list that has Priscilla rating at least top 5.
About 20 seconds of IMDBing later.. omg i am in fact just a teeny tiny and insignificant part of this world, i know absolutely nothing about anything, and there are over a BILLION movies about the plights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, intersex, and queer people. Gayness overload!! - Ctrl Alt Delete.
Ok so maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but there were definitely waaaaaaay more films made about the community than i’d expected. Ok deep breath, pause for thought, write a list. Title: Must See LGBT films. Limit: top 10. Ok no no way too easy. Top 20... Oh but i really want to see that one, and that one, and that one looks kinda hot, and.. Ok Top 50! Hmm, movies recommended for you - don’t mind if i do! So basically now my must see LGBT films list is now a top 97, good lord.
As of today, the 24th of March 2012, i’ve watched exactly 18 of the films on my list, and it’s come to my attention that i really should be doing something to remember all these movies, because so much goodness has some from these past 18 experiences! Just small things, happy memories and such, things that i’d like to share with somebody or at least just remember for later. I’d tell a couple of my friends and such, but they were mostly like ‘yeah that’s nice, i really don’t care though’ and i’m like ‘YOU MUST WATCH THIS!!’ and they’re like ‘oh yeah yeah i totally will... uni work..” Ugh. So i was just going to come up with a rating system, like stars or something to give each of them after viewing - but that’s not really enough, and so mainstream! Everyone does that. Scrap book? Too much effort - besides i’m already doing that with my friend JoJo on our coffee adventures around Brisbane. Youtube channel?! Seriously considered, but really i’m nowhere near as cool as Meekakitty, JennaMarbles or Davey Wavey. Julie and Julia style talky blog??! Not difficult, faster than actually writing, pretty cool, YES!
And so here we are - Friends of Dorothy - a safe place where i will be posting up all the movies i watch on my adventure, and the random gay related things that happen in my life during, or because of seeing these films. As well as this, because you really can’t write a list of the Must See LGBT films without also creating a list of the Must See Movie Musicals, (the two kinda go hand in hand don’t they), and there’s 51 of those so i’ll be posting up some of my experiences with them as they come so get ready for that!! SO KEEN!!!!!!
I’ve realised that with a list this big it's going to turn into a bit of a lifetime adventure - possibly shaping who i am more so than a lot of other life experiences and people whom i will encounter, so it’s a little bit scary to think about but also a little bit exciting, and i am very much happy for anyone to come along on this with me - after all we’re all in this together for the long haul , nobody understands the weird minority kids better than the weird minority kids do!
and with that..
- - - A NOTE ON THE TITLE - - -
If you are reading this you either probably already understand the reference, or you are one of my friends who i’ve somehow managed to convince to read these ramblings, either way though here it is - in Polari / general gay sub-culture, ‘friend of Dorothy’, or FOD, is a term for us queers. The phrase dates back to at least World War II, when homosexual acts were illegal in America. Stating that, or asking if, someone was a ‘friend of Dorothy’ was a euphemism used for discussing sexual orientation without others knowing its meaning. Although the precise origin of the term is unknown, the most common theory is that "friend of Dorothy" refers to the film The Wizard of Oz because Judy Garland, who plays Dorothy, is one of our much loved gay icons. As we all know from seeing the movie - Dorothy accepts and befriends those who are strange and different. For example the ‘gentle lion’ living a lie, "I'm afraid there's no denyin', I'm just a dandy lion." Cute!!
I found this picture a few days ago, and it's actually a painting from a Russian carnival of some of their members of the House of Freaks - and i though strangely enough it bears an uncanny resemblance to Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tinman and the Cowardly Lion! Weird huh! Though i guess we are all travelling freak shows in a way - totally adapting that one as my personal mantra!
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