LESBIANS AND FILMS
The extracts have been excerpted from the introduction to the special section on Lesbians and Film in JUMP CUT No. 24/25 (PO Box 865, Berkeley CA 94701 USA). The fecial section also includes a bibliography and a filmography on lesbian works. An excellent resource.
Lesbian are nearly invisible In mainstream cinematic history, except as evil or negative-example characters. We should pay attention to these negative images as feminist critics because they are not only about lesbianism but, in fact, are about the containment of women's sexuality and independence.
The world of women is banned from film. Female associations could include intellectual relations, work projects, emotional exchanges, etc. Presumably lesbians deserve visibility in these contexts, but mainstream cinema makes that Impossible by separating off the "lesbian" as a being not only defined by, but limited to, her sexuality. Films don't show lesbians working together because that provides no voyeuristic interest for the male viewer. Straight women working together provide just as little interest. Traditionally women are represented In cinema almost exclusively as sexual objects for the use of the male character within the film and/or the man in the audience.
Therefore, the depiction of women in primary association with each other (whether heterosexual or lesbian) would be likely to provoke the use of "lesbian" as a derogatory label, because women are acting as self-defined beings, not reacting to men.
Some feminist filmmakers have rejected the rigid sexual roles presented in commercial and documentary films and shown a great flexibility in depicting women's lives, desires, and fantasies. The weakened boundaries of sexual definition in these films mark an advance. Most feminist films, however, try to challenge male dominance without being self-conscious of their own suppression of lesbianism, or In some cases, homophobia. It would be foolish to expect heterosexual feminists to produce lesbian films, but if their films are meant to describe the reality of women's experience, then they must include lesbians as a part of that reality.
It Is to the lesbian filmmaker we must look for consistent lesbian visibility and the political and aesthetic questions such a visibility poses. At this point, the paucity of lesbian visibility In films has made the presentation of a "positive" lesbian subject a serious priority for lesbian filmmakers. It is impossible to underestimate the need for films to affirm all aspects of lesbian identity, given the virulent hostility against lesbians In our society. Films are required to reclaim history, offer self-definition, and create alternative visions.
Susan Griffin