Connected to 'Different from the Others'
-same basic plot
Kaitlyn Lehman's List: Cinema Final
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The first openly gay feature film was the 1919 German picture Different from the Others by Richard Oswald. It tells the story of Paul Körner, a successful violinist who falls in love with one of his male students. When Körner’s sexuality is made public, his career is ruined and he commits suicide. In a Weimar Republic where homosexuality was illegal, this sympathetic portrayal of the subject is strikingly before its time – America would not produce an equivalent picture for more than 50 years. Sadly, prints of the film were burnt by the Nazis and only one fragmented copy survives today. Different from the Others is a landmark picture in the history of gay cinema. Körner’s screen suicide reflects the fate of gay cinema for years to come.
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It was not until the 1960s that gay cinema again pushed the boundaries of censorship and challenged public opinion. Basil Dearden’s Victim (1961), starring Dirk Bogarde, contained the same basic plot as Different from the Others. Like its German predecessor, Victim commented on the persecution of the gay community and pleaded for social equality. Challenged by Dirk Bogarde’s heroic portrayal, the censors and public shunned the picture with the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) deeming it “thematically objectionable” and banning its release in the States.
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Websites pertaining to the topic of my final cinema paper. Topics either going to be Tarantino or queer film.
Updated on Nov 17, 10
Created on Nov 16, 10
Category: Schools & Education
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