Heroic gay characters in popular film: Tragic determination, and the everyday

Abstract

This essay discusses gay identity and notions of character construction relating to the concept of tragic determination in media representations. Issues of adaptation and the significance of the Dionysian and Apollonian drives within tragedy (relating to Nietzsche's foundational work) are explored. A key concept is the examination of tensions between civic usefulness and emotive potential. Through an examination of Alan Turing's disavowal as a gay icon (as a war time hero) in the Hollywood film Enigma (dir. Michael Apted 2001) in the substitution of a heterosexual romance, and conversely his sympathetic representation within the stage and television drama Breaking the Code (dir. Hugh Whitemore 1986), this essay reveals the problem of the gay hero in popular film, and its sensibility in diverse adaptations. In exploring the contemporary ‘heroic’ representation of gay political icons, Harvey Milk and Pedro Zamora, this essay also reveals a problem-oriented cinematic world where the spectre of the sacrificial/tragic gay self offers replacement for the historic subordinated and othered gay character. In this way, new stimulations of mainstream media commodity offer the potential of subaltern transgression, yet at the same time reinforce the periphery of diverse sexual identity.

Notes

1. It is possible to consider the film A Beautiful Mind (dir. Ron Howard 2001) in relation to Enigma. This film also depicts a mathematical genius, and there are links to the concealment of homosexual/bisexual identity within the Hollywood drama (see Glitz 2002).

2. I am employing the term LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender), and interchanging this, in relation to gay identity, as the political causes of sexual diversity are increasingly coalesced within this term.

3. It is also possible to consider this analogy in relating the significance of the television drama documentary Execution of Justice (Showtime 1999) which was adapted from the play of the same name by Emily Mann (1983). In this instance the narrative of Harvey Milk is conveyed following the life story of Dan White in close juxtaposition. However, similar to The Times of Harvey Milk, Execution of Justice evokes the community-oriented through personal narrative, transforming the tragedy as response-oriented.

4. For details on The AIDS Quilt see The Names Project Foundation (2011)

5. Homosexual acts between women have not been recognized as illegal in the United Kingdom. However, from 1885 to 1967 all male homosexual acts in England and Wales were illegal (Weeks 1990).

6. The heterosexual character representing Alan Turing in Robert Harris' (1996) novel Enigma is called Thomas Jericho. Although Turing's homosexuality is denied, alternate male characters bear the signification of ‘potential’ sexual difference, evident in their commitment to code breaking and apparent denial of social/sexual life.