Queer Space in Literature and Cinema: Impact on LGBT Self-Presentation and Society Thesis

Introduction

As is well known, each type of reality is composed of entities with specific attributes and in specific relationships with one another. The geographical and temporal characteristics of reality are essential for describing it. Space is widely viewed as a state of being distinguished by extensibility, homogeneity, and multidimensionality. It defines the structure and scope of material systems, the sequence of existence of phenomena, and the manner in which they are arranged. Extent, unity of discontinuities, and continuity are all universal qualities of space.

Extendedness, like the system’s interior space, has three dimensions and is reversible. The system’s exterior spatial being governs the existence relations of phenomena and is expressed by notions such as above, below, closer, further, near, around, above, and beneath. Space is created by unfolding and expanding outward towards a core. Since the issues faced by sexual minorities are vividly depicted in works, Rechy’s novel City of Night and the film My Own Private Idaho are excellent examples.

Since film is a visual medium, space is the most natural method of expression. Many authors, on the other hand, have claimed that cinema converts the idea of time into that of space. Cinema is the first industry to have achieved such total mastery of space. This occurrence, following a period dominated by montage, was characterized by an inevitable weakening of the picture’s sense of space. Viewers have already witnessed how the introduction of directorial innovation, along with significant technological obstacles, has resulted in a fragmentation of the screen environment, as the aesthetics of montage place greater emphasis on expression than on description.

Queer space, in turn, is a space or method that is intrinsically tied or associated in art with human sexuality and gender identity. The study of artistic and political strategies of queer cinema and queer literature in the contemporary social context is essential because of the development and transformation of queer space in works in North America and Western Europe, as well as its strategies in the context of continuous changes in the social structure of society, which has generated lively discussions over the last few decades. Cinema, which simultaneously reflects and generates social trends, appears to be one of the most essential media for conveying social reality. In this regard, it is critical to comprehend the intersubjective effect of art and social processes.

The reason for this interest is the growing openness of Western culture to issues of sexuality. This can also include the recognition of the need to protect the rights of socially stigmatized persons at the state level and the rapid increase in the number of depictions of LGBT characters in cinema. This is also influenced by the constant scrutiny by civil society organizations against their defamation. It is worth mentioning that an important detail is the construction of new public institutions and the inclusion of LGBT persons in traditional institutions, where previously, they were forbidden to enter if they openly demonstrated their identity.

However, in earlier works, such as the film My Own Private Idaho, the depiction of queer space is an intrinsic aspect of the story. Literary works also place strong emphasis on spatiality. A work of fiction, on the other hand, is a form of restricted space. Man’s unique view of the environment shapes a distinct perception of the language patterns used to express spatial characteristics. The spatial structure of the text becomes a model of the spatial structure of the world, and the internal syntagmatics of its elements becomes a language of spatial modeling. Thus, the movie My Own Private Idaho, as well as the book City of Night, perfectly trace and pay much attention to the depiction of spatiality. This paper will examine methods, spatiality theory, and queer theory; the novel and movie will also be analyzed to provide the most in-depth understanding of the topic possible.

Methods

The source analysis approach will be applied in this investigation. This style of analysis is utilized at the beginning of the research when the researcher is getting acquainted with the literature. The technique will aid in presenting an objective examination of the facts available on a specific subject. A review of sources is required in a research paper to demonstrate the experience of predecessors and to identify gaps in the study of the selected topic. Furthermore, the objective of the review is to demonstrate that the author did not waste time replicating the work of other scientists but instead contributed to and expanded scientific knowledge on the topic.

Theory of Spatiality

Any literary creation, in some manner, reproduces the real world – both material and ideal. The natural forms of existence in this universe are time and space (Dunđer 1). However, the universe of a work is always, to a greater or lesser extent, conventional, as are time and space. Compared with other arts, literature offers the most incredible freedom with time and space, a freedom only film can rival (Liu and Tang 803).

The “immateriality of images” allows literature to shift immediately from one location and period to another (Conkan and Gârdan 1). For example, events occurring concurrently in separate places might be represented, such as in Homer’s “Odyssey”, which covers the main character’s travels and occurrences in Ithaca (Luo 197). In terms of temporal switching, the simplest form is the hero’s recall of the past.

City of Night is a book written by John Rechy and released in New York City. Earlier excerpts appeared in Evergreen Review, Big Table, Nugget, and The London Magazine. It is worth noting that the collection includes stories about the 1959 Cooper Donuts riot in Los Angeles (Edgar 34).

At that time, lesbian, homosexual, transgender, and transvestites who frequented Cooper Donuts and were frequently harassed by the LAPD fought back after police arrested three persons, including Rechy (Edgar 34). Protesters hurled donuts and coffee mugs at police. The LAPD called for help and caught numerous rioters, but Rechy and two other convicts managed to flee.

City of Night is noted for its didactic approach, piercing descriptions, and stream-of-consciousness narrative style. In the story, a young guy works as a trader and travels around the country. Rechy used the word “young man” to describe the peddlers (Edgar 35). From New York City to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New Orleans, the book’s chapters center on the places the young man visits and the people he meets there.

Describing the locations visited by the young guy helps convey spatiality and enhances the reader’s impression. Throughout the story, the nameless narrator encounters a variety of strange characters, including another con artist, an older man, and an enthusiastic, bedridden older man (Ernest 332). All of these partnerships differ in terms of their emotional and sexual nature and quirks.

Another feature of literary time and space is their discreteness. Thus, literature may replicate not the complete time stream but only the most relevant portions, highlighting the inherent gaps in City of Night (Levitt 101397). The discreteness of space is reflected by the fact that it is typically not described in detail but merely suggested with the assistance of specific features that are most important to the author (Wind 578).

In addition, as indicated by the change of cities, there can be a change of geographical and temporal coordinates at the exact moment in the book. The portrayed time and the image’s time seldom match (Benítez Morcuende 1). In the novel, creative time is shorter than “real” time, with an essential exception about the description of psychological processes and the character’s subjective time (Rechy 11). Since experiences and thoughts move quicker than words, representation time exceeds subjective time.

Queer Theory

More recently, the term “queer” has been employed as a type of umbrella term for any alternatives to the heteropatriarchal norm. In this broad sense, feminist writing, for example, is also queer, even if it is heterosexual and cisgender. It aims to problematize and undermine traditional gender patterns of behavior that impose a highly narrow corridor of possibilities for personal fulfillment not only on women but also on men (March 455). However, in a broad sense, queer literature and culture are sometimes used interchangeably with LGBT literature and culture, which is inaccurate (Duran 390). The homosexual paradigm was superseded at the end of the twentieth century by the queer paradigm.

The goal is precisely to break down the earlier categories, because neither human desire nor the reality of human interactions need to fit into them. Gay literature explores how a man who loves another man differs from a man who loves a woman (Moore 653). Moreover, queer literature asserts that people may love anyone and that the sex and gender of all parties in a relationship are not as significant as people believe (Keegan 350).

Both methods make sense, although the former is considerably older and, in general, clearer than the latter (Erol and Cuklanz 10). This is why there is already a substantial quantity of gay and lesbian literature in the world (bisexuality and transgenderism, on the other hand, are far less represented). However, queer writing is still in its early stages.

City of Night, a novel by John Rechy, is an excellent example of gay fiction. The reader is introduced to a gay environment from the text’s opening sentences. The author portrays a sad but sympathetic sexual deviant who is rejected by society and denied love.

City of Night is divided into four segments that describe the various stages of the unnamed narrator’s existence as a hustler (Ernes330). As previously said, Rechy’s picture of space is presented through the protagonist’s journeys to several towns (Rechy 13). The initial section of the book traces his obsession and seeming narcissism back to his childhood experiences of abuse, loneliness, and hardship. Parts two and three, set mainly in Los Angeles and San Francisco, depict the narrator’s study of drag queens and police harassment.

Finally, in the fourth volume, he travels to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, when the mask of toughness and detachment he has carefully built collapses, leaving him sad, terrified, and alone by the end of the story. In today’s environment, there are often clear standards for both men’s and women’s conduct, appearance, hobbies, and clothing (Pennell 2303). For example, a woman is supposed to be a “caring mother, loving wife, and good hostess” (Kao 13634607211047518). If she fails to meet these expectations and deviates from the norm by favoring men’s clothing, having a short hairstyle, and not desiring children, society regards her as “strange” and “something different” (Kurnick 351). This rejection might eventually escalate to blatant bullying, and the person will be rejected by society (Sauntson 351). There is only a place for two within traditional notions of gender: man and woman.

Those who do not fit within this framework begin to annoy society and are unable to live their lives as they choose. Such people find it challenging to express and experience their actual feelings (Chi 65). They begin to seek assistance from others and reach out to those similar to them (Bradway 715). This is how “queer” groups and movements form, where the name “queer” represents transcending and embracing an identity that is not defined by the standard gender binary (Gieseking 955).

The author emphasizes the gloomy, dystopian character of the sexual underworld and male prostitution in his story. The story also depicts society’s outcast people, such as Chuck, a lazy, slick “cowboy” whom the narrator encounters in Pershing Square, and Silvia, a New Orleans bar owner who caters to gays to atone for throwing out her gay son (Rechy 17). Despite the emotional anguish he feels elsewhere, the narrator often finds refuge, company, and nourishment among these misfits who share his ostracized status (March 455). By doing so, the author expresses how those who are different from society in some manner feel.

Rechy strives to emphasize his character’s independence, yet he despises both misfits and civilization. The author attempts to normalize homosexuality so that members of this social group are not perceived as odd (Rechy 14). The story of Speech is not just particular to homosexual life in the mid-twentieth-century United States but also addresses concerns that continue to characterize the lives of many lesbians and gay men today (Dimitriou 79).

Today’s society is confronted with the question of seeing gay relationships as the norm and their participants as persons equal to all others (Schwab 251). For millennia, most people have considered heterosexual partnerships to be a perfectly normal state of things (Singh 7). Only a tiny minority of individuals recognized it as unusual because they were unfamiliar with intersex marriage or sexual desire between a man and a woman (Bergenmar 61). Surprisingly, homosexuality was regarded as a criminal violation in several nations until twenty years ago.

In today’s world, the situation is changing dramatically because there is a tendency for sexual minorities to become the majority. LGBT groups are gaining traction, gathering more and more followers, fighting for the rights and freedoms of persons with non-traditional sexual orientations (Lisahunter4). Moreover, while people are more accepting or, as it is now popular to say, tolerant than ever before, there are still people who have negative prejudices about homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender persons in their thoughts (Martin and Kitchen 599). Moral underdevelopment, sexual promiscuity, aggression, failure to nurture children, and a variety of other traits are examples of biases (Nichols 1).

In the modern world community, a debate on one of the most significant topics directly connected to men’s and women’s sexual orientation has recently been particularly heated: “How does the activity of the LGBT movement affect the demography of the country and the world as a whole?” (Atalay and Doan 257). When this topic is raised, the LGBT movement’s actions are typically seen as a battle to offer a platform for representatives of sex minorities to talk publicly about their “peculiarities,” as well as for the legalization of same-sex marriage.

As Rechy notes in his story, people continue to feel repressed. Life is challenging for LGBT people in today’s culture, where bigotry is still prevalent. It is even more challenging for those who reside in small towns, where society is less accepting of LGBT people (Kindig 275). The paucity of LGBT entertainment facilities and the minimal number of public venues where gays may be assured that they will not be insulted impede socialization.

LGBT people living in the provinces are obliged to conceal their identities since they will not be welcomed as equals elsewhere. Despite some recent progress, members of the organization continue to experience violence, intimidation, and persecution from members of the general public as well as particular agencies, such as healthcare facilities and the workplace (Pradhan and Tamang 224). Sexual orientation and gender identity violence are frequently repressed, and as a result, essential investigations and sanctions are not carried out (Miller 13 (b)). That is why Rechy uses instances from the lives of oppressed people; he wants to portray their emotions.

Rechy was actually trying to get the quirky to step out of their comfort zone. This may be linked back to the directness of the main character’s comments. The author shows how gloomy and depressing living in the shadows is. Such misfits can never find happiness or become full members of society.

Every person should be allowed to be themselves and do anything they want as long as the law does not prohibit it. That is why, according to Rechy, leaders of the LGBT community should cease hiding. Only then will society be forced to acknowledge and accept the presence of homosexuality, and minorities will be allowed to live complete lives free of prejudice based on sexual orientation.

Homosexuality is the first degree of freedom, the freedom of sexuality, which liberates from heteronormativity and breaks the world’s gender binary (Kia et al. 26). Queer, in turn, is the next stage in the emancipation of identity, granting the person the ability to be oneself not just in sexuality but also in the manner of self-presentation (Branton and Compton 73). The dread of the repercussions of disclosing one’s deepest secrets is shared by everyone who, in some way, belongs to a minority group.

The novel by Speech is a stream-of-consciousness examination into the “underworld” of American civilization. This narrative provides a tour of LGBT culture, individuals, and locations, making it suitable for analyzing queer concerns. The unidentified narrator makes the storyteller more accessible to the reader (Ervin 209). Readers will encounter a variety of individuals with varying backgrounds and purposes.

As the narrator comes to grips with his existence in the sex trade, the novel portrays a harrowing tale of masculinity and sexuality. The narrator takes solace in knowing he is straight, and his clients enjoy it because it adds to their dreams. However, when he digs further into the gay world, he encounters several people who cause him to doubt himself. It was one of the first novels in the United States to deal honestly and unflinchingly with the so-called “homosexual underground,” and it quickly acquired a large readership (Suárez 251). It was discussed at upscale cocktail parties and in sophisticated literary circles.

Pete, a teenage street hooligan with a confident manner, bouncy walk, and hipster style of speaking, is an essential character. He is the one who states that “whatever a guy does with other guys for money does not make him a homosexual”(Rechy 21). Pete’s hoax is his means of living with and exploring his homosexuality, but the narrator also participates in it. As a result, the story is a powerful example of why men fear self-identity and acceptance.

The two buddies only mingle on the surface of their connection until one night, these too-cool Times Square executives spend the night in the narrator’s drab flat. Rechi’s poetry expresses the need for tenderness of two young lost souls who are too afraid to pursue their repressed sexual impulses for one another. There is a glimmer of romance in this filthy chamber, but they are both terrified of their own sentiments and suppressed by society’s perception of what they are hiding (Suárez 250). This cheater’s love scene is a fantastic depiction of a first meeting, the delicate moments at the start of a tentative romance.

Fear of Self-Presentation

The majority of Eastern nations practice Islam, which has strict restrictions. Arab nations’ punishments for homosexuality are severe, both for their own residents and for visitors. The penalties for homosexuality vary from life imprisonment to public death by hanging or beheading. Hiding one’s same-sex relationships is essential not just from the government but also from regular folks; otherwise, one risks being stoned to death.

In 2005, two adolescents accused of homosexuality were killed in Iran (Bruun 1). Such an occurrence did not go ignored throughout the world; countless petitions were submitted requesting that the execution be postponed, but Iran stood steadfast, and the punishment was carried out. Of course, such a clear division between the West and the East cannot be drawn (Miller 2770 (a)). There are nations in the East that are friendly or at least neutral toward LGBT people, just as there are countries in the West that are not accepting, but they are few and far between.

In some countries, for example, gays are not permitted to serve in the army without concealing their sexual orientation. The West seeks to demonstrate its tolerance in everything, even when it seems unnecessary. Most films nowadays have at least one homo-couple or a lone gay person.

Everything is packed with themes of same-sex love, including TV shows, TV series, literature, and music (Birnholtz and Macapagal106706). This does not appear to be equality of rights; instead, it appears to be a bloated, imposing culture. Such behavior might have the opposite effect, leading to widespread dissatisfaction and protests.

On the bright side, in recent years, the image of homosexuality in Western popular culture has shifted dramatically (Coker et al. 1). Previously, gay conduct was overdone and foolishly depicted. Still, now homosexuals, both men and women, are portrayed as average individuals with no posturing or exaggerated cruelty and masculinity (in the case of lesbians).

Eastern culture forbids the public display of LGBT imagery. Differences in sexual orientation are avoided in television shows, literature, and other aspects of popular culture. One of the most well-known friendly countries is Israel. Even though it does not score first in gay-friendliness rankings, it may be characterized as a “homosexual state” under specific conditions (Hackett and Gerodetti 450).

Tel Aviv and other Israeli towns boast some of the most excellent LGBT infrastructures in the world, including clubs, hotels, and businesses. This country has the highest number of “open” homosexuals (Hackett and Gerodetti 450). Lesbians and gays are elected to government positions, and the number of “open” gays in the army is growing. The media is awash with stories of same-sex romance, and this country also stages one of the world’s most vibrant gay pride parades(Zhao et al., 19). Israel not only supports its own residents but also LGBT groups in other nations.

It is standard practice in Western nations to offer financial assistance to public LGBT groups in countries where the state does not sponsor such a demographic group. In addition to financial aid, assistance is provided through various activities, petitions, and initiatives that raise awareness of organizations and their problems. For example, in the United States, multiple demonstrations were performed in favor of the LGBT community, “Children-404,” which was developed for youngsters who prefer same-sex relationships; this initiative was covered in the American, British, and Spanish media.

However, despite all the progress that modern society has made, people belonging to a specific minority are still obliged by society, with its sometimes conventional thinking, to live their lives concealing their sexual orientation or unique perspectives on life. Coming out is a concept that can broadly relate to self-presentation but is most typically used in the context of a person willingly confessing to being a member of a sexual minority (Cisternino and Jones 1). It is frequently difficult for persons who have dared to present themselves in society to accept the truth of declassification and that everyone now knows their innermost secret (Mai 190). Even if coming out is a personal choice, the dread of the repercussions can have a tremendous influence and can even be morally repressive.

LGBT persons have significant challenges in various nations in terms of mainstream cultural views; thus, many remain underground. Others who dare to show their minority status to everyone, however, may experience communication difficulties, begin to close off, and avoid connecting with others in general. If this condition is not addressed promptly, it may lead to the formation of additional complexes and phobias. Realization, and especially the revelation of one’s sexual identity and self-presentation, is a matter of great interest to current specialists (Wongsomboon et al. 2310). It affects not only a person’s personal space but also numerous social processes.

The phenomenon of “coming out” presents itself as an open, to varying degrees, public statement of one’s sexual orientation, which is accompanied by a crisis (transition, change) of the relational system. The environment’s reaction might be both positive and negative, supporting or rejecting (Dhoest 391). Even in the best-case scenario, analysts acknowledge several questions, concerns, and reservations (Kucher 4). Men may be fearful of self-presentation because they do not want to suffer estrangement, loneliness, guilt, the ugly duckling syndrome, or distance.

Furthermore, many homosexual men are afraid of presenting themselves because they do not want to lose their masculinity, which is highly prized in society. The word was used in the late nineteenth century to refer to arguments about the natural attributes that men and women are said to be born with. Masculinity was thought to relate to distinct “masculine” characteristics such as aggression, rationalism, activity, enterprise, high intelligence, physical strength, and other well-known stereotypes (Nova et al. 1).

Several sociological and psychological schools have strongly challenged so-called essentialism the belief that persons are born with already set patterns of conduct, interaction with others, and personality qualities (Yap 3). A constructivist approach replaced the concept of intrinsic qualities. Constructivism maintains that connection with others, the definition of oneself in society, and the expression of one’s inner sense of self are all generated by the social order: nothing is natural, and everything is social. The evolution of gender sociology and feminist methodology enabled us to reexamine the phenomena of masculinity and call its “naturalness” into question.

However, masculinity is now defined as a collection of norms, roles, beliefs, personal attributes, and specific forms of conduct that are historically expected of males in society. If a guy is born a man, he should start his own business, pursue a scientific profession, get married (necessarily to a lady), and surely do some achievement that demonstrates his courage and valor (Filice et al. 1611). Masculinity is not only directly tied to a person’s personal characteristics; it also shapes the way a person interacts with others. Masculinity becomes the social and cultural standard under patriarchy, allowing dominance and oppression to exist. However, in culture, homosexual men are generally portrayed as having “feminine” conduct and “feminine” interests. This instills concern in the LGBT community that they will lose social respect as a result of the loss of their masculinity due to gender inequity.

It is worth noting that the majority of homophobes are men. Much research undertaken by sociologists, psychologists, and social psychologists at the interface of sociology and psychology demonstrates this. For fear of seeming gay or not manly enough, heterosexual males will adhere to three essential cultural principles. The first precept is the success norm (or status standard). The second principle is the norm of physical, emotional, and mental toughness. The third is the anti-femininity norm.

The first standard is the success norm, often known as the status. This is a gender stereotype that asserts that a man’s social value is defined by the amount of money he earns and his level of success at work. The limits imposed by this standard afflict most males, as they are unable to meet all these rules. This is primarily because of the profession. Many young men focus on their work first rather than on self-actualization and self-expression. They are preoccupied with their pay rather than any other hobbies they may have.

The second stereotype is the norm of physical toughness, which is closely tied to the norm of success and prestige because physical toughness is seen as elevating a man’s social standing. In this situation, the limitations imposed by this stereotype are exactly similar: it resorts to harmful habits; it is the usage of steroids (Freeman and Wohn 810). When a man participates in bodybuilding, he feels that the most essential thing is to increase his muscular mass. This can also occur if these dangerous medicines are used. It can take the form of disregarding discomfort, such as a guy refusing medical assistance.

The third standard is mental toughness, which occurs when a guy does not accept doubts in his understanding of anything. Alternatively, he will claim to know something when, in fact, he does not. This will inhibit information collection and asking for assistance, guidance, or further information.

The second norm that males must satisfy is the standard of emotional toughness (Pinch et al. 2). Males attempt to exhibit their feelings as little as possible; it is not traditional for males to display emotions in our culture. A man who communicates his feelings more often needs to be more macho. Men do not weep; boys do not cry – this is the notion that is transmitted to every guy in today’s culture from infancy.

This negative attitude toward expressing emotions, of course, emotionally impoverishes men’s relationships – parenthood and friendship ties, relationships with spouses and girlfriends. Guys often do not disclose their emotions, which may make them unaware of their emotions psychologically. Often, males are unable to identify their current emotions.

The last rule that males must obey, which is connected to homophobia, is the norm of anti-femininity. The fact that men are unable to express their emotions because it is assumed that emotions should be expressed by women, as well as the fact that men should be more rational and less emotional, all of this is a stereotype, according to which a man’s behavior and emotional reactions should be utterly different from those of women. A man’s vocations should not be the same as women’s occupations, and his patterns of conduct should not be the same as women’s patterns of behavior.

The fear of seeming feminine is known as femiphobia. It is not always the case that a guy wants or can remain as rugged, manly, and harsh as the stereotype suggests. Still, because he is scared of seeming feminine, he may not allow himself to express these traits, including some softness and psychological flexibility. Furthermore, this frequently has a detrimental influence on the manifestation of homophobia because a guy may believe that he might either seem feminine or homosexual. As a result, homosexual guys obey all of these preconceptions and are hesitant to exhibit their true selves.

It is also worth noting that the Church and religion have an impact on homosexual men’s self-presentation. According to one poll, thousands of priests in the Catholic Church are LGBT (Krikowa 3). The Church publicly opposes them, including by identifying them as pedophiles. As a result, members of the rank-and-file clergy hide their sexuality for years, and those who dare to come out are attacked by church leadership. Despite the reality that hundreds of clergy members are homosexual, the Catholic Church continues to keep the tales of gay priests hidden. Gays account for 30 to 40% of Catholic clergy in the United States alone, according to conservative estimates (Krikowa 3). Some priests believe the figure is far higher, about 75% (Krikowa 3). One Wisconsin priest said that until he is convinced otherwise, every priest is gay.

Over the course of two months, The New York Times writer Elizabeth Diaz spoke with a dozen LGBT priests and seminarians. On the condition of anonymity, nearly all disclosed sensitive facts about their lives. They are afraid that church authorities will persecute them. They claim they are in danger of losing not just their parish but also their homes, health insurance, and pensions.

From the seminary stage, the Church instills an implicit rule that priests must keep their sexuality a secret. One of the warnings given to seminarians is Numquam Duo, Semper Tres, which translates as “never two, only three.” Catholic priests, for example, should not even go for a walk together for fear of creating a “special male friendship” (Hoenkamp-Bisschops 328). Because homosexuality was prohibited in seminaries, many American priests found it in their 30s and 40s (Hoenkamp-Bisschops 328). Such a discovery at such a young age might be tragic.

A seminarian committed himself, and after his death, matches bearing the insignia of a homosexual club were discovered in his chamber. Father Greiten of Milwaukee was 24 years old when he wanted to throw himself out of his dorm window after finding he was gay (Hoenkamp-Bisschops 330). When he informed a fellow student about it, it was discovered that he, too, was gay but was too frightened to declare it.

Father Greiten appeared in front of his parishioners at Mass more than a year ago. His declaration was greeted with cheers. Parishioners from various states sent words of solidarity to Father Greiten. He later received a phone call from a 90-year-old priest, who informed him that he had been concealing his sexual orientation for years (Hoenkamp-Bisschops 330). Church officials were not pleased with Father Greiten’s public confession. His activities were described as satanic in internal communications, and he was dubbed a monster who rapes children.

Despite several studies demonstrating that a priest’s homosexuality is not the cause of child abuse, much of the Church hierarchy continues to see gay priests as a significant source of pedophilia among Catholic clergy. Conservative Catholic groups continue to believe that all homosexual priests rape children. The Catholic Church’s sex abuse issue, however, may destroy those aspirations. Another reason to anticipate persecution for homosexual priests was the incident surrounding Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C. The Vatican judged him guilty of pedophilia and removed him from his position as a priest.

Furthermore, homosexual men are frequently impacted by the media, which might impede their ability to show themselves. In the media, discriminatory terminology is frequently used. As a result, several brochures and articles on how to write about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, as well as how to cover them in TV and radio reports, have lately been produced. This includes rude language, as well as discriminatory and erroneous words. Such remarks are rarely heard or read in the official media, but they may be found on young social networks or on the street. All of these labels stem from, at best, ignorance and, at worst, a societal issue known as homophobia or heterosexism.

LGBT persons experience internal homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia as a result of modern cultural beliefs. People are confronted with this issue from the beginning of their sexuality and are not always able to deal with it. If people do not assist such a person promptly, he may end up leading a heterosexual life to satisfy society while suppressing his actual nature, threatening major psychological problems, including stress, despair, or even suicidal impulses. Internal homophobia can appear as blatant external homophobia, with violence directed against openly LGBT individuals.

Today, exposing oneself implies putting oneself in danger. Thus, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who embrace themselves and their orientation handle the critical challenge of disclosing themselves to society. Outing is a phenomenon in which a person learns about a “non-traditional” orientation against their will.

Some people reveal their sexual orientation to everyone at once, while others only reveal it to those closest to them, and still others keep it hidden their whole lives. It is critical to remember that open conduct has repercussions, ranging from the loss of loved ones to life-threatening homophobic actions. Many openly gay individuals have paid the cost in terms of education and employment, as well as rejection from family and loved ones.

Even though homosexuality has existed in some form or another throughout history, the majority of our society is still not ready to accept and engage with LGBT individuals. Centuries of persecution and cultural denial have taken their toll on both “non-traditional” oriented individuals and society as a whole. If nothing changes, it will be decades before a person’s sexual orientation is no longer an essential factor in determining their social standing.

It is necessary to study the history of homosexuality from ancient times to the present day to trace how society’s attitude toward LGBT individuals has changed, how transitions from legal forms, when same-sex relations were authorized by the state and religion, and existed openly, to illegal and outright persecution, and then back again. This will aid in identifying the causes of the problems and understanding why, in an era of tolerance, there is still unlawful and semi-legal persecution of LGBT individuals.

Thus, the self-presentation of gay men is influenced by systems such as society, the state, religion, and the media. These systems box them in, giving them no choice. Men need to be masculine enough to have respect in society. However, if such a man admits his orientation and openly displays it, he will face judgment and hatred. He will feel wrong, alienated, and alone in society.

Also, self-presentation can deprive a person of a job or a place in an organization. For figures in the church, self-presentation and acceptance can cause expulsion or even accusations of crimes such as child abuse. Media propaganda of inappropriate statements about members of the LGBT community can instill in the masses or reinforce an already established negative view of gay people. All of these factors prevent gay men from living a whole life, loving who they want, and realizing their full potential.

Queer Space at the Cinematograph

Queer theory arose in cinema in response to visual representations of the period that supported homophobic narratives. The earliest debates erupted in response to the release of an article titled “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. The author sought to highlight the extent to which the feminine image in movies gratifies male audiences (Petrychyn2). However, gay theorists were dissatisfied since Mulvey articulated pleasure primarily from a heteronormative standpoint, excluding members of the LGBT community.

Following this, gay theory in film began to grow aggressively and established its primary instruments for film work: performativity and decoding. Judith Butler, a gender researcher, coined the term. She adapted the notion of performativity to gender, claiming that it is produced via performance: the way we talk about it vocally and through body language (Scahill 123).

Another method is decoding, which helps determine a film’s subtext. For example, gay theorists have translated The Wizard of Oz as a retreat from reality into a dream realm. Furthermore, while it may appear that decoding is merely reading a movie for LGBT subtext, this is not always the case (Kurosawa). However, this issue did not arise out of nowhere, as this group of individuals is underrepresented in films. As a result, we were forced to create our own representation.

Lesbian cinema theory originates at the intersection of feminist and gay perspectives. It concentrates on the issue of displaying two female characters in a film without revealing whether these ladies are lesbians or not. All in the cause of improving the image of heteronormative and LGBT viewers (Neto 1).

First, such lesbian characters are usually depicted as extremely feminine to appeal to male audiences. Second, the films include ambiguous references to lesbianism or alternative lifestyles, and the emphasis is on deep ties and the exchange of lengthy love glances between two women, which can be regarded as sensual or friendly (Kaur 1). Fried Green Tomatoes, Love at First Sight, and Personal Best all feature similar characters. Fortunately, not all movies face this problem; some directors dare to introduce openly lesbian characters into the story. Films like “Leanna” and “Unforgiven Hearts,” although receiving mixed reviews from movie critics, have won the love of audiences for their sincerity and openness.

Homosexual film characters first appeared in the 1920s. The German film “Michael” is regarded as one of the earliest LGBT films. It is based on Hermann Bang’s novel of the same name and relates the story of the artist’s love for the sitter.

The kiss between the two guys was first seen in William Wellman’s “Wings”. Filmmakers have long disregarded other sexual orientations and gender identities. Love affairs between women are first mentioned in the film “Morocco”, though even there the protagonist, Marlene Dietrich, has only a minor romance with a woman and ends up with a guy.

The most well-known lesbian film of the early times was “Girls in Uniform”. The action takes place at a secluded boarding school, where a student falls in love with a teacher and, at a school party, unwittingly reveals their emotions. Following that, a remake of the film with the same title occurred. The early LGBT films discussed the characters’ emotions but did not address homophobia. Nobody claimed that homosexuals and lesbians would have a difficult existence (Krikow 1). The political side, especially legislative persecution, was also omitted.

Furthermore, like in the case of “Michael,” the love relationship between the protagonists was frequently merely hinted at. Until the 1970s, LGBT subjects were taboo in popular cinema (Quick 29). Homosexual characters were frequently depicted in a negative or comedic light.

After the Stonewall Riots in 1969, a watershed moment occurred(Quick 29). Gays and lesbians spoke openly about their concerns, and they did it through cinema as well. Commercial films with primary protagonists from the LGBT community began to appear. In England, for example, the film “Night Hawks” about a gay teacher was released on the big screen. Following the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s, views against homosexual people worsened. (Quick 29). At the same time, members of the LGBT community began to make more films about themselves.

Many of them were created literally on their knees; therefore, the films of this era lacked creative merit and were differentiated solely by the subjects they addressed. Thus, in 1985, the first film about HIV with a homosexual protagonist, “Pals”, was released. These films laid the groundwork for gay cinema.

Already in the planning stages, it became evident that such films are dedicated to the everyday struggle (Yorong 218). With themselves, with others around them, with laws and authority. The protagonists’ emotional troubles are paired with their estrangement from their families and violations of their civil rights (Ogheneruro Okpadah 138). All of these are common issues that most LGBT persons face and that others are unaware of. As a result, the stories were frequently based on actual occurrences and continue to be so.

Transgender persons have long been underrepresented in films, not only in mainstream but also in LGBT cinema. Male characters who disguised themselves as women were found only in comedies, and they had no experience with gender fluidity. Famous instances include the films “Only Girls in Jazz” and “Tootsie”, in which protagonists donned wigs and women’s clothing to conceal their identities or to join a particular social circle.

In the 1990s, several independent filmmakers who created films about LGBT individuals earned a name for themselves in American cinema (Abdel Karim 77). This movement was known as New Queer Cinema, and it was a form of protest against the heteronormative (in which heterosexuality is the only norm) commercial business. The new films were political, openly discussed community concerns, and depicted the everyday life of the LGBT community. During this time period, films such as My Private Idaho, Bare Wire, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch were released.

Adapting to new conditions, queer cinema makers are modifying the creative and political methods of their work, abandoning their earlier radicalism and exploring new ways to communicate with audiences who have not historically been their target. The need to create new ways of identifying not only with LGBT viewers but also with the enormous number of viewers of TV series and feature films necessitates the use of such techniques of connection with the public (Coll-Planas 78). On the one hand, they would convey the message that everyone should be treated equally, regardless of sex, gender, ethnicity, or sexual identity, and, on the other hand, they would allow non-LGBT viewers to identify with the character and their story.

The separatist attitude that guarded the LGBT community’s selfhood has progressively given way to an approach in which every spectator is a minority. Identity fragmentation has been proven to be an effective tool for political influence over spectators. As one of the significant issues of the previous decade, social and psychological trauma allows for the inclusion of traumatization not just in connection to stigmatization based on sexual orientation and gender identity but also on ideological, national, racial, ethnic, gender, and economic grounds (Ryu 1).

In this world, where everyone is outnumbered on some subject or another, not only is there a continual change of masks, both in the structure of the characters and in the audience, but also what might be called the quantization of film. The term “quantization” refers to the process of emphasizing human identity in its sexual and gendered aspects, in contrast to and in resistance to societal normalizing procedures (Kallitsis 4). The rising decentralization of the issue in the twenty-first century, as well as individual and group work on trauma (work to rectify the politics of memory), provides fertile ground for the continued progress of LGBTQ rights and the employment of these techniques by nearly anyone.

Queer is a contentious phrase that has infiltrated polished academic studies. Its initial objective was to highlight the precariousness of sexuality, gender, and sex through the ongoing flux and plurality of identification situations. It is an umbrella term that was developed to characterize and classify a collection of disenfranchised self-identities.

At the same time, due to its inherently movable character, there is no accepted meaning of the term itself (Williams 1). Although it began with gay and lesbian studies, queer theory quickly grew to cover gender homonymy, transvestism, hermaphroditism, surgical sex reassignment, and a broad spectrum of non-binary identities (Osinubi 71). Finally, queer theory calls into question even such established words as “male” and “female,” continuously dissecting human sex into the numerous conditions from which it is formed, suggesting that this very sex may be gendered, passported, and hormonal.

The overt politicization, predisposition toward “leftist” ideology, and publicly avowed intention to alter society by modifying the discursive practices represented in the social structure have been critical features of queer studies, especially feminist studies. The cinema authors who addressed these subjects were not always conversant with the major theoretical perspectives of Queer Studies, the latest forms of Marxism, and Continental and American philosophy. Still, they were indirectly intellectually influenced by them (Lonac 159). In this sense, New Queer Cinema represented an intellectual and political project of influencing public consciousness and its politics.

Many scholars have highlighted that the AIDS era was an intellectual leap forward in both queer studies and the development of the LGBT agenda. This is the first point that Bee Ruby Rich emphasizes in her account of the formation of the new gay cinema, and it can also entail opposition to Ronald Reagan’s policies. For the LGBT community, the AIDS pandemic was once an immense tragedy that helped to organize further and establish solidarity in the community.

In recounting this phase in the movement’s history, the authors argue that AIDS ironically led to the LGBT community’s legitimization through disaster. According to the authors’ article, the media’s blaming of the LGBT community for the epidemic, the silencing of the AIDS threat to the general population, the conflation of sexual identity and sexual behavior, and heterosexual people’s denial of the risks of infection all contributed to a surge in political activity by LGBT activists. Demands for access to treatment, expedited vaccine research, and lower prices for human immunodeficiency virus medications are just a few examples of efforts to combat systemic prejudice. In a sense, HIV has highlighted the particular vulnerability of the gay community, which has come to realize that their lives have less value in the eyes of both the presidential administration and public health systems than the lives of people who are not stigmatized by “unacceptable sexual behavior.

The causes for the remarkable depoliticization of gay films sit within the broader context of conversations about the socioeconomic shifts that have occurred in society over the last twenty years. An increasing number of filmmakers propose viewing their characters through the lens of their subjective formation, stripping their speech and images of obvious political manifestations, and creating plots that do not fit within the framework of the well-known social problems faced by LGBT people as a social group.

Today, attitudes on the pathologizing and perversity of homo- and bisexual activity are shifting. This form of human engagement is becoming increasingly ingrained in societal institutions, from the broad legalization of marriage equality and the ability of same-sex couples to adopt children to the repeal of statutes prohibiting blood donation and military service (Bao 1). Although discussions about legislative support for same-sex couples are still ongoing in several regions, and in some regions, they are not even raised for socio-cultural reasons, the dramatic shift in public opinion about same-sex relationships at the institutional level occurred precisely in the “noughties.”

Aggressive assertion of their own identity, as well as a critical position on what queer and feminist researchers refer to as the “heterosexist matrix,” as well as a critique of the stereotypes that governed LGBT people’s conduct. This technique entailed developing alternate ways of being and sensuality for queers, as well as subverting gender and identity paradigms imposed by the public or the LGBT community itself (Osterweil 1). This method was used until the beginning of the ‘noughties.’

The mainstreaming and commercialization of homosexuality, the establishment of gay neighborhoods, the gay economy, and the gradual mainstreaming into popular culture, which in turn strengthened the gay community’s welfare, like how women’s welfare grew in the second half of the twentieth century (Padva 418). This tactic of promoting bourgeois lifestyles provoked a reaction from the economy as a whole, and as McNair points out, cultural capitalism benefited from these changes.

In response to the emergence of mainstreaming, activists launched the third approach: separatism. Integration tendencies were viewed as a danger to LGBT culture by “noughties” activists. According to them, the mainstreaming of homosexual lifestyles contributed to the fact that “bourgeois gays,” who were able to exist openly without resorting to confrontational behaviors, lost the need to assert their rights further and thus reached a social contract that, on the one hand, allows them to pursue their lifestyles without fear of violence, but on the other, promotes further systemic discrimination (Maity 20578911231186858). Some Queers considered the mainstream world’s progressive acceptance of homosexuality as a betrayal and collaborationism.

Institutionalization Strategies

For a long time, the realm of queer cinema and its distribution was a collection of interrelated institutions that existed more often in isolation from the rest of the film process than as part of it. In this case, queer cinema institutionalization strategies are understood as a process of creating social relations within artistic and political practices that organize their own institutions of film production, distribution, and festival life, as well as entering and embedding themselves in institutions not initially designed for queer cinema. Institutionalization always entails the formation of norms and regulations that govern social interaction, and queer film excels at this, as will be proved later (Chatterjee 178). However, when it comes to integration into other organizations that operate according to their own, already established regulations, this adds to the formation of a conflictogenic environment (Arora 4). Here, two players, in this case, the LGBT movie festival movement and the festival movement of broad specialties, are obliged to agree on common principles of cohabitation due to their differences in position and need for each other.

Institutional theory originated as an economic school to investigate the effects of political and social factors on economic decision-making, and it became popular in other disciplines in the mid-twentieth century. To carry out such an activity, there must be some location (an institution) within which the work is shown as a candidate for review, as well as someone with authority (a community) who can designate the work as art. As previously demonstrated, the formation of their own public places enabled the growth of the LGBT community, a shared cinematic experience that laid the foundations for a collective sensibility, and a debate over essential concerns within discursive spaces (Rich 1). Jenny Olson, a queer cinema historian, has described such situations as “queer ecosystems,” closed systems of film and video creation, distribution, critique, and festival organizing with their own regular audiences.

My Own Private Idaho

Van Sant is said to have merged three scripts for “My Own Private Idaho,” one of which was based on Shakespeare’s “Henry IV.” In doing so, he accomplished something for which he might have been considered an opportunist if it had not been so even. He managed to please practically everyone with this film. The LGBT community forgave him for being the straight “Drugstore Cowboy”; film reviewers hurried to study and reread Shakespeare and Dickens, racing to uncover the most references and phrases(Ferguson 1).

The younger generation, those who are constantly against, made Reeves and Phoenix their idols (the latter’s death, sadly, did not lessen the power of his image on the unformed minds). At the same time, Van Sant was the first to treat the homosexual issue from the perspective of underground, avant-garde, or, in the worst case, sad films about society’s misunderstanding of non-traditional sex orientation.

Van Sant is more relaxed about this – yes, homosexuality is visibly present, but it is not the dominant theme of the story, which is more about what it is to lose family relationships to some degree or another and what it can lead to in the search for a replacement – male prostitution not as a way to make money or get pleasure, but as a search for the warmth that was missing in childhood.

As in “Drugstore Cowboy,” Van Sant offers another surrogate family if things do not work out on his own. Even on the film set, the production team lived as a commune in a house in Portland that had formerly belonged to the director’s parents and that he had purchased. Moreover, the scarlet thread that runs through it all is the concept of friendship and loyalty (not necessarily romantic). As outcasts, the buddies are a close-knit group of friends whose return to society is nothing short of a nasty betrayal.

The final scenes are remarkable in terms of the conflict between society and its “scum” – Mike’s buddies dancing in a wild performance against the staid and stiff representatives of the world, surrounded by the betrayed Scott (Kathapant and Saraithong 1). However, where it is – life – is everyone’s destiny to determine, and the cost for independence and freedom of choice is also there in Van Sant’s film.

The novel City of Night also inspired filmmaker Gus van Sant to develop the film My Own Private Idaho. The film debuted in Japan on July 20, 1991, and it was also shown at the 48th Venice Film Festival in September of the same year. River Phoenix, who played Michael Waters, received the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor, and the American National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

The film follows two Portland hustlers, Mike Waters (River Phoenix) and Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), who go out to discover Mike’s mother. Their voyage brings them first to Mike’s home state of Idaho, then to Italy, and finally back to Portland. Scott’s role is based on Shakespeare’s Prince Hal, the successor to the throne from the historical chronicle Henry IV.

In the film, he is the son of a Portland mayor who rejects his father’s culture and puts off his empathetic behavior, including male prostitution, as rebellion. Mike is an unsupported gay man who suffers from narcolepsy and has a passionate bond with his friend. Scott falls in love with an Italian girl while in Italy. Scott marries, inherits from his father after his death, and breaks ties with Mike at the end of the film. The final scene of the film replicates the first: Mike collapses in the middle of the road in Idaho, and from a distance, his unmoving body is scooped up by an unknown guy going by.

The film’s psychedelic atmosphere leaves the audience in a stupor, and afterward, there is a sorrowful, even tragic, aftertaste, a sensation of disorientation and emptiness. The atmosphere of the socioeconomic bottom: vagrancy, narcotics, prostitution – all of this is depicted without embellishment, without condescension to the faint-hearted observer. However, the beauty of this film rests in the imperfections of life, the world, people, love, friendship, and family (Bock 39). All of this bleak, irrational reality is communicated with outstanding clarity and passion by the performers.

The American environment conveys a sense of loneliness and uncertainty. This is demonstrated by the use of red deserts, golden infinite fields, and a massive blue sky above. The core of the American metropolis, the city’s bottom – dusty streets, bright neon windows of night cafés, inexpensive motels, and semi-darkness. The cinematographer photographs his face and body in detail, admiring and pitying him, turning Mike inside out. Still, the audience does not notice because he sleeps like the hero in some narcotic half-dream of indifference.

He, the actual Mike Scott, who considers himself a buddy, does not want to see it. Mike’s whole existence revolves around narcolepsy attacks, and he sleeps for hours, days, and even a lifetime. He sees his mother in his nightmares and seeks her in the features of passing ladies in Portland and Rome, but she is not there; she is simply a dream. His Idaho is a road with yellow lines that goes nowhere. Mike is all alone in the world, with no soul partner. He moves from hand to hand like a trophy, selling himself and his body but not his heart. Vulnerable and unattached, he is ready to give his love to Scott, but for him, it is just a game.

The Image of the Road as Spatiality

The picture of the road serves as a metaphor for space in this film. The picture of the road, as one of the timeless topics of art, is imagined in all its forms, including the most recent: cinematography. However, here is where the definition and qualities of the road movie genre become lost and distorted since even cinema historians do not always know how to name them (Kücük 111).

Gus Van Sant’s drama My Private Idaho was one of the first films to merge road cinema and homosexual themes, and it became a cult classic. Despite the absence of a film, it is impossible to categorize it as a road movie: the journey takes up less than half of its total time, and it is not the central aspect. Furthermore, as American film critic Roger Ebert highlighted, the fundamental advantage of “My Own Private Idaho ” is its lack of mechanical pauses and predetermined trajectories, which are absent in any quality Hollywood picture. Having said that, watching ” My Own Private Idaho” as a road movie is intriguing because filmmaker Gus Van Sant flips a centuries-old premise on its head.

Since antiquity, when Homer and Virgil authored The Odyssey and The Aeneid, respectively, the picture of the road has acquired an ambiguous sense. The idea of the road in ancient Greek poetry was depicted not only as a physical movement from point A to point B but also as the changes that the trip imposes on the characters. Joseph John Campbell, an American researcher of comparative mythology, introduced the notion of the “hero’s journey,” which reinforced the understanding of travel as change. The road movie genre is a real and metaphorical hero’s journey, a clear picture and pattern for a story that is easy to unravel.

Despite the picture of the road and the road movie, the protagonist, Michael, remains static, even after experiencing the adventure. This is reflected in the circular composition, in which Michael lies on the highway in Idaho both at the beginning and at the end of the film; his eloquent ailment is narcolepsy, which causes the hero to fall asleep when he needs to act and make decisions; his opposite is Scott, who transforms after the journey – he gets married, receives an inheritance, becomes a rich and respectable man, and stops communicating with Michael.

“My Own Private Idaho” is inspired by Jack Kerouac’s classic “On the Road.” In addition to the continuous red thread pattern of the road, both real and metaphorical, the novel lacks a change of hero, but it does contain a motif of the flow of life and the many life experiences the characters have had. The road signifies liberation by transporting one away from the metaphorical death of ordinary life and labor (Burns 1). The road, for Michael Waters, is a vicious loop that circles his home state of Idaho and from which he cannot escape.

So Michael goes in a loop, never finding himself or his mother – this is his destiny. He attempts to compensate for childhood loss trauma in a variety of ways, including oral compensation through smoking, illegal drugs, and platonic emotions for Scott. As a result, “My Private Idaho” has elements of a buddy movie.

Given the protagonist Michael Waters’s sexual orientation, this comment may come out as sarcastic and insulting. Still, he never has a sexual connection with his traveling partner and buddy, who has just bromance sentiments for him. Their relationship involves deep talks, emotional participation, and compassion.

Still, it ends tragically – precisely because, unlike Michael, Scott takes advantage of the lessons learned on the road and matures as a man and a hero. Michael is unable to locate his mother, who appears only in his recollections. Michael’s “encounter with the goddess,” who for Michael is his mother, does not allow him to evolve – he stays in his own Idaho with his childhood memories, which he is unable to escape, despite being an adult and having “tried many roads in his life.”

Alienation in the Movie

The film is an excellent illustration of how people with non-traditional sexual orientations and other “different” members of society live their lives. The filmmaker realizes his work, which is founded on the concept of human alienation and perpetual outsiderism, through the example of characters or groups whose antagonism to society is perceived by society as a given, as a form of class analogy. Regardless of how marginalized they are for the typical observer, under Van Sant’s system of coordinates, they are still visual pictures that arise in the mind with the simple mention of words like “outcast” or “outcast.” In this scenario, the filmmaker does not develop the conflict from the ground up but instead paints with broad strokes, utilizing all available ways to fulfill his ideas, from homosexuality to narcotics and family violence (Sarkar 17). It is worth noting that, more often than not, such posterization works against the film because, first, it kills the artwork, and second, there are too many skeletons in the closet for one character to bear without burying the film in blackish socialism. However, in the case of “My Own Private Idaho,” the scenario came together in the greatest possible way for the filmmaker.

Movement is one of Van Sant’s preferred metaphors for reinforcing his characters’ sense of alienation. Many of his characters are traveling somewhere, believing that their goal is reachable, with minor or pseudo-significant speech or monologues interspersed. The terrain surrounding them is mostly unimportant – it may be a desert, an abandoned home, or a road – what counts is the sense of being in the midst of nowhere, as one of the key characters in “Idaho” puts it. Even bodily mobility is not required; the characters’ awareness can move and break in different ways.

Mike mixes both tendencies: On the one hand, he is in the midst of an existential journey to find his mother, a frantic attempt to heal his life to begin over. On the other hand, in his dreams, he recreates images of a past in which everything was good, and he was happy, but this idyll is destroyed when he wakes up, and the image of his mother always looms ahead, enticing him to travel a road that never ends. His outsider status is a permanent feature that separates him from his closest buddy, for whom a vagrant semi-criminal existence is simply a transient protest against a well-written, safe future.

The hermits’ lives have become an ongoing stream of strange people, drugs, and incidental connections, and it is not always obvious where reality stops and the stream of heated awareness starts. However, everyone has their own motivations for such behavior. Furthermore, as we learn more about the individuals throughout the film, Van Sant crafts a very realistic portrait of reality (Dudic 1). Soul partners fly off in separate directions after passing some stage of the journey together because everyone initially sought something different and made their own decision. Rebellion against the ‘ real world’ turned out to be merely a game, a method to study the whole underside of life, a chance to get out from under the wing of parents for some. Moreover, ‘regular life’ did not exist for someone, save in distant childhood recollections of a modest, comfortable cottage in Idaho. As the tale progresses, the spectator notices that the characters are motivated by quite different reasons. One only wants to find his home, which he never had, and the other wants to transform himself and become someone else.

The primary characters do not require this world because they are not a part of it, nor are they among the majority. Scott, son of a wealthy and influential family, and marginal Mike are fundamentally equally miserable, unmoored, and unloved. The heroes’ trip is a microcosm of a greater life journey (akin to a bizarre and, at times, frightening fairy tale), the goal of which is to find love (Krainitzki 76). While both discover love, only one is obliged to return to the regular circle, take on commitments, and even betray. In contrast, the other, unrequited love drives him on a further quest, on the journey down the unending road “which circles the entire Earth.” Mike’s narcolepsy highlights and exaggerates the hero’s retreat within himself, into his own Idaho, into a happy existence with a loving mother at his side.

Both guys are gay, but in a way that skirts over the overt homosexuality on which this film’s reputation is frequently founded. Mike and Scott both have connections with guys, but in a strictly businesslike manner. They are targets, customers, and youths that the guys use and consume in brief moments of escape. In an interview, Van Sant revealed that Mike was initially intended to be asexual, but Phoenix’s anguished eyes and lost kid innocence allow the spectator to feel the childish love he had for Scott. Scott, on the other hand, models homosexuality as much as poverty, a phase he may enjoy before having to pick himself up and reclaim his due position among the economic elite. He even flees Mike’s love in Rome by sleeping with an Italian goddess. This is what demonstrates how society regards homosexuality, making the film an excellent depiction of the LGBT community’s issues.

Idaho, on the other hand, is about strangeness in a larger, intellectual sense – individuals and ideas that conventional society finds repugnant. Its characters are inspired by the elegant, homeless landlords with whom Mike and Scott hang around (headed by active Falstaffian Bob Pigeon (William Richert). At the combined funeral of Bob and Scott’s major father, Scott’s dance between the conventional standard of high society heterosexual life and Mike’s free-spirited, homosexual lifestyle is never more evident. Scott’s side is all suppressed seriousness; Mike’s is a roaring, cacophonous carnival, mourning his dad and causing a ruckus exactly as he intended to. The audience may sense the appeal of strangeness in one scene: they do not have to limit themselves to stillness.

Mike naturally feels unrequited love for Scott, even if he is not sure how to define himself. Except for a romantic sequence by the campfire where Mike admits his emotions for Scott, it is not truly a coming-out for him. “I only have sex with a guy for money,” Scott admits. “And two guys can’t love each other.” Mike responds with sadness: “Well, I don’t know.” I could love someone even if I were not compensated for it… “I love you, and… you’re not paying me” (Van Sant 44). This is the focal point of a perplexing video that reflects a frequently disregarded culture within the queer community. It shows a certain gloom with startling beauty and tenderness, and it is certainly Van Sant’s masterpiece.

Despite its unpleasant features and usual meandering indie movie plot, the fundamental tale of Mike’s search to understand himself is the most beautiful – and tragic – component of the film. My Private Idaho is not political, and it does not attempt to argue that homosexuality is prevalent or natural. Instead, Van Sant does what few artists do: he recounts the tale of people whose lives differ from ours, and he does so with such compassion and hope that the viewer feels sympathy for those who appear lost and alone.

The Fault of the Society

Modern humans are constantly bombarded with massive amounts of information. One of the most resonant questions today is about the LGBT community, whether in countries that have already removed many restrictions on rights, being more progressive and modern, or in those that adhere more to the “traditional” path of development. They often become antagonists over many issues, playing the role of “noble us – barbaric them.”

The increasing role of information, which is becoming the idol of modern society, establishes new parameters of human existence, altering its perception of spatial and temporal boundaries, accelerating the pace of life, expanding knowledge, shaping needs, and adapting to technological determinations of everyday life (Frackman and Malakaj 301). Many times, the speed of updating, dissemination, and expansion of the sphere of influence of information exceeds human capabilities to monitor and control its flows, creating a particular danger of pressure on a person, predetermining his actions, conditioning his reactions and behavior, and setting guidelines for future development.

Information and technology provide new success criteria, such as mobility, high awareness, technological literacy, and sociability, while also causing existential loneliness, defenselessness in the face of the outside world, a lack of moral and ethical grounds, consumerism, and autarky. The Intelligent Man gives way to the Informed Man, who acquires, processes, and uses information while retaining his subjectivity solely via “catching” information flows (Olson and Lee 181). Under these conditions, modern youth socialize, which has new value constants and establishes other functional qualities of culture, society, and man. Fundamental ontological concepts such as love, sex, space, time, religion, and culture are destroyed. New paradigms of existence are built on their ruins, linked with negation as such, nihilism, where love is replaced by attraction, sex by gender, space and time by virtual analogs, religion by idolatry, and culture by multiculturalism.

One of the most significant societal problems that evolved in the middle of the past century is the problem of gender relations, one facet of which is same-sex relations. By confining this problem to such a short time span, we mean not the reality of homosexuality itself, which has existed since ancient times, but homosexuality as an anthroposociocultural problem, the main topic of which is the person with his civic rights and freedoms. Today, society is faced with the dilemma of recognizing homosexual unions as a norm and their representatives as individuals equal to all others; on the other hand, it is necessary to determine whether homosexual relations can be called love in the sense that the entire world culture and philosophy place in this concept.

The ability to freely form one’s own gender identity, unconstrained by external social restrictions, is a normal stage of adulthood and a guarantee of the normal development of intellectual abilities, cultural and practical competencies, and a person’s awareness of their role and place in life. Gender self-identification is basically a social and psychological process. Gender is formed in society as a social model for men and women, determining their position and status in many aspects of life.

Furthermore, social models, in turn, assume the presence of masculine and feminine qualities. Any form of opposition from the state, including attempts to stigmatize manifestations of free gender self-identification, can cause opposition in the youth environment, including “rebellious” perceptions of gender, the politicization of gender, and perceptions of gender self-identification by students, as the most educated segment of the young generation, as a form of social protest (Frackman 449). This type of circumstance can cause several issues in terms of psychology and education, as it needs ample resources from the individual in terms of attention, time, and many others.

Despite all of the advances, being homosexual means facing persecution, torture, assault, entrapment, bogus dates, and forced emigration from one’s own country. These are not just statistics from human rights reports; these are the voices of people who have been compelled to remain silent due to persistent threats to their lives just because they were born homosexual males. This is just one of countless stories about homosexual men who must live in terror for their lives. This is why LGBT individuals should not search for the source of their problems within themselves. The LGBT community will be unable to openly express and actualize itself unless society transforms and becomes accepting and egalitarian for all.

Conclusion

Thus, Rechy’s novel City of Night, as well as the movie My Own Private Idaho, are great examples of the problems faced by sexual minorities, as these problems are clearly shown in both works. Today, the self-definition of “queer” is not considered a deviation in itself, neither in terms of psychiatry nor in terms of psychology or sexology. For this reason, people of non-traditional sexual orientation should not look for the problem in themselves. The question here is what problems (psychological and social) a person faces, whether his relatives are ready to accept him, whether he had some traumatic experience after which he realized that he does not belong to this or that gender, and so on.

Due to social rejection, people fear self-identification and are forced to hide in the shadows, becoming alienated. However, along with possible negative consequences, a person who decides to open up feels free and gets rid of shame and fear of being “exposed” – they have an opportunity to be themself, which makes the process of self-identification critical (Beaudet 1). Thus, if society does not solve the problem of non-acceptance of sexual minorities, it will never become equal and comfortable for self-actualization.

There are two reasons why some LGBT people are afraid to come out. The first kind is external homophobia, in which members of the LGBT community are terrified of the implications of publicly displaying their homosexuality. They are particularly concerned about physical assault, extortion, and persecution.

The second factor is internal homophobia, which occurs when persons of gay orientation try to blame themselves for being different. This, in turn, causes individuals to develop a guilt complex, compelling them to remain mute and conceal their actual identity. This happens when an external homophobic environment tries to convince a person that being a member of the LGBT community is abnormal. A person who has been hearing about this since infancy sees this attitude reflected in themselves, has to live with it, and is a victim of it. There is an internal struggle here, and a person who feels gay cannot love themself since it is hazardous and may result in inevitable exterior repercussions.

The novel perfectly depicts how people who are different live their lives, making it a perfect example to analyze. Queer space in this work is characterized by gloominess and alienation, which are similar to modern realities. The movie, in turn, points to the problem of the attitude of people with high social status towards homosexuality. For them, entertainment helps them distract from the gray everyday life.

Analyzing these works and the queer space they depict helps us understand the direction society needs to move in. First of all, people should reconsider their outdated beliefs that hinder society’s development. Secondly, people need to develop respect and a willingness to accept sexual minorities. Only through such actions can the modern world become a comfortable place for human development.

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