Throughout the history of filmmaking and screenplay writing themes and stereotypes have developed and shifted, especially throughout specific popularized genres. In horror, themes of homosexuality and queerness have had immense shifts throughout the last few decades. Queer horror always existed, but the depiction of it shifted... mirroring the social shifts the United States was going through regarding queerness. As the act of screenwriting developed and grew, the depictions of various marginalized groups grew and shifted as well. Homosexuality in film and media during most of the 20th century was generally that of a negative attitude... with these queer depictions in films and screenplays of various genres often engaging in stereotypical coding, with a character archetype known in the early 20th century as “sissies” often being used to infer toward's a characters homosexuality (more often in a negative way).
Subsequently, the creation of queer media in the early 1900s’ in the United States has often had to be subtle, subconscious, or “interpretive”, with the continuing rise of film industry norms and regulations creating even more pushback against any queer representation. The Motion Picture Production Code (aka the Hays Code) was written by a Catholic publisher and a Jesuit priest, and it detailed specific guidelines that filmmakers were required to follow regarding censorship. It prohibited cursing, graphic violence, rape, profanity, and sexual persuasions; of which gay relations were included in. Those who created queer characters had to do so in a quiet manner, being allowed only subtext or ghosts of implications. Anymore than that, anything overt or outright stated, would be a risk to their career and themselves. No doubt many directors and screenwriters participating in the growing horror industry were queer, but the world in which they were forced to creative in was very stifling towards LGBTQ+ creatives. Queer depictions in film were allowed, but were limiting. It was only "allowed" if the depiction was a negative one... If a screenwriter were to write a piece in which a queer relationship was depicted positively it might paint the writer or director in a negative light, heavily impacting their careers. Almost no writers or directors were openly queer in Hollywood. One of the few exceptions to this was James Whale, one of the only openly gay directors in early Hollywood! His work is some of the most infamous early queer cinema that explores the idea of queerness as something complicated, bloody, and most importantly, monstrous.
James Whale wrote and directed Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and Frankenstein's Bride; all classic horror films that created several infamous tropes in the genre. While Frankenstein is not explicitly queer, its underlying themes are a key example of the way in which queer themes were explored in early 20th century horror. When looking at it with a queer lens (which is more than likely what Whale intended), one could see Frankenstein's drive and desire for his creation’s perfection (followed by his immediate punishment as a result of his ego) as a mirror to the anxious want of a queer individual during the tumultuous period Whale lived in. The monster of Frankenstein is expressing the desire for love in a society that does not acknowledge or accept it... Both yearn, both are feared, and both are punished. Queerness-in Frankenstein-was love, and fear, pain, and want.
While characters that are implied to be queer were rampant during this period, it wasn’t until much later that the first openly queer characters (specifically in horror) would be depicted, elbeit not in a positive manner. A direct quote from Monsters in the closet: Homosexuality and the horror film (Benshoff 2) says it best: “...homosexuals, like vampires, have rarely cast a reflection in the social looking glass of popular culture. When they are seen, they are often filtered through the iconography of the horror film: ominous sound cues, shocked reaction shots, or even thunder and lightning. Both movie monsters and homosexuals have existed chiefly in shadowy closets, and when they do emerge from these proscribed places into the sunlit world, they cause panic and fear.” Benshoff cleverly compares the audience's attitude towards monsters in horror to that of the depiction of queer characters in a similar fashion.
One of the most prominent examples of this is from the infamous horror film Sleepaway Camp (1983). A young teenage girl named Angela attends a weeklong camp. Throughout her short stay, Sleepaway Camp becomes the site of several gruesome murders at the hands of a mysterious "madman". Eventually, near the end of the film, it is revealed to the audience that the murderous lunatic was Angela all along!!! Furthermore, she is actually a “transsexual”! Gasp! In a chilling final scene, the last shot of the film depicts Angela holding a knife and standing naked by the lakeshore, depicting her male genitals (likely in an attempt at shock horror), and completely covered in blood. Her mouth is open wide, from which an almost animalistic growl emerges. The film has had a complex, oft argued about, understanding throughout the queer community since its release. Many view this film as transphobic, with the clear portrayal of Angela as nothing but this monstrous figure. This film was not created by Hiltzik with the intention of being a "queer slasher", as the portions focusing on queerness or queer relationships clearly are placed in the film as an attempt to generate a sense of shock or horror from its’ audience. Additionally, throughout the screenplay, Hiltzik references any depictions of a queer relationship or queer existence as simply a way to foreshadow the eventual reveal of Angelas’ "monstrous" secret. However, the queer community had begun to look at Sleepaway Camp with a different lens. In It Came From The Closet: Queer Reflections On Horror, Vallese discusses a possible queer subtext that could be extracted from the media. “Sleepaway Camp doesn’t feature a traditional Final Girl. The closest possible is Susie, the kind hearted counselor who doesn’t get more than five minutes of screen time. We’re left with the possibility that Angela–with her intense stares, her literal embodiment of masculine traits–serves as both the Final Girl and killer. …the film presents a homosexual version of Laura Mulvey’s “male gaze,” which lingers on male bodies and, for the most part, ignores female ones,”. This is not the only instance in which queer audiences find homosexual subtext or undertones in popular horror media, with Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (1985) and Scream (1996) being two of the much more prevalent and well-known examples (opinion: there is no way Stu and Billy weren't a little gay for one another...). There was, of course, always more direct instances of queerness in film, such as Night of the Living Dead (1968), which featured the first openly queer character in horror. However, homosexual audiences seemed to engage with/heavily resonate with films in which queer subtext can be found, specifically in the 1970-90s horror period that was rife with blood, gore, and slashers.
Horror media during this period, especially in film and television, was often using queer imagery for "shock value". Depictions of explicit or subconscious queerness did not work to develop or explore a character, but rather, worked to monsterize them. Even if screenwriters or directors were openly queer, the media that they created did not overtly express that. Rather, they depended on the unconscious ideas of the monstrosity of queerness oft expressed in that period of horror to explore their sexuality through their creative works. Many major horror screenwriters of the 80s and 90s were queer. Clive Barker was an openly gay man, and wrote Hellraiser in the early 80s. Don Mancini, openly gay, wrote Child’s Play in 1988. Both films are now considered to have queer subtext, but nothing is ever overtly stated in the films themselves. Was the existence of queerness too horrific for horror? This internalized fear of queerness the public held (especially heightened due to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and the long-lasting impact of the Hays Code) exposed itself through this simultaneous avoidance and monsterization. Queerness–if depicted at all–was typically written as something to be afraid of, akin to a monster hiding in the shadows. Because of this, queer people were often introduced to the concept of queerness through this monsterized expression of homosexuality. They found parts of themselves in these horrific monsters, sympathized with the "monster" and the idea of being seen as monstrous, and thus were able to recognize and find queerness in these characters. However, in modern times, throughout the late 2000s and beyond, queerness has been depicted more and more openly in horror. With the creation of films such as High Tension (2003), Jennifer’s Body (2009), Fear Street (2021), and Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), all of which feature queer relationships or openly queer characters, the queer community is seeing a significant increase in direct and overt representation. Sometimes, the films do have issues with their representations. For example, fetishization often being implemented into queer representations in scripts–with Jennifer’s Body being a common example discussing the fetishization of female queerness at the hands of straight men (HOWEVER: a possible queer retrospective... “...it is not a generically queer perspective on wlw relationships. Instead, its energy is exceptionally specific: what it means to experience parallel sexualities with your best friend as you punch through the last vestiges of childhood; and, significantly, the central body of water that is sexuality.” (It Came From the Closet 2022)). Despite that, however, queer people are getting representation. And more importantly, as time goes on more members of the queer community are beginning to get a chance to create in the film industry. Queer scriptwriters have begun to write their own narrative. The queer community no longer has to look for subtextual evidence of homosexual undertones in their favorite horror films, when those from their own community are finally able to be open about themselves in the writers room. No longer do queer people have to look for homosexual subtext through thinly veiled insults or stereotypes. Characters can be queer, trans, gay, lesbian, and it is no longer portrayed as monstrous or shocking. And while these historic examples of monstrous depictions of queerness will always be beloved by the queer community, it is wonderful to see how open we are able to be, both socially and in our own personal creative pursuits.
The future of film, and screenwriting specifically, in queer horror has never looked more promising. The past five years alone have released an incredibly large number of big name blockbuster horror films that give queer representation; far more major pictures involving expressed queerness than the amount released in the entirety of the 20th century. When considering this rapid rise in queer horror just in the last decade, screenwriting for queer horror has also obviously seen a clear increase. Queer screenwriting and making always existed in American horror, but its presentation has shifted throughout the last hundred years as public opinion and religious influence on explicit queerness changed with it. From subtext to plot points, from plot points to side characters, and from side characters to main characters, queerness in horror has gone through a long journey to get where it is today. With the acceptance of queerness more widespread than it ever has been in the United States, queer horror is likely to continue to increase its expansion throughout modern pop culture. When taking into account just how much horror connected with queer audiences in the 20th century, even when most depictions of queerness in horror were “monstrous”, it is no surprise that open queerness is having such a rapid ascent and integration into the horror genre in the modern age. Those same kids and teenagers that watched Sleepaway Camp or Night of the Living Dead, and saw themselves in those monstrous queer characters, are very likely the ones now in the writing room; finally able to be openly queer–fighting for representation. They are creating horror for the queer kids and teens of today... in hopes that these teens will see themselves in their horror, like they did in the monsters of the 80s and 90s all those years before.
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date completed: oct. 24, 2022