There have been many gay-themed films and tv dramas but the one which means the most to me is a miniseries which was aired on Channel 4 in the mid-90’s – Armistead Maupin’s Tales of The City.
It revolves round a boarding house in San Francisco, run by Mrs Madrigal (played expertly and intuitively by Olympia Dukakis) and tells the story of the tenants who are all fortunate to live there. It was the first visual portrayal of gay people where they were out there living and loving and not dropping like flies.
The scene where Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver gets on the tram dressed as goat god Pan and chats away with Mary Ann Singleton (played by Laura Linney) and nary a single person looks up or around sums up the whole programme. It’s unself-consciously gay positive in its outlook and I think that’s fab!
I guess each of you will have your own favourites from queer tv and cinema. There are many reasons why we latch onto certain films, programmes. In my case, they remind me of a time when I finally got to see ‘myself’ out there in the world and didn’t feel quite so alone or depressed.
Which ones mean the most to you and why?
