The month of June was chosen to be the LGBTQ+ Pride Month because of the uprisings that took place in Stonewall in 1969 in New York City — well depicted through the trans perspective in the Netflix documentaryThe Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson— igniting the modern LGBTQ+ political and social movements as they are known today, as reported byNational Geographic. The reason why the riots and upheaval happened is linked to the systemic oppression queer communities faced at that time in the United States, which was shortly after followed by the HIV crisis all over the world, taking the lives ofover 79 million peopleacross the globe.
Due to this resistance and struggle history, the narratives present in LGBTQ+ cinema predominantly focused either on the suffering of closeted gay and lesbian characters or the deadly fate of HIV, which is the case of the Oscar-awarded featurePhiladelphia, which was a breakthrough movie about AIDS. As important as these narratives are, however, struggle isn’t all what the queer experience is about. The changinghistory of LGBTQ+ cinemashows otherwise, and, more significantly, proves just how important happy endings are for queer characters in film.
Teenage dream
More recently filmmakers have welcomed the necessity for light-hearted portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters, giving hope and, most of all, representation of what happy endings can look like for this portion of society. One of the most timely examples is the successfulNetflix showHeartstopper,that brings to light the story of two teenage boys who fall in love for each other, while also overall presenting the joy of trans and lesbian characters as well.
Previous to the British Netflix hit show, other light-hearted LGBTQ+ stories have stolen audiences hearts. Also from Netflix, the seriesSpecialis a milestone for the audiovisual history for the portrayal of a gay man who has cerebral palsy and goes about life with the same love problems and successes every other adult faces, all in sitcom style. Another great example of a typical teenage love story are the two adaptations of the bookSimon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda: the groundbreaking filmLove, Simonfrom 2018 and the spinoff Hulu seriesLove, Victor. Each of these productions give hope to queer youth, which is much-needed messaging in a world that harbors homophobic and transphobic rhetoric and attitudes.
Related:12 Groundbreaking LGBTQ+ Movies of the 21st Century
A Global Movement of Happy Endings
A movement for happy endings and stories that resonate with greater audiences is not singular to Hollywood. In India, where same-sex relationships were legalized in 2019, amazing Bollywood love stories depicting LGBTQ+ characters have been produced —Baddhai Do, available on Netflix, andSHUBH MANGAL ZYADA SAAVDHAN, are great examples. In Brazil, additionally, two films can be used as successful examples of LGBTQ+ representation with happy endings: the Teddy Award-winnerThe Way He Looksfollows a coming-of-age love story between a blind boy and a new student at school in a very delicate and intimate way, whilstAlice Junior, another coming-of-age film, tells the story of a popular, and very much accepted by her family, trans girl moving to a very small and conservative town seeking her long-awaited first kiss — definitely a high school comedy with a heart-warming end.
Globally, LGBTQ+ cinema has historically operated in the underground. Recent years, of course, have seen a move towards the mainstream, heralding a new era of LGBTQ+ cinema. This global movement of happy endings is, in a way, a radical statement against the past narratives of oppression, tragedy, and death. It shows to everyone that we are worthy of lives filled with love, joy, and fulfillment.
Related:8 Best International LGBTQ+ Movies to Watch
Yes, We Can
The struggle LGBTQ+ folks go through is real and important to be dealt with in the media, but some productions have managed to merge the actual drama with fairy tail-ish endings, which in some way can be seen as redemption for the ones who faced prejudice and bigotry. That’s the case ofPose, a series that can be described as drama but ends on a hopeful note, giving some of the most loved queer characters on TV incredible closure while pointing in a direction of acceptance and love. This new perspective has also fueled the remake and spin-off of previous productions with more diverse casts and timely stories. Such is the case for Netflix’sTales of the Cityand the 90s' hitsQueer as FolkandThe L World.
LGBTQ+ cinema is one of the most powerful tools to portray human relations and, of course, when queer characters are at the center of those narratives, it can have great impacts on how LGBTQ+ audiences perceive themselves and what/who they can look up to. Not acknowledging the fact LGBTQ+ people oftentimes are oppressed may be naive, but so do other people in society and there are still hundreds of productions about love, friendship, adventures, and fantasy that conclude in happy and hopeful notes. The queer community is eager to find their happy ending in real life with advancements in political, social and cultural realms, and while the fight is on, it will be a delightful break to perceive themselves as people who truly deserve a happily-ever-after.
