What's Wrong with this Picture?

 Preface: It's a rant of sorts, and it could be slightly off-base. It should in no way be about Outfest, who were more than generous. It really was coming home after the screening and seeing the stories about Lawrence King in Newsweek. Thus, it's only an opinion.

The problem with happiness is that you never want it to end—and it always does. Tonight, the final screening of Outfest presented the purely delightful, "Tru Love", a feel-good, happy-ending film that depicts a series of teenagers in high school coming to terms with being gay in various ways. It is a splendid film, full of wonderful characters, brilliant dialog, and a film you would be happy to show every teenager who is coming of age. It was evident by the sense of glee from the audience after the screening that this was a film that perfectly ended the  festival. "Tru Love" is something of a fairy tale. In real life, things are alot more complicated; friends don't just suddenly embrace your coming out, families rarely react with a "ho hum" attitude. Real life is messy, emotional, and not always to our liking. And that's what happened: That flush of good will evaporates under the reality of  Newsweek's cover story about 15 year old Lawrence King who was murdered in his classroom by a classmate who felt he was being stalked by the effeminate young boy who wanted to dress like a girl and be called Leticia. Suddenly, it doesn't feel all that good. While no doubt, "Tru Love" makes the case that coming out can turn into party, the reality is, it is a mine field for those are truly different.
The Festival opened with "Breakfast with Scot" which featured a young boy not unlike Lawrence King. In this film, the boy is gradually accepted, and his effeminate mannerisms are somewhat quelled by an adoring surrogate parent. The truth is, Scot could have been killed for his infatuations. The bridge between film making and reality could not be further apart. And while Outfest could not anticipate the Lawrence King tragedy, it does strike me that everything, from the saturated color graphic design to the heavily up-beat films that celebrate advancement within the gay community and the world at large, there are serious and even life-threatening situations that are cinematically glossed over. Which is not to suggest that Outfest went out of its way to be appear jubilant—the film "Before I Forget" was one of the most brutal depictions of growing old gay I have ever witnessed, but from the few films that I saw, there was tendency to appear joyful, celebratory about being homosexual that unfortunately the Lawrence King tragedy betrays. This was also true of the wonderful, "If The World Were Mine", a film that also concludes with Hollywood fairy dust (literally) that is quite OK to be gay. The fact is, the world is not a safe place for those who are outside the "so-called" norm, especially in youth. America loves her queens, from Liberace to Will and Grace's Jack McFarland to Carson Kressley, but the sad reality is that for those in commonplace situations like  being in junior high school or high school, reality bites, with sometimes mortal consequences. In real life, the adorable Scot could be dead. While we congratulate and exchange wedding rings and vows, it the younger generation who experience the real horror of being called a faggot, who face physical and emotional consequences for being "different". The Lawrence King tragedy so painfully reminds us, that life and scripts that we live are not always filled with glorious musical endings, but rather there is blood, terror, pain and in the case of the one young man, there is death.
Culture, especially movies and television change us. Race relations in film and television have done more to change this country than any law. Will and Grace, Queer Eye, Brokeback Mountain and others have served the Gay and Lesbian community well in this regard. As has Outfest. Many of these films will never seen by the general public, but some will, and only by virtue of having been included in Outfest. A friend reminds me that Gays and Lesbians have long been depicted as suffering, and that the celebratory mood of today's films can only challenge that notion, and for a younger viewing audience it can only help make them feel better about themselves. It's a point not to be argued. In art and life, there is a balance between reality and fiction. In the week that I saw "Before I Forget" I also watched the DVD of Disney's "Enchanted" and never have two films been at such extreme opposites. But life is like that.