— Aishwarya VS
Ever felt a need for much color in your lives? Well…cheer up! It’s Pride month (albeit the end) and let’s celebrate the vibrant colors of gender, embrace the different tones of sexuality, paint our desires and enjoy every shade we own. We proudly present a few iconic LGBTQ+ books, movies and pop culture moments of Pride.
Song- Blue River (2018)
Released in 2018 in her six-track debut EP, Prologue, this incredibly expressive song by Alisha Batth is more than just music. The Blue River is a song of liberation and introspective joy with a distinctive guitar-centric sparse yet vulnerable style. Batth defines the song as inspired by the visualisation of an energetic stream of calm that talks of love and the process of letting go while allowing our truths to prevail. Its music for ears and eyes as Batth moves between incredible stillness and action both visually and sonically with the Blue River. The deep, soothing track with minimalistic songwriting and composition is a strong and honest approach to lyric-driven indie-rock folk.
Movie- Portrait of a lady on Fire (2019)
“When you asked if I had known love, I could tell the answer was yes. And that it was now”.
Portrait of a lady on Fire is an exquisite piece of art by Celine Sciamma portraying the complex yet beautiful relationship between Marianne and Heloise. Marianne, an artist, commissioned to paint a wedding portrait of Heloise, a French countess, falls in love with her to begin an incandescent and utterly beguiling love story. The movie successfully captures the passionate, electronic connection between the two women as they find their desire for creative impulses and for each other. Set in 18th century France, this powerfully enacted, thought-provoking, delicate drama is a visual delight encompassing the still and liberating cool blue sea or the all-consuming fire that becomes part of their tantalizing tale. The movie also manages to strike a balance between words and silence, darkness and light and distance and intimacy as it embarks on a voyage to look at the unhurried, haunting domesticity of life and other things in an unapologetic womanly way.
Book-Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2012)
Benjamin Alire Sáenz’s 2012 novel, Aristotle and Dante, is an absolutely terrific piece that explores love, identity, sexuality and more. The young-adult novel tells the story of two Mexican American teenagers, Aristotle “Ari Mendoza and Dante Quintana of El Paso, Texas. The friendship that paves the way for romance during a span of one year in their lives is also an enlightening commentary on the historical settings of 1987-88. The skillfully developed novel discusses issues of family, ethnicity and sexuality while portraying non-heteronormative sexualities, represents Latino identity and shows constructions of adolescent masculinity.
Play-Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (1980)
A wonderful piece of theatre in its own right, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove is a seminal work that paints a “gay woman’s heaven” where a group of eight women spend their annual holidays. Following the course of their summer in the fictional Long Island seaside town of Bluefish Cove is a play of friendship, love, fear and pain that plays with sensitive human emotions to transcend preconceptions to show the universality of lives. This landmark lesbian dramatic literature was also the first mainstream play of its kind in America in the 1980s. Jane Chambers’s masterpiece play, while being an important queer play, holds a little something for everyone.
TV Show – Pose (2018-2021)
Pose is a masterpiece in authentic LGBTQ storytelling and has been noted for its inclusivity. Created by Steven Canals, Ryan Murphy, and Brad Falchuk, it is the first television series to feature multiple transgender women of colour in leading roles. Beginning with the evolution of the ball culture in the late 80s New York, Pose is a classic that boldly portrays the community’s history, glory and pain. Pose becomes a show of possibility, diversity and acceptance with a bitter-sweet yet largely optimistic worldview. The show tackles other events and issues, including the rise of the luxury Trump-era, Madonna’s Vogue, the AIDS crisis, and explores several inevitable segments of society and life. For his role as Pray Tell, Billy Porter became the first openly gay black man to win an Emmy for Outstanding Actor for the drama series.
Anime-Hourou Musuko (2011)
Hourou Musuko or the Wandering Son is undoubtedly one of the best Japanese anime about growing up. With its gentle approach to crossdressing, puberty and queer problems, the show is an equally educating and entertaining show on gender identity. The work brings out the strangling societal norms, gender issues and struggles through the protagonists Nitori Shuichi and Takatsuki Yoshino, both of who struggle with their biological and performative gender differences. Emphasising the individual and unfettered development of gender identity and sexual orientation, the show is an easygoing drama with a well-written with realistic character development. Tearing through the normalized gender constructs, Hourou Musuko is an impressive take on transsexualism and humanity.
Poem- My Lover is a Woman (1974)
“My lover is a woman
& when I hold her
feel her warmth
I feel good”
This bold and outright poem by Pat Parker is an ultimate queer classic that challenges the norms of acceptance. My Lover is a Woman is a window to the poet’s struggle against race, sexuality and acceptance-both inner and outer, as a black queer woman. The poem becomes a stunning depiction of her knowledge, emotions and strength in the face of life’s hurdles. Parker advocates self-love and encourages her readers to enjoy and do things that make one truly happy, even if it is not always received with wide arms by the world. Written in 1974, the poem still holds hearts for the hope, pain and solace that it brings.
Poem: My Lover is Woman
Edited by Lakshmi Priya
Article 19 