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A review by endotheline
The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies by Vito Russo
3.0
I don't know if I'll ever truly be interested in non-fiction books, but this book was pretty interesting. It felt kind of repetitive and even outdated at certain points, but overall, it's an important and informative book.
Over the past few weeks, I've been getting kind of bored and tired of doing the same mind-numbing shit every day, so I decided to read more. And like I said before, I've never been particularly interested in non-fiction books, but I decided to read this non-fiction book because I was genuinely interested in learning about the depictions of gay people in Hollywood films. And after reading this book, I feel like I learned a lot about that, particularly how shitty it has been and how shitty it still is.
So, I feel like I learned a lot, but I do have some problems with this book. I thought some parts were repetitive because the author would give an example of a horrible depiction and then another example and then another one. I know that the author was trying to prove a point with many examples, but reading a ton of film titles and character names all at once can be overwhelming. And I thought some parts were outdated because the author sometimes treated homophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry as if they were mutually exclusive, as if there aren't people who simultaneously deal with homophobia and racism. I don't completely fault the author for that because his focus was on Hollywood films and Hollywood films rarely depict gay people of color. But it would've been nice if this author had a more intersectional view about the depictions of gay people.
But overall, this book is really important. I think anyone who has an interest in film should read this book.
(I'm writing this review right after finishing the book so I might change my rating later)
Rating: 3/5
Over the past few weeks, I've been getting kind of bored and tired of doing the same mind-numbing shit every day, so I decided to read more. And like I said before, I've never been particularly interested in non-fiction books, but I decided to read this non-fiction book because I was genuinely interested in learning about the depictions of gay people in Hollywood films. And after reading this book, I feel like I learned a lot about that, particularly how shitty it has been and how shitty it still is.
So, I feel like I learned a lot, but I do have some problems with this book. I thought some parts were repetitive because the author would give an example of a horrible depiction and then another example and then another one. I know that the author was trying to prove a point with many examples, but reading a ton of film titles and character names all at once can be overwhelming. And I thought some parts were outdated because the author sometimes treated homophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry as if they were mutually exclusive, as if there aren't people who simultaneously deal with homophobia and racism. I don't completely fault the author for that because his focus was on Hollywood films and Hollywood films rarely depict gay people of color. But it would've been nice if this author had a more intersectional view about the depictions of gay people.
But overall, this book is really important. I think anyone who has an interest in film should read this book.
(I'm writing this review right after finishing the book so I might change my rating later)
Rating: 3/5