Queer Theory

The study of gay and lesbian cinema started to grow in the 1970's. This was due to the feminist film theory and the disciplines increasing representation of women, racial and ethnic minorities and later gay and lesbian people.Queer cinema is a term used to describe films which are made to show some aspect of gay or lesbian experience.

When gay people are used in films they often fall under one of these categories: the Queen who is a very flamboyant gay man who can be considered a drama queen at times, the drag queen who dresses up as a women but is still a man and the sissie,  a camp person who is not very masculine and is easily scared.

There are two main homosexual stereotypes in 'Mean Girls'. These are the gay guy Damian and the lesbian Janis. Damian is shown as being very feminine and acts more like a girl than a boy.  He has a very feminine walk and also often uses his hands when talking which comes of very dramatic. These are both very old fashioned stereotypes shown in films to represent homosexuals.When Damian is introduced the first thing Damian says is about is Cadys hair. A male wouldn't usually be interested or know about girls hair which makes him seem very feminine. He is also seen in the girls toilets and not the boys to show that he may see him self as more of a girl than a boy.

Another thing which comes of very feminine about him is when Cady asks if anyone owns pink clothes and he says yes. Janis on the other hand says no as she is a lot more butch and not  very feminine at all. Janis is often seen in very dark clothes which goes against the old fashioned stereotype of what women should look like. She also has quite a masculine low voice.

These stereotypes are shown different to other characters in this film. Janis is the only girl in this film who isn't feminine. Most of the other girls are shown in very bright clothes whilst she is dressed all in black with very dark make up and very dark hair to show shes different to the other girls and she doesn't fit in to the the old fashioned female stereotype like the rest do. Damian is shown more as a girl than a boy. He is shown to be friends with other girls, uses the girls toilets and is interested in feminine things like hair.

The issues with these stereotypes are that these stereotypes could come off offensive to many people. Many gay people may not act in this feminine way whilst there may be many straight people who do. Many gay people may not want to be represented as this feminine stereotype and think its summing all gay people up as very wimpy.

Some people may think that these stereotypes are not being used correctly however this film doesn't show homosexuals to be bad people but more good people. This film is also a comedy which jokes about stereotypes in a very lighthearted way. If this film was a drama and there was no comedy elements shown with the stereotyping then it may be seen as very offensive. These rolls also work very well in this film and a lot of the humor is shown around these stereotypes so with out them this film wouldn't be as funny and less interesting.