The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies

The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies
by Vito Russo

The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies
Our Price: $39.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.48 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Vito Russo
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1987-09-20
ISBN: 0060961325
Number of pages: 368
Publisher: Harper & Row

Summary of The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies

Praised by the Chicago Tribune as "an impressive study" and written with incisive wit and searing perception--the definitive, highly acclaimed landmark work on the portrayal of homosexuality in film.
When Vito Russo published the first edition of The Celluloid Closet in 1981, there was little question that it was a groundbreaking book. Today it is still one of the most informative and provocative books written about gay people and popular culture. By examining the images of homosexuality and gender variance in Hollywood films from the 1920s to the present, Russo traced a history not only of how gay men and lesbians had been erased or demonized in movies but in all of American culture as well. Chronicling the depictions of gay people such as the "sissy" roles of Edward Everett Horton and Franklin Pangborn in 1930s comedies or predatory lesbians in 1950s dramas (see Lauren Bacall in Young Man with a Horn and Barbara Stanwyck in Walk on the Wild Side), Russo details how homophobic stereotypes have both reflected and perpetrated the oppression of gay people. In the revised edition, published a year before his death in 1990, Russo added information on the new wave of independent and gay-produced films--The Times of Harvey Milk, Desert Hearts, Buddies--that emerged during the 1980s. --Michael Bronski

Movies Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Movies Books
David Lean: A Biography ImageDavid Lean: A Biography
by Kevin Brownlow
St Martins Pr; Published: 1997-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $55.00
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded ImageThe New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded
by David Thomson
Knopf; Published: 2010-10-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.28
Price in other shops: $40.00
Placing Shadows, Third Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production ImagePlacing Shadows, Third Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production
by Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2005-02-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $36.93
Price in other shops: $46.95
Placing Shadows, Second Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production ImagePlacing Shadows, Second Edition: Lighting Techniques for Video Production
by Chuck Gloman, Tom LeTourneau
Focal Press; Published: 2000-04-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.89
Price in other shops: $38.95
Stars in My Eyes ImageStars in My Eyes
by Don Bachardy
University of Wisconsin Press; Published: 2011-02-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.98
Price in other shops: $19.95
Behind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios ImageBehind the Curtain: Making Music in Mumbai's Film Studios
by Gregory D. Booth
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.71
Price in other shops: $24.95
Time Out Film Guide, 6th Edition ImageTime Out Film Guide, 6th Edition
Time Out; Published: 1998-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops: $22.95
Natasha ImageNatasha
by Suzanne Finstad
Random House; Published: 2002-07-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.45
The Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry ImageThe Writer Got Screwed (but didn't have to): Guide to the Legal and Business Practices of Writing for the Entertainment Industry
by Brooke A. Wharton
Harper Perennial; Published: 1997-03-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.15
Price in other shops: $14.99
JOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN ImageJOHN WAYNE: AMERICAN
by Randy Roberts, James S. Olson
Free Press; Published: 1995-09-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $69.95
Similar Books and other products
Doctor Faustus and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Parts I and II) ImageDoctor Faustus and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Parts I and II)
by Christopher Marlowe
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.66
Price in other shops: $14.95
Kiss of the Spider Woman ImageKiss of the Spider Woman
by Manuel Puig
Vintage; Published: 1991-04-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.73
Price in other shops: $15.00
Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Ballantine Reader's Circle) ImageFried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
by Fannie Flagg
Ballantine Books; Published: 1997-01-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $15.00
Orlando (Wordsworth Classics) ImageOrlando (Wordsworth Classics)
by Virginia Woolf
Wordsworth Editions Ltd; Published: 1999-12-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.26
Price in other shops: $4.99
Queer Cinema, The Film Reader (In Focus: Routledge Film Readers) ImageQueer Cinema, The Film Reader (In Focus: Routledge Film Readers)
Routledge; Published: 2004-08-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $35.71
Price in other shops: $42.95
The Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV ImageThe Prime Time Closet: A History of Gays and Lesbians on TV
by Stephen Tropiano
Applause; Applause Books; Published: 2002-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops: $16.95
New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader ImageNew Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader
Rutgers University Press; Published: 2004-09-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.05
Price in other shops: $24.95
Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films ImageToms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films
by Donald Bogle
Continuum; Published: 2001-10-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.00
Price in other shops: $34.95
Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America (Genre and Beyond: A Film Studies Series) ImageQueer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America (Genre and Beyond: A Film Studies Series)
by Harry M. Benshoff, Sean Griffin
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Published: 2005-10-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.90
Price in other shops: $32.95
The Celluloid Closet (Special Edition) ImageThe Celluloid Closet (Special Edition)
Sony; Release date: 2001-05-29; DVD
Best price: $12.81
Price in other shops: $24.96
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories