Monday, July 4, 2022

Queer and Asian-American history

I meant to spend this 3-day weekend trying to write my Arrested Development fics again, but it's just been so hot. At least the gas prices have come down 30 cents recently in my area, so maybe Biden finally got the gasoline industry to stop price gouging.

I watched a couple of HBO documentaries as well as their 1995 movie the Tuskegee Airmen. Apparently there was only 1 real-life person depicted in that TV movie, while other characters were fictional. I'd previously seen the movie Red Tails on the same subject, and that was fictionalized too.

Equal is a four-part documentary on the history of LGBTQ rights in America. Even before the Stonewall riots, queer people had tried to organize and help each other against police abuse and legal discrimination. Not only did the documentary talk about Christine Jorgensen, but they depicted trans people I'd not heard of before like Lucy Hicks Anderson and Jack Star. They also covered intersectional issues of racial discrimination within the movement, and how the civil rights movement was embarrassed about Bayard Rustin being openly gay, despite how much he helped MLK.

Meanwhile, HBO's documentary on Yellowface discussed Hollywood's racist casting of Asian roles. It's apparently a few years old, as it says that Crazy Rich Asians has not premiered yet, but it's still new to me. They do mention Anna May Wong and discuss the casting of The Good Earth, but it's brief. They mentioned progressive films I'd not heard of previously such as Sam Fuller's The Crimson Kimono, and a British-made movie about Japanese internment camps called Come See The Paradise. I'll have to see if I can watch those anywhere.

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