ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 charts the development of queer cinema throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century in the context of the particular significance urban environments hold for gay, lesbian, and transgender people. It emphasizes that queer cinema did not advance in a linear way from invisibility to visibility but reflected changes in societal culture and technological development. The proliferation of gay and lesbian culture during the Weimar Republic led to important silent and early sound films that advocated for gay rights. In contrast, 1950s Hollywood under the rule of the Production Code forbade positive representations of “deviant” sexuality, which led to homophobic tropes and narratives. The 1968 Stonewall Rebellion revolutionized gay and lesbian representation on screen to include positive images. Yet, following the AIDS crisis, films associated urban gay culture with death, often in thrillers and horror films. In the 1990s New Queer Cinema celebrated the many possibilities of sexuality and gender performativity in urban environments in the past and the present. With the increased normalization of gay and lesbian characters, the city became a backdrop in television series. In the twenty-first century, iPhone aesthetics allow for a new and more intimate relationship to urban settings.
