Written by Mathirakshana K and Sraddha R
Edited by Ananya Athaiya
Illustrated by Ananya Prabhakar
Queer identities and art are inextricably linked.
Queer people have always been at the heart of creativity, innovation, and self-expression. Art is often the gateway to freedom through which they can express themselves when they feel trapped and isolated. It imparts fluidity and is a sanctuary to those on the fringes of society. But as queer art goes mainstream through cinema, social media, and other forms of visual media, it continues to be harder for them to find a place in the real world where you and I are allowed to coexist freely.
The Queer community has probably been one of the least represented communities in the world of cinema. Psychological studies reveal that representation in cinema actually has an influence over the queer youth who are struggling to navigate through their identities. Their representation has been limited to only a handful of films that have an obscure hint of a queer character - in almost 126 years of Indian cinema- that are usually used for comic relief.
Several movies, from Sholay (1975) to Housefull 4 (2019), have portrayed queer characters just for "jokes". However, post-pandemic, queer representation in cinema has advanced since OTT platforms have gone mainstream and such platforms have fewer censorships. One of the recent examples of such representation is the Bollywood movie, Badhaai Do (2022), which brings to light problems like marriage inequality, adoption rights for same-sex couples, and struggles that queer people encounter on a daily basis.
In addition, employing more queer people in the industry would provide credibility to the production, casting, and scriptwriting process and allow for more exploration.
Online mediums of connection of social media such as Instagram, and Facebook , have given way for members of the LGBTQ+ community to seek support, and guidance and engage in dialogues with queer people to share their fears and desires without much judgment (confirmed as per the study Can Social Media Participation Enhance LGBTQ+ Youth Well-Being? Development of the Social Media Benefits Scale). However, although social media and cinema enable and "empower" queer people to express themselves, it is still a cage. A cage that traps them on the screens and portrays their work as a "freak show”.
"Our aesthetics make it onto the runways, never our bodies. We're always the mood boards, never the models." Says Alok Menon (they/them), a queer author, at a NYFW interview, on how "social media has allowed a digital freak show where people scroll, follow and mine queer people for inspiration but it's still another paradigm of our dehumanization."
As part of the increasing representation, The Inko Centre is a non-profit foundation that works on "promoting an intercultural dialogue between two rich traditions that are India and Korea". In 2014, they artistically put together an Indo-Korean theatre collaboration, called Beyond Binary, going on to explore issues of sexual orientations and identity while acquiring inspiration from our very own Indian mythology.
"In Indian mythology, there are many stories where people cannot be categorized as man or woman," said the director, Yosup Bae. The binary classification always troubled him even though Indian culture was traditionally more accepting of sexual minorities. His intent was to give the audience a newer, fresher perspective on gender non-conformity through visual media. The production was found to be a gripping portrayal that took them out of their comfort zones and conveyed the anguish of a body trapped in a confused mind forced to live in a world that sees only in binary.
In a more rural context, a village called 'Koovagam' in Tamil Nadu holds a festival dedicated to and revolving around the transgender community of India. It takes place sometime between March and April, the month of Chaitra, and in the Koothandavar Temple. Over the course of the 18-day festival where they get the reins on the creative freedom to express themselves through street plays on the mythological origin of the festival.
Though there is a visible change, an imbalance still persists in the lens that society views it through. However, accuracy in the portrayal in wide-scale media like cinema and social media could bring about significant changes. Queer art is being embraced and cherished, gradually and in its different forms. In addition, employing more queer people in the industry would provide credibility to the production, casting, and scriptwriting process and allow for more exploration.
Even if in the shadows, the community has thrived, and now it's time to lift the veil up, to celebrate with pride.
Comments