Wizard of oz gay actors

The Wizard of Oz is now part of the queer canon, and not just because “friend of Dorothy” became code for homosexual as I mentioned above. That comes from interpreting the three central male characters Scarecrow (Ray Bolger), Tin Man (Jack Haley), and the Cowardly Lion (Bert Lahr) as gay men revolving around a campy heroine (Judy Garland’s Dorothy). Dorothy running away from home and. Hello and thank you for being a DL contributor. We are changing the login scheme for contributors for simpler login and to better support using multiple devices. Please click here to update your account with a username and password.

“The Wizard of Oz” poster It would be a mistake to confine a discussion of The Wizard of Oz to a certain class of gay men, but in seeking a point of origin, there is a dominant narrative of queer history in which “Oz” and Garland were important parts of a mostly white, middle-class, urban gay male subculture by the s. Garland spent much of the decade on popular concert tours, and. This is a picture from the scene in the film The Wizard of Oz after Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man find the Cowardly lion and accept him into part of their group to find the Wizard. In the show, I was trying to depict positive models of Kings and Queens in a time when so many people are abusing their power in negative, monarchal, ways. The Wizard of Oz is one of the most viewed and beloved films of all time, and has truly affected the world consciousness.

Subconsciously, I think most “gay” men realize that homosexuality is essentially a dead end. In the film, this is symbolized by the false Wizard who is all fire and flash. Reminds me of the strobing lights, impressive sounds, and pyrotechnics at the San Francisco “gay” dance clubs, or on a larger scale, at a Madonna concert. Every year, usually around Christmastime, The Castro Theater would have a special screening of Oz. It was a high holy day for gay men in San Francisco. Many attendees arrived in costume; as their favorite characters: the most plentiful being Glinda drag queens.

According to “Oz” scholar Dee Michel, who is writing a book on “Oz” and gay men, there are certain beliefs about the film and the LGBT community that persist in spite of a lack of clear historical evidence. Senior Lecturer in History in the School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle. The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. University of Newcastle provides funding as a member of The Conversation AU.