What's the Tea, Hollywood?

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What's the Tea, Hollywood?

Melodrama and Hollywood's Queer Golden Age

Despite the red pen of the Hays censorship code which ran through Hollywood’s Golden Age, the melodramas from this era shimmer with a queer sensibility. From the enduring campness of All About Eve to the queer cowgirl overtones of Johnny Guitar, Hollywood melodramas have an enduring resonance with LGBTQ+ audiences. Elaborate costumes, catty dialogue, fierce star power and the gossip that surrounded them all played a role in solidifying these films as queer classics. This programme explores, celebrates and interrogates the legacy of queerness in some of Hollywood’s most melodramatic moments.

This season has been programmed by Rosie Beattie as part of Too Much: Melodrama on Film. The screening of All About Eve on Sat 8 November will be followed by a panel discussion which will dive into the themes of the programme.

Too Much has been made possible thanks to the BFI Film Audience Network, through funding from the National Lottery.

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