History and Bigotry in Cult Classics

The sixties and seventies begat a dramatic increase in the lurid boundaries that films were willing to push, with onscreen depictions of gore, sex, and drugs becoming more frequent and more graphic. Nowhere is this exploration of social taboos more evident than in the films of the era that are now circulated as cult classics.

Of course the dramatic change in subject matter is due primarily to the abandonment of film censorship by the Hollywood Production Code in the late sixties, as well as to the major cultural shifts that occurred throughout the sixties and into the early seventies; indeed, it can be instructive to track how closely entertainment—even strange and marginalized entertainment, such as cult films—corresponds to and reflects major historical events and changing attitudes in popular culture. For instance, it is interesting for modern-day viewers to note that, despite the obvious influence of the Summer of Love in 1969 and the widespread sexual revolution and despite the “free love” theme of Harold and Maude and the copious onscreen sex in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, both films put homophobic attitudes on display in two radically different ways: Harold and Maude does so via conspicuous omission, while Beyond the Valley of the Dolls does so via blatant stereotypes, transsexual panic, and a final orgiastic killing spree that neatly disposes of every major character that has been confirmed as queer.

The homophobia of Harold and Maude is obviously much more gentle and subtle than that of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls; it doesn’t come off to viewers as hatred or fear or mockery, but instead more of an absent-minded forgetfulness. Arguably, there is no place in the film where the topic of homosexuality might even be addressed. Yet there is a subtle gap in the progression of Harold’s sexual and romantic awakening, as none of the other characters remark upon Harold’s active efforts to alienate girls his own age, even for the sake of an easy joke. Harold, who is bright, theatrical, quiet, morbid, and content to avoid romantic situations or physical intimacy with the women his mother invites home, is nevertheless saved from any question of his masculinity, even by his Freudian therapist. And though the object of his love may turn out to be “queer,” in the sense that it defies mainstream social boundaries for the romantic and sexual, there is still no question that he is anything but heterosexual. More troubling than this apparent oversight, however, is one of the theatrical trailers for the film, which includes the statement: “Harold and Maude say: get together, regardless of your age, race, creed, color, or national origin….” There is something quite obvious missing from this free-spirited urge to love, or at least be physically intimate.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a more aggressively homophobic movie, displaying not only crude background caricatures—the gay male couple at Z-man's first party in the film are depicted as prudish compared to their straight counterparts; shown fully clothed, they become indignant at being interrupted by Z-man and Kelly and exit with a lisping wisecrack—but also main characters who explore their sexualities and are ultimately punished for it.

Z-Man's character suffers most, turning from a charmingly manic and eccentric Hollywood-type who may have eyes for Kelly to an aggressive homosexual who is interested in the men Kelly has slept with to finally being driven insane by a combination of drugs, materialism, and artifice, resulting in a peyote-fueled murdering spree in which five people, including himself, are killed. It is worth paying attention to the more and more extravagant clothing and costumes that Z-Man is shown wearing; like the gay couple from early on, Z-Man is characterized in such a way as to remove him from the heterosexual. Jeffrey Dennis writes that, "nude backsides and even frontal shots” (138) began to strongly signify heterosexuality, conflating the natural state with being straight and further separating straightness from “the blow-dried hair, stylish costumes, or feminine affectations of the 'homosexual’ …. By the end of [the 1970s], even shirtless shots came to signify straightness” (138). Compare the numerous shirtless bedroom scenes of womanizing character Lance Rocke, who aggressively spurns Z-Man’s advances, to Z-Man’s consistently modest costuming and it’s clear that this formula also holds true for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

As if this were not bad enough, Z-Man spends his final scenes insisting that he is Superwoman and in one dramatic moment opens his shirt to reveal a small pair of breasts. It is this revelation, of which there is virtually no hint in any earlier scenes, that is meant to provoke the greatest feelings of shock and repulsion in a film that is filled with shocking and repulsive characters and situations.

This scene is an intense example of hostility and ignorance directed not only toward women and gays, but toward transsexuals as well. Moya Luckett notes that:

Female power is generally linked to breast size… where small breasts highlight marginalization, failure, even utter villainy…. the breast is the sole certain marker of sexual difference. The sudden revelation of Z-Man's identity (from gay man to a masculine heterosexual woman) comes in tandem with his equally sudden acquisition (s)he flaunts during her murder rampage. (151)

Being a woman is then linked to the possession of breasts, apparently regardless of the genitalia possessed by the individual or their secondary sex characteristics. Despite Z-Man's general presentation as male, with sideburns, a deep voice, male clothes, and a male name, the presence of small breasts are meant to negate all other signifiers and thus shock the characters and audience with Z-Man's "secret" womanhood. But it is apparent that Z-Man is not actually a heterosexual woman pretending to be a man (presumably because he lacks the proper endowments to be a "real" woman); he could be either a gay female-to-male transsexual or a heterosexual male-to-female transsexual, but his behavior is not particularly consistent with either gender variation. A female-to-male transsexual would be unlikely to insist on being called Superwoman or to reveal his breasts, or even to create a situation that might result in such a loss of control (as Z-Man does with his intimate party and peyote-cocktail). A male-to-female transsexual would, on the other hand, be unlikely to tolerate a nickname that labeled her as a man ( e.g. "Z-Man") and if she had begun hormone treatments she would be experiencing other changes in her body besides the growth of breasts (such as additional fat deposits at the hips) and would also likely be making other changes in her life that would allow her to present as female. Plus, the situation is not helped by the confusion of those who created the character: Roger Ebert refers to Z-Man as “a woman in drag” and “a transvestite,” while actor John LaZar uses the epithet “a hormonal freak” to describe the character in an interview with retroCRUSH. Of course the movie is a satire, but this does not excuse its treatment of homosexuals or transgendered people; the “jokes” are consistently played on those who are different in gender and sexuality, and the audience is meant to laugh at them rather than with.

However, when looking at the homophobia by omission in Harold and Maude and the blatant homophobia and transphobia of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, it is far more understandable within the context of the time period, particularly in relation to the timing of the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall riots, the major turning point in the fight for gay civil rights, occurred in June of 1969. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls began filming late in 1969 and was released in June of 1970. Harold and Maude was released in December of 1971. Simply not enough time had passed and not enough ground had been broken since Stonewall to make homosexuals or their feelings a concern for movie-makers or audiences. (Though Stonewall, along with the Tate-LaBianca murders, may have influenced Beyond the Valley of the Dolls—many of the rioters at Stonewall were drag queens.)

Similarly, the goriness of the 1963 release Blood Feast and the rising use and popularity of gore in movies can be linked to any number of violent deaths and occurrences in the 1960s, from the assassination of President Kennedy to the increased press about and dissatisfaction for the war in Vietnam and, of course, to the Manson Family’s Tate-LaBianca murders, which were clearly echoed in the ending to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Even Harold and Maude is a bloody film, despite all of Harold’s suicides being theatric fakes; his obsession with death in the midst of the Vietnam War and the various ways in which the film shows the toll war can take are an integral part of the story.

It is important to remember that films and the movie industry do not exist in a vacuum. The onscreen increase in depicted violence and the portrayed attitudes toward sex and gender correspond not only to censorship (or a lack thereof) but to social attitudes and historical events, and it is important to take all of these into account when evaluating films.

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Works Cited

--. Harold and Maude theatrical trailer.

Dennis, Jeffrey P. Queering Teen Culture: All-American Boys and Same-sex Desire in Film and Television. New York: Hinworth Press, Inc, 2006.

Ebert, Roger. “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” rogerebert.com. 1980/2005. 8 November 2007.

Luckett, Moya. “Sexploitation as feminine territory: the films of Doris Wishman.” Defining Cult Movies: The Cultural Politics of Oppositional Taste. Ed. Marc Jancovich, Antonio Lazaro Reboll, Julian Stringer, Andy Willis. Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2003. 142-156.

Waage, Randy. “I Am Superwoman!: An Interview with John LaZar, Z-Man from the Cult Classic Beyond the Valley of the Dolls!” retroCRUSH: The World’s Greatest Pop Culture Site. 2006. 8 November 2007.