For a movie to be classified as queer cinema, it has to follow under three main categories. The three main categories are: first the film maker has to be a gay or a lesbian. Secondly, the movie’s content has to portray issues related to lesbians or gays. Thirdly the movies’ audience should be mostly a queer audience that is characterized by gays or lesbians.
It has been conventionally known that only gays or lesbians should direct queer movies. Contrary, a director Ang Lee have been involved in production of gays and lesbian movies for over ten years and yet he is a straight man who is also married to a woman. In 1993 Lee directed a famous gay and lesbian movie, ‘Wedding Banquet’ which was about gaysm. This implies that this is not a queer cinema.
Another requirement for a movie to be considered as a queer cinema is that its content describes issues and facts that are related to lesbianism and gaysm. However, the movie ‘Wedding Banquet’ has content that are not related to gays. For instance Wai-Tung who has been in a relationship with Simon, break the norm by marrying Wei-Wei (May Chin) the painter. This is caused by pressure from his parents. This is also another abnormality of the gays in that the decision on whether to become a gay or not should lie on oneself and should not be influenced by parents as is in the case of Wai- Tung.
Thirdly, the audience of any queer cinema should strictly be lesbians and gays. This implies that anybody who is not part of queer audience should not have access to this movie. Contrary, the movie ‘wedding banquet’ has generated a great number of views containing both gays and straight people. In conclusion we can say that the film does not fall in this category since it alters some of the basic requirements of queer cinema.
Work cited
Aaron, Michele. New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2004.
