Ozzie homophobia
How homophobic is Australian society? The movie shows it as really homophobic, but then again maybe it's just because of the time, what with AIDS craze.
shareok seriously did you watch this movie.... it's not really bashing homosexuals at all it's pretty much celebrating them.
australia isn't homophobic at all. it's probaby the most un-homophobic place out! apart from france.
I'm sorry but I very much disagree with that last post! SYDNEY is probably the most un homophobic place about, about Australia (as a country) is very, very backward in their views. Sure cities like Melbourne would come a close second in (open mindedness) to Syndey but in general there is NO WAY a gay guy and especially a TS or TV would want to get stuck in the more remote parts of Australia.
This is EXACTLY what Pricilla explores. It takes three VERY different types of gay men (albeit one a TS) and puts them in the most extreme Australian environments. Terrence Stamp has that brilliant line about:-
"That stinking city we come from and that wall of surburbia that surrounds it, is either there to keep us in or the rest of them out"
This is really a profound comment. Don't get me wrong I don't feel that Pricilla necessarily paints a negative picture of Australia. Characters like Bob and the Indigenius folk are there to tell us not to paint every Aussie with the same brush. However, in general the punchline of the movie is purely based on the hunour derived from three such outragious characters getting stranded in the backwaters of Australia.
I guess it is the same as most countries - the major cities are less homophobic than the rural/country towns. Having said that, there are of course country towns that have varying degrees of homophobia.
shareI live in Tasmanian suburbia, and I'm surrounded by what most people would call bogans. Almost everyone in my area is homophobic, and I find it really upsetting. From what I've witnessed here, it's more the "working class" who are homophobic.
(Don't get uppity at me for generalising, because that's just what I've witnessed in my area.)
I live a totally out existence with my HIV+ partner in a small remote rural Australian village of only 450 people and have never had one single hostile word or nasty reaction in the 5 years I have lived here in Queensland ...once a year there is a 1,000 bike biker rally terminating here ... never had a bad word from any of them either ... we are well-known to be a gay couple in town. It is true we are not drag queens, but the drag-queen subculture has a long history in this culture and has a hell of a lot more acceptance than in many other western cultures.
Maybe times are a-changin'?
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
bradjanet, I think that it's great that you can live as you wish and not be hassled. Although I would have thought that the further away from large cities you got, the less acceptance there'd be, mainly due to fear from a lack of familiarity I suppose.
I work with a couple of Asian women (well, plenty of Asian women, but two in particular). One Chinese (who has been here 2 years) and one Filipino (8 years) and they both think Australia is a bit backward in its attitude to gay people. More backward than they expected anyway.
Although I don't particularly like hearing this, I tend to give weight to their opinion as recent settlers here.
When I said I wanted to be a comedian, they all laughed at me. Well, they're not laughing now!
I can only go by my own experience, at first in the city, closely associating with the drag world because of links over many years with the Sydney GLBT Mardi-Gras , (my partner, who held an executive position there, is a friend of the "original " Priscilla, Cindi Pastel), and later, living for four years in what is a supposedly notoriously redneck area , near the town of Gympie in rural Qld. This town boasted one homophobic councillor who was trashed at the last election by a politically correct liberal)... things change.
I can only repeat that have experienced nothing but kindness and acceptance here.
I might add that four of the most popular local identities are the lesbian couple who run the cafe and the local bowling club chef and his partner, who are considered great assets to this small tourist town.
Things ARE changing for the better.
How about giving some weight to the opinion of someone who someone who has lived here for 62 years?
But you ARE Blanche ... and I AM.
True.. But if you go out to Western Sydney you will still find alot of homophobia.
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