BRITISH TELEVISION
2:00 PM
SEX CHANGE-SHOCK! HORROR! PROBl
To American eyes, British television sometimes
Made for Channel Four television, Sex
seems like utopia for lesbians and gay men.
Change is quite unlike any other documen
The hits of previous Festivals- Oranges are
taries-or fictional exposes-of transsexual
Not the Only fruit, Portrait of a Marriage, Out
ism. Written and produced by Kris Clarke
on Tuesday- have come from Britain's maior
(who also produced Ann istead Maupin: A
broadcasters. This year's Festival is no diHerent,
Man I Dreamt Up, Tuesday June 23, 7:00pm
at the Castro) , herself a transsexual, Sex
with premieres of the BBC's Lost Language of Cranes,
Change deals with the post-op life. A handful
Armistead Maupin is a Man I Dreamt Up, and the usual sampling of highlights from Channel Four's latest series of Out. This rich range of lesbian and gay-themed programming is unthinkable in the States. Is it a case of the grass really being greener on the other side? To contemplate whether American television can ever match the achievements of the British, it's important to put the latter in proper context. There
A DAY I N TH E L I FE O F B R I T I S H T E L EV I S I O N CO N T I N U O U S
PROGRAM ,
R E P EAT E D
D A I LY
12 N OO N
Dir. Jane Jackson Prod. Kristiene Clarke (1989) GB 50 mins. "GrOLmd-breaking video work-the stuff of change and revolution. It is well-made, enter taining, enlightening and provocative. "
Kate Bomstein, Bay Area Reportl
THE GAY ROCK 'N' ROll YEARS
Made last Fall for BBC2's extended evening of 3 : 0 0 PM
lesbian and gay programming, Saturday Night
THAT'S MASCULINITY
are only four TV stations in the U.K., and two of
Out ('fhich in tum was inspired by the suc cess of Channel Four's Out), The Gay Rock '11'
them-the BBC channels-are government-funded
Roll Years is a giddy zip through the 50s on
and masculinity, called From Wimps to
(they are not dependent upon commercials for
wards, using archive clips and pop music. (It's
Warriors, That's Masculinity is an example
income). Even in the 90s, the BBC still clings to its original concepts of 'quality television' and of TV's
34
of transsexuals describe their politics and positions today.
educative role. Channel Four, a commercial station, was estab lished in 1 98 1 with a mandate to serve audiences otherwise u nder-represented by the other three
Part of a 1991 BBC series dealing with men
also a spoof of a British tv series called The
of how an oblique approach can frequently
ROell 'n' Roll Years, which uses vintage footage
revive a well-worn subject. Director Marc
and hits-of-the-year to shine a light on days
Munden sets the tone with an aesthetic ode
gone by.) All the great stuff is here- Tom Robinson, Sandie Shaw, the Pet Shop Boys,
to the beautiful bodies of an East End steam room . Two backward leather queens are
Kylie Minogue-as well as some especially
quizzed on the meaning of masculinity
scary Seventies disco fashions. The music is cut
("It's leather, anything to get away from the
to queer moments in British history: from the
cashmere sweater brigade . . . it's the sheer
campaign for law reform, to Clause 28; from
smell of men") . A black drag queen goes
extreme range of voices, from the far right to the far
Dirk Bogarde, to chanting lesbians invading a
shopping for discount dresses and dishes
left. After some early successes with occasional gay
primetime TV news broadcast.
channels; Channel Four has thus come to carry an
programming, the weekly series Out on Tuesday (now Out) was established. Out also illustrates the degree of direct access that British people have to their broadcast media. Last year, BBC2 latched on to the success of Out with an entire evening to celebrate 20 years of lesbian and gay liberation (dubbed Saturday Night Out). A Day in the Life of British Television is a continu ous eight and a half hours program featuring some of the finest moments from recent years, including part of Saturday Night Out and three films by Nigel Finch, who also made Lost Language of Cranes. Ad mission is
free. Come and go as you please-iust like
dipping in and out of TV at home (with no commer cials either). This substantial retrospective (continued opposite)
Dir. Shauna Brown, Prod. Clare Beavan ( 199 1 ) GB 60 mins.
heterosexuals with his campy pals. Startling by American documen tary standards, That's Masculil1ity o ffers quiet observation, extraor
dinary eroticism, and a mellow kind of pride. 1 : 00 PM
Dir. Marc Munden, Exec. Prod. Paul Watson
KENNETH ANGER'S
( 1 99 1 ) GB 40 mins.
HOllYWOOD BABYl.oN
3 : 45 PM
The first of four films in this program made for BBC's award-winning Arena series. Dir
THE MAKING OF
ected by Nigel Finch (who also made The Lost
'THE LOST lANGUAGE OF CRANES'
Language of Cranes, Friday June 26 7:00pm
The Lost Language of Cranes is a BBC
at the Castro) , Hollywood Babylon is part por
adaptation of David Leavitt's famous late-
trait of an artist as a tongue man, part death
80s gay novel. Brian Skeet's crisp film about
styles of the rich and famous. Finch's fi lm is
the movie's production-made for BBC2's
even more irreverent than Anger's best-selling
nightly arts series, The Late Show -concen
tell-aIls. Along the way: lupe Velez' violent
trates on the translation fTom leavitt's New
suicide, Fatty Arbuckle's disgrace, human ash
York Jewish setting, to nondemoninational
tray James Dean, Marianne Faithful in person,
suburban London. Skeet's film also o[ers
and the man who embalmed Marilyn Momoe.
a sideways look at how things are done at
Dir. Nigel Finch Exec. Prod. Anthony Wall ( 1991) GB 60 mins.
the BBe.
-
Dir. Brian Skeet ( 1 992) GB 1 0 milts.