The 5 Best Movies To Watch During Pride Month

The 5 Best Movies To Watch During Pride Month

Guillem de Balanzo/Shutterstock By Nicole Tommasulo/June 9, 2022 2:44 pm EST

Pride Month is here and we’re spending stormy summer nights with our favorite movies that put a spotlight on queer characters. Putting together lists of movies to watch during Pride Month has gotten easier in recent years because of the rising number of films featuring queer stories. But, there’s still a long way to go in terms of diversifying the types of stories about queer people being told. Unlike television, which has seen a lot of forward momentum when it comes to representation, movie studios still remain inconsistent, per NBC News. In 2019, for instance, while there were 118 films released by major studios, GLAAD — the LGBTQ media advocacy organization — found only 22 movies included queer characters. This made 2019, NBC reports, the biggest year for queer characters since GLAAD started tracking representation.

Normalizing the idea that queer people exist and are deserving of having their stories told is still an issue in books and movies. One of the reasons representation is so important, Holly Mallet writes for Backstage, is because it shows other queer people how to be queer. Unlike heterosexual relationships, which are represented everywhere all the time, queer relationships are either hidden, talked about in code, or ignored completely. This can not only create a strong sense of shame, but can also be alienating — especially for kids and teens (via Psychology Today). The movies we picked for Pride Month reflect a wide variety of stories that demonstrate how complex and diverse love can — and should — be.

The 5 Best Movies To Watch During Pride Month

Guillem de Balanzo/Shutterstock

By Nicole Tommasulo/June 9, 2022 2:44 pm EST

Pride Month is here and we’re spending stormy summer nights with our favorite movies that put a spotlight on queer characters. Putting together lists of movies to watch during Pride Month has gotten easier in recent years because of the rising number of films featuring queer stories. But, there’s still a long way to go in terms of diversifying the types of stories about queer people being told. Unlike television, which has seen a lot of forward momentum when it comes to representation, movie studios still remain inconsistent, per NBC News. In 2019, for instance, while there were 118 films released by major studios, GLAAD — the LGBTQ media advocacy organization — found only 22 movies included queer characters. This made 2019, NBC reports, the biggest year for queer characters since GLAAD started tracking representation.

Normalizing the idea that queer people exist and are deserving of having their stories told is still an issue in books and movies. One of the reasons representation is so important, Holly Mallet writes for Backstage, is because it shows other queer people how to be queer. Unlike heterosexual relationships, which are represented everywhere all the time, queer relationships are either hidden, talked about in code, or ignored completely. This can not only create a strong sense of shame, but can also be alienating — especially for kids and teens (via Psychology Today). The movies we picked for Pride Month reflect a wide variety of stories that demonstrate how complex and diverse love can — and should — be.

Putting together lists of movies to watch during Pride Month has gotten easier in recent years because of the rising number of films featuring queer stories. But, there’s still a long way to go in terms of diversifying the types of stories about queer people being told. Unlike television, which has seen a lot of forward momentum when it comes to representation, movie studios still remain inconsistent, per NBC News. In 2019, for instance, while there were 118 films released by major studios, GLAAD — the LGBTQ media advocacy organization — found only 22 movies included queer characters. This made 2019, NBC reports, the biggest year for queer characters since GLAAD started tracking representation.

Normalizing the idea that queer people exist and are deserving of having their stories told is still an issue in books and movies. One of the reasons representation is so important, Holly Mallet writes for Backstage, is because it shows other queer people how to be queer. Unlike heterosexual relationships, which are represented everywhere all the time, queer relationships are either hidden, talked about in code, or ignored completely. This can not only create a strong sense of shame, but can also be alienating — especially for kids and teens (via Psychology Today).

The movies we picked for Pride Month reflect a wide variety of stories that demonstrate how complex and diverse love can — and should — be.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

20th Century Fox/IMDb

“Rocky Horror,” which came out only six years after the Stonewall Uprising, the unofficial kickoff of the gay rights movement, has been a cornerstone of queer community and culture. Whether you’re gay, a theater kid, or both, chances are you’ve been — or at least been invited to — a midnight showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” June Thomas tells Slate that the audience participation started just five months into the movie’s run. What was once just people talking back to the movie turned into people dressing up in full make-up and costume, and acting out the movie as the movie’s being played behind them.

Maurice (1987)

YouTube

Starring Hugh Grant and James Wilby, “Maurice” follows the relationship between Maurice Hall (Wilby) and Grant’s Clive Durham, best friends who fall in love. But the stakes are too high for Clive, Vogue explains, who is worried about his social standing, and Maurice turns to Clive’s groundskeeper, played by Rupert Graves, for love instead.

“Maurice” is one of those movies that was way ahead of its time that shares qualities with other queer historical dramas where it doesn’t realy on sex scenes to add layers of sensuality to the story. Instead, “Maurice” focuses on the slow burning intimate, emotional relationship between Maurice and Clive and, as Guy Lodge writes for “The Guardian,” the every struggles of being a gay man.

Carol (2015)

Number 9 Films

Set in 1950s New York, Carol Aird (Blanchette) and Therese Belivet (Mara) meet at Christmas-time and, of course, fall in love (via Mashable). But Nylon warns this is anything but a love story, despite the book’s (spoiler alert) famously happy ending. With a trope familiar in queer cinema — the young, inexperienced student having an affair with the older teacher-type — the story follows Carol, a bisexual woman who is in the middle of a nasty divorce and custody battle, as she has an affair with the young Therese, who works at the department store Carol happened to be shopping at.

At the time the book and movie take place, homosexuality was considered a mental illness. If Carol and Therese’s relationship were to get out, Carol risks losing custody of her child. It’s these touches of reality that Nylon says help cement “Carol” in the real world, making it more than just another holiday romance.

Moonlight (2016)

A24/YouTube

“Moonlight” has had a lasting impact on black, queer cinema, writes André Wheeler for Them. In the wake of its best picture win, “Moonlight” ushered in a fresh take on the black coming-of-age experience, one that lets their main characters be complicated and unhardened by their lives. If hardening happens, the audience sees it played out on screen. As we watch Chiron grow in three distinct stages, played by different actors at each point, we see how his experiences — whether they’re his being bullied or being mentored by Juan, played by Mahershala Ali — shape the man he eventually turns into (via The Guardian).

Steven W Thrasher points out in his review for “The Guardian” that so many queer stories are coded as being white. That “Moonlight” follows a queer black child, that tells his story in a way that endears him to the audiences, is groundbreaking, and just one of the many reasons “Moonlight” is such a phenomenal, heart-wrenching, beautiful movie.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)

Pyramide Films

A sensual slow-burn, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” has been described by Amanda Arnold from The Cut as erotic without becoming pornographic, a problem often found in movies with queer characters, lesbians especially. Instead, Sciamma engages all senses, silence, and even the lack of sexualized nudity to turn the volume up on yearning and really show the emotional intimacy between Marianna and Heloïse, rather than the sexual. Joshua Rivera points out for The Verge that you see exactly how each interaction between the two women shapes the next time they see each other.

You need to watch “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” for more reasons than just because it’s a really well-written, beautifully shot love story. Arlene Reynolds points out for GLAAD that the movie is also a powerful example of queer representation on screen that doesn’t put the straight male viewer as its target demographic.