Gay Representation In Media: Analysis Of The Film Legend
My case study product is a film is about the Kray twins set in the 1960s, ‘Legend’. I am exploring the way the openly gay male, Ronald (Ron) Kray has been represented in the media text. In reality both the twins were bi-sexual, but the film only shows Ron as openly gay, from the beginning the film denotates the men to be both very masculine figures, the twins are both represented as the tough men of London’s gangster craze of the 60s. Ron shown to be the more violent one of the two, used as the ‘muscle’ during crimes. They were very masculine males, drinking, murdering and torturing their enemies. In a very violent scene in the film Ron is seen to kill a man by stabbing him to death. Ron’s true sexual orientation is very well ‘hidden’ under his dominant and powerful facade. We only see Ron’s true sexuality when he propositions an American Italian gangster making a deal with them.
The fact that we see Close up action shots of the character Ron delivering violent hammer blows the head of a rival group members head, is a clear denotation that he does not fit into the more feminine stereotype we see in today’s modern homosexual society. Many gay men were dying because of contracting an illness that not a lot was known about, HIV and Aids. This Disease was firstly considered to only affect gay males which was thought to be because they were ‘sick’ and ‘weak’ men. We do however, see a more loving side to this very masculine character, when he falls in love with Teddy, the twins are above the law and they can afford to show their sexual orientation in public without being discriminated against from the general people of London.
However, I would say that the most dominant character isn’t Ron, it would be his twin brother Reginald, I wouldn’t go as far to say that Ron is a ‘token’ gay character as this film is based on true events. In reality, his brother was also gay. The director and writer Brian Helgeland decided to only show Ron as the only openly gay character, this could be due to many reasons but most likely to create diversity between the two twins, One being openly gay and the other baring the struggle of trying to hide it. In some aspects of the film I could relate Gammon and Marshment’s theory for the use of males for the female gaze, the two twins were for the majority of the film represented as very well dressed and polite men, and they attracted a lot of attention from many women characters in the film specifically Frances Shea (Ron’s later to be wife). However, I would argue the plot is moved along by males Reginald is still used for Gammon and Marshment theory of female gaze.
Murdoch’s theory of the lack of representation having a negative effect on a certain group could be related to this text to some extend as I believe that there is a lack of gay representation in the film, mostly due to the time the film is set, the 60s when being openly gay was still a criminal offence. There is a strong representation of a very masculine, violent gay man which could be used as a negative role model and make the gay audience believe that to be openly gay is negative and is discriminated against.
Throughout the film Ron is discriminated against for being gay, called a ‘puff’, he is shown to defend himself violently because of this. If the audience used this as a direct denotation of the film, that the only way to defend themselves from discriminative attacks is to be violent towards the aggressor, is a negative signifier of this media text. It could be argued that it shows the victim (Ron) to stand up for himself and rightly defend himself (non-violently) presenting a slightly more positive model for the gay audiences.
As being homosexual was a criminal offence the ideologies and values that underpin this representation was largely negative, the support towards gay males was almost non-existent, it was classed as a mental illness and many were put into psychiatric facilities because of this.
A modern active audience would most likely reject this representation as it doesn’t show any support to the modern stereotypes of homosexuals we see today. I believe as this is based on a true story the community would most likely not raise any issues and debates as it is more for entertainment/educational purposes than a fictional ‘idealist’ representation of homosexuals.
