Gender and Sexuality in Gangster Films
Gangster films are regarded by the nation as notorious. These films are watched by thousands and it has been that way since they began in the 1930’s. Gangster films in the 1930’s also exhibited new ideas for gender and sexuality that were not explored before. Some films that demonstrate gender representation and underlying sexuality are Scarface, Little Caesar, and I Walk Alone.
Gender and sexuality have always been a sensitive subject. Before the late 2000’s, one’s underlying sexuality was not as common in the 1930’s. During the post Great Depression Era, many people in the LGBTQ+ community were not open about their identities because of it being unacceptable. Gangster films, however, do exhibit underlying sexual ideas. In the movie, Scarface, Tony is insanely overprotective of his sister and mother. He mistreats other women but does not like anyone going near his mother or sister. An example of this is “The gangster’s confused sexuality is underscored by not only his devotion to- and often his jealousy of- his partner, but also by the way he treats women”. This shows the underlying broken sexuality he is confused with. Due to his jealousy, his sexual identity is mixed up. Usually a gangster that is protective of his mother or any mother-like figure, will mistreat other women and the bond between mother and son may confuse the gangster themselves on if they have a broken sexuality. Tony even shot and killed one of his friends because he wanted to get with his sister.
The film Little Caesar, shows underlying ideas of homosexuality. Rico and Joe are friends who started from the bottom of the gangster ladder and wanted to rise to the top by robbing gas stations. Rico makes it in with the big gangsters while Joe decides he wants to get out of that business and become a dancer. Rico showed hints of a confused sexuality. Did Rico see Joe as more than a brother? Rico shows underlying sexual feeling towards Joe. Joe is who he started from the bottom with and wanted to rise with to the top. An example of this is “The queer in his more subdued form appears as the dithering, asexual “sissy,” sometimes befuddled, incompetent,…” . Rico’s queerness did not show in the movie until he was faced with the decision of killing Joe. He had a ‘sissy’ moment when he could not do the dirty deed. Rico had love for Joe and could not face the idea of shooting his ‘partner’. Rico was heartbroken that Joe wanted to leave him for a woman. Rico’s jealousy leads him to threaten Joe’s woman, Olga, if she did not stop seeing him. Rico wanted Joe all to himself. Rico appeared asexual and tough in the beginning, but the way he was with Joe showed more than asexual feelings. Rico revealed his true colors and was in fact not big and bad like he wanted the audience to believe.
In the movie, I Walk Alone, the main character Noll, does show some underlying homosexual tendencies towards his friend, Frankie. Noll disregards everyone else around him, even his love interest Kay because of his feelings for Frankie. Noll and Frankie used to be friends as well as partners in crime. The way Noll looks at Frankie opposed to Kay shows his sexual feelings. An example of this is “Kaplan and Kaja Silverman (1980), argued that in fact the gaze could be controlled or used by both male and female subjects in different ways… A gaze can also be homosexual, not just heterosexual”. Looking at the way Noll looks at Frankie opposed to Kay explains the gaze theory in the reading. Noll even went as far as asking Kay to go on a date with Frankie to make him happy and in a way come back to Noll. Noll looked at Frankie with stars in his eyes and his body language suggested more to the story. When he was with Kay, he was cold, distant and did not seem as interested as he was leading her on to believe. When he was with Frankie, he was happy, very interested in pleasing him with his business and very eager to get him back. Noll also dressed ‘homosexually’ according to the Code. He was very well manicured, had slicked back hair, and a trim suit. These are some indications of being queer in the 1930’s. Out of all of all three films selected, this is the only one that showed the clothing aspect of being more than straight.
During the 1930’s, gender and sexual identity was not a subject discussed lightly. Many gay, lesbian and transgender actors/actresses could be in films, but they were disregarded outside the films. They were not treated fairly because of being anything other than straight. Queer people at this time were not accepted because the thought of being anything other than straight was not in a way socially correct. People during this time had to hide their sexuality and gender identity from the public. Coming out was not a common thing in the 30’s like it is now in 2020. Being a LGBTQ+ member was not taken lightly with film. This issue was not suitable for audiences and remained a struggle issue during this time. The PCA, established by Joseph Breen, wanted any type of homosexuality to be censored from films. The code saw queerness as ‘untraditional’ and wanted to rid the gangster films of it. Being queer was not socially accepted and in the film industry, it needed to be rid of so the audience would not be disgusted in any way.
In conclusion, gender and sexual identity were not always accepted in the post Great Depression Era. The big people of the film industry wanted to do away with any queerness in films because of this exhibiting new ideas for films. These ideas were also regarded as something not suitable for the audience. The movies, Scarface, I Walk Alone and Little Caesar are just a few films that have shown underlying homosexual and gender ideas.
