DO I SOUND GAY?

US, 2014, 77 minutes, Colour.

Directed by David Thorpe.

This is a personal project by writer and director, American David Thorpe. He is a gay man, looking back on his childhood and the responses of his family, of his friends, the story of his coming out and the impact on friends and relations, his life and work, but a preoccupation with how he sounds, whether he sounds gay or not and what that could mean.

This is a significant film for gay men, especially gay adolescents and young men, the issues of coming out, the issues of experience bullying, ridicule for being effeminate in speech and manner… These issues are taken up by a variety of personalities throughout the film.

David Thorpe has discussions with his mother, his brother, his grandmother. He can’t remember how he spoke, asking people if they notice differences after his coming out, whether the style was effeminate. He goes for speech therapy and listens to explanations of vowel sounds and emphasis on some consonants, he goes to a Hollywood trainer to discuss these matters (with side issues of gay producers, gay actors and casting).

He also has discussions with his friends, Sam and Alberto, their own experiences, in the workplace, mannerisms and style, image. Quite a number of characters throughout the film, most especially the man with a high-pitched voice who is often mistaken for female. He tells his story, and there are interviews with his partner of 22 years.

There are also interrogations of quite a range of people in the street, some background stories of teenagers being bullied at school with some images, some film clips of effeminate characters from movies of the 1930s, to Liberace, to various television gay personalities like Paul Lynde, to cartoon images, even to the image of Scar in The Lion King – and how these images influence audiences. Especially with some implications of the gay character as villain. There is some serious reflection by actor, George Takei

The film was released in the 2010s, looking back to growing up, especially coming out in the 1980s. While there is some dating in the presentation, the issues, of course, continue to be significant.