+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
More

In 1997, Hollywood bravely released an LGBTQ film about coming out. How does it hold up?

It might seem perfectly normal today, but releasing a gay mainstream film in 1997 was bold and brave.

In 2018, critics and audiences alike raved about "Love, Simon" which told the story of a young man struggling to come out and accept his sexuality. But 21 years ago, another film helped pave the way for films like it, and found a surprisingly warm reception at a time when LGBTQ positive films were still incredibly rare.

Director Frank Oz says he was inspired to make "In & Out" after watching Tom Hanks accept the Best Actor Oscar for 1993's "Philadelphia." But instead of replicating that film's dramatic arc, he wanted to use the power of comedy to tell a meaningful story that would help build compassion and understanding for those facing the very real challenges of coming out.

In the film, everyone knows that their beloved high school English teacher Howard Brackett (played by actor Kevin Kline) is gay, except for Howard himself. When one of his former students wins an Oscar, he accidentally outs Howard in front of millions.

At the time, the movie received a lot of attention for its pioneering 12-second kiss between co-stars Kline and Tom Selleck, but what holds up most today is the story of one person struggling to come to terms with their own identity and how it affects those around them.

Over the course of the film, a number of characters, straight and queer, help him come out, eventually finding acceptance both with himself, and from those who know him best.

Despite the potential for controversy, the movie was a hit at the box office and earned an Academy Award nomination for co-star Joan Cusack.

In fact, Oz says that from the early stages of production through the film's release he only ever faced one complaint from an anonymous reviewer at a preview screening.

"I don't think about my movies very much after I make them," Oz said, "but I'm very proud of that movie."

It's also funny, which helped build a bridge to straight audiences.

Groundbreaking films like "Philadelphia," "Angels in America," and "My Own Private Idaho" made audiences think and feel about serious issues facing the LGBTQ community. While Oz says he was moved by them, he knew he needed to do something different with his own attempt to address the often painful, and sometimes tragic, stories of coming out.

"It's very delicate to do a movie on a subject like that," he said. "Comedy is a very effective way to get verboten ideas across."

When Howard and Peter Malloy (played by Tom Selleck) share that big on-screen kiss, it's awkward and silly but also brings the audience in emotionally as Howard first starts to seriously come to terms with his sexuality.

[rebelmouse-image 19347049 dam="1" original_size="1200x613" caption="Photo by Movieclips/YouTube." expand=1]Photo by Movieclips/YouTube.

Not everything in "In & Out" has aged perfectly, but it was an important piece of inclusive art that paved the way for future LGBTQ work.

After all, the film ends somewhat awkwardly with a dance number set to YMCA's "Macho Man," which speaks as much to the time it was released as to the place of LGBTQ culture in America in 1997. Though even moments like that won some praise at the time for not just "tolerating" gay culture, but actually celebrating it.

A large part of that authenticity is owed to the inclusion of gay men in the creative process, including the screenwriter Paul Rudnick and its producer Scott Rudin.

"It was my film in the sense that I directed it," Oz said. "But they had a tremendous responsibility to their community. And I felt responsible to that community and to them."That's a lesson Hollywood is still learning.

"In & Out" isn't a perfect movie, but it was perfectly brave and bold in ways we can still learn from.

Badge
Acuvue
Acuvue
Sponsored

ACUVUE launches a new campaign to inspire Gen Z to put down their phones and follow their vision

What will you create on your social media break? Share it at #MyVisionMySight.

True

If you’ve always lived in a world with social media, it can be tough to truly understand how it affects your life. One of the best ways to grasp its impact is to take a break to see what life is like without being tethered to your phone and distracted by a constant stream of notifications.

Knowing when to disconnect is becoming increasingly important as younger people are becoming aware of the adverse effects screen time can have on their eyes. According to Eyesafe Nielsen, adults are now spending 13-plus hours a day on their digital devices, a 35% increase from 2019.1. Many of us now spend more time staring at screens on a given day than we do sleeping which can impact our eye health.

Normally, you blink around 15 times per minute, however, focusing your eyes on computer screens or other digital displays have been shown to reduce your blink rate by up to 60%.2 Reduced blinking can destabilize your eyes’ tear film, causing dry, tired eyes and blurred vision.3

Keep ReadingShow less
social media
Family

Mom who packs her child a meal when going out to restaurants has parents fired up

Does she have a good point?

via UnbreakableMomma/TikTok

Karlie Smith shows the meal she's bringing to the restaurant for her son.

A mom who admitted she packs her 2-year-old a meal when they go out to dinner has started an interesting debate on TikTok about restaurant etiquette and how it applies to young children.

The video posted by Ohio mom, Karlie Smith (unbreakablemomma on TikTok), has received nearly 600,000 views and has over 1,850 comments.

“Call me cheap, call me whatever, but if we’re going out to a restaurant, I’m packing my kid a meal," Smith, 21, said in her post. "I do this for many reasons. On Friday nights, my family and I get together, and tonight, we’re getting food out. My son is not getting food out.”

Keep ReadingShow less
parenting
Pop Culture

Man rewatches shows from his childhood and his recaps of the bonkers storylines are priceless

Rob Anderson's hilarious recaps of shows like "Mighty Ducks," "Beethoven," and "7th Heaven" might make you wonder how they got made in the first place.

@hearthrobert/TikTok

These plots makes zero sense.

While there are no doubt some timeless classics from our childhood that remain every bit as amazing as we remember, many are straight-up cringey upon a later viewing. Really, it’s to be expected as societal viewpoints change…sort of a marker of how far we’ve collectively come.

And so, what do we do with these problematic pieces of old-school pop culture? Well, we can certainly update them to better reflect a more modern attitude, but that also comes with a set of potential problems. Or we could simply never watch them again. Certainly an option given all the content out there. But then we might miss an opportunity to better understand what seemed to work for the mainstream then, and why it doesn’t work now.

And then there’s the third option—allow ourselves to be entertained by their cringiness.

That’s certainly the route taken by Rob Anderson. Over on TikTok, Anderson has taken ultra-popular movies and television shows from his childhood and given them hilarious recaps capturing how absurd some of the storylines are.
Keep ReadingShow less
movies
Family

Mom's comics perfectly illustrate the double standard of how society treats mothers and fathers

Why are expectations for mothers and fathers so different?

via Momlife_comics/Instagram

"Fun" dad versus "lazy" mom.

Last November, Upworthy published a popular story about Chloe Sexton, a mother who went viral on TikTok for a video she made explaining “daddy privilege” or the idea that fathers are applauded for doing things that mothers are supposed to do.

"In my opinion, 'daddy privilege' is that subtle upper hand men sidestep into as parents that allows them to gain praise for simply…being a parent," she said. "You fed the baby? What a great dad! You held the baby while mommy bathed? So considerate of you! You picked up something for dinner? What would your family do without you?! It's all the little ways mothers do exactly what the world expects of them without a second thought and then watch fathers get praised for simply showing up."

Sadly, the post resonated with a lot of mothers, because it's true. Expectations for fathers are so low that men are commended for handling basic parenting tasks. But if a mother falls short of perfection, she faces harsh criticism.

Mary Catherine Starr, a mother living in Cape Cod who owns a design studio and teaches yoga, is getting a lot of love on Instagram for her cartoon series that perfectly explains daddy privilege.

Keep ReadingShow less
parents
Joy

Woman decides that she is the love of her life and marries herself at her retirement home

“I said, you know what, I’ve done everything else. Why not?”

KCEN|YouTube

77-year-old woman decides she's the love of her life and marries herself.

We joke about marrying ourselves or a platonic friend if some arbitrary amount of time has passed without a proposal from an imaginary suitor. And sure, some people do wind up marrying a friend in more of a business arrangement, but it's not very common that someone follows through with marrying themselves.

Dorothy "Dottie" Fideli, decided that she was going to break the mold. The 77-year-old sat down and thought about all of the things she had done in life and who was with her the entire time cheering her on. It was an easy answer: herself. She was her biggest cheerleader, the person who always showed up and the love of her life, so Fideli made the plan to marry herself.

On a beautiful May day, friends and family gathered in the O’Bannon Terrace Retirement Community, where Fideli is a resident, to witness the ceremony.

Keep ReadingShow less
love
Joy

12-year-old Texas girl saves her family from carbon monoxide poisoning

She knew something was wrong with her mom and brother, which wound up saving her whole family.

WFAA|YouTube

Fort Worth 12-year-old helps save family from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide is called a silent killer for a reason. Many people don't realize they're experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning before it's too late. The gas is colorless and odorless and tends to have a sedating effect that causes people to sleep through the fatal poisoning. Having carbon monoxide detectors is one of the most effective ways to identify the gas before it's too late to get out of the house, but not every home has one.

A little girl in Fort Worth, Texas, experienced a terrifying encounter with the deadly gas, but her quick actions saved her entire family. Jaziyah Parker is being held up as a hero after she realized something was wrong with her family members and called for help.

The girl called 911 after she noticed her mom pass out. On the call with the dispatcher, Jaziyah says she thinks her mother has died before explaining that there was something now wrong with her baby brother, who was just 5-months-old.

Keep ReadingShow less
kid hero
Pop Culture

In a touching, unscripted moment, Drew Barrymore rushes to comfort a crying audience member

"Are you okay?"

via Eva Rinaldi/Flickr

Drew Barrymore speaks during the FLOWER Beauty launch at Westfield Parramatta on April 13, 2019, in Sydney, Australia.

Drew Barrymore, 48, has been in the public consciousness since she starred as Gertie in 1982’s mega-blockbuster, “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial,” a performance that earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. So, it makes sense that many people of a certain age feel as if they’ve grown up with her.

Barrymore has consistently starred in hit films and movies that are rewatchable cable-TV staples, such as “Charlie's Angels” (2000), “Never Been Kissed” (1999), “Scream” (1996), “The Wedding Singer” (1998), “50 First Dates” (2004) and “Fever Pitch” (2005).

Now, she’s an even more significant part of people’s lives as the host of “The Drew Barrymore Show,” which runs every weekday on CBS. So far, the show has been a big success, attracting an average of 1.21 million views per show, and ranks as the #4 talk show in syndication. It was recently renewed through the 2024 season.

Keep ReadingShow less
drew barrymore
Trending Stories