Written by MA Screenwriting student, Shaarath Vihari
When Brokeback Mountain premiered back in 2005, it was a watershed moment for LGBTQ+ representation in film. A tragic love story between two cowboys in 1960s Wyoming, the film depicted the brutal realities of repression and homophobia – showing queer love as something secretive, dangerous, and ultimately heartbreaking.
Despite its cultural impact, it was quite evident that Hollywood did not fully embrace such stories especially with Brokeback Mountain controversially losing Best Picture at The Oscars. While Brokeback Mountain paved the way for greater LGBTQ+ representation, a tipping point came with films like Dallas Buyers Club (2013), Moonlight (2016), Call Me By Your Name (2017), and Love, Simon (2018). These films didn’t just depict queer experiences, they reshaped how LGBTQ+ stories were told and received by mainstream audiences.
Dallas Buyers Club tackled the AIDS crisis and earned multiple awards, but its casting of Jared Leto as a transgender woman, Rayon, sparked controversy. Many criticised Hollywood for giving a major trans role to a cisgender actor rather than a trans performer, reinforcing long-standing industry barriers to authentic representation. Despite this, the film brought attention to an important chapter in LGBTQ+ history. The backlash against Dallas Buyers Club fuelled ongoing conversations about the importance of trans actors playing trans roles. In the years since, Hollywood has made some progress, with more trans actors being cast in major projects like Pose and Euphoria, though debates over cis actors portraying trans characters continue.
Moonlight made history as the first LGBTQ+ film (and the first with an all-Black cast) to win Best Picture at the Oscars. Its deeply personal exploration of Black queer identity, masculinity, and love marked a major moment for queer storytelling. Call Me By Your Name took a different approach, bringing a tender, nostalgic portrayal of first love into the arthouse mainstream, proving that queer romance could be both high art and commercially viable.
Meanwhile, Love, Simon became the first major Hollywood studio film to centre on a gay teen romance. Love, Simon tells a coming-out story where the protagonist finds love, support and happiness. Unlike earlier films that focused on tragedy or repression, Love, Simon embraced humour, warmth, and optimism, proving that LGBTQ+ stories could be light-hearted and widely appealing. Its mainstream success challenged the notion that queer films were only for niche audiences.
Together, these films marked a significant shift in LGBTQ+ cinema, opening the door for a new wave of storytelling. They set the stage for critically acclaimed films like Shiva Baby (2020), All of Us Strangers (2023), Love Lies Bleeding (2024), My Old Ass (2024) and Queer (2024), which continue to push boundaries with bold narratives and more authentic queer experiences. LGBTQ+ films evolved once again, embracing queerness with ease, in some instances blending comedy with self-discovery and others including elements of fantasy as well as unique and engaging storytelling techniques.
Rather than focusing solely on coming out or societal struggles, more recent films present queerness as a natural, ordinary part of life, often integrated into broader stories. This shift reflects how far LGBTQ+ cinema has evolved, moving from tales of hardship to empowering and authentic storytelling, where queerness is an addition to the wider story, rather than its entirety. These films still honour the importance of earlier works that highlighted these struggles, but showcase a more expansive view of LGBTQ+ experiences. From the heartache of Brokeback Mountain to optimism of Love, Simon to carefree exploration in My Old Ass, LGBTQ+ films have evolved into more inclusive and undeniably mainstream films that remind us of the power of storytelling in shaping acceptance, representation, and progress.
Photo credits:
Brokeback Mountain, dir: Ang Lee
Moonlight, wri-dir: Barry Jenkins, wri: Tarell Alvin McCraney
My Old Ass, wri-dir: Megan Park
Love, Simon, dir: Greg Berlanti
Love Lies Bleeding, wri-dir: Rose Glass, wri: Weronika Tofilska
All of Us Strangers, wri-dir: Andrew Haigh, wri: Tiachi Yamada