In recent years of film making there has been a surge of movies appearing on the market about queer topics thanks in part to companies like Here! and TLA.  Some of these movies have even become blockbusters of entertainment and culturally significant.  Brokeback Mountain for example.  Even rental companies are providing accessibility to titles online and their physical locations—I was surprised to see a large easily accessible selection available at Hollywood Video at 21^st and Burnside.  In all of these cinematic pieces few touch on the experience of a queer athlete.

Granted you can find Greg Louganis’ story of Breaking the Surface and the softball classic Broken Hearts Club, but where are the movies addressing victories of queer jocks among heterosexual counter parts outside of the sport of cheerleading?  Not saying a gay identity is not important to cheerleading success.  Since there are few films in sports with the GLBTQ voice we turn to the abundance of other jock films to be inspired and entertained. 

Argue as you may that lessons to be learned from any sports film are universal and sexual identity should not be an issue is only half true.  As we all identify with different labels like “athletic”, “straight” and/or “queer” each are tenants we stand upon in building a positive self identity for ourselves to achieve success not only in sport but other areas of life. Queer jocks desire more presence on film—as with other areas of media—in all play fields arenas.  Enough of being on the soap box though.

Id Magazine’s newest issue available online and in print (within the week) has the theme of film.  Review of the long list of popular sports themed movies three solid categories emerge:   1) out of place coach inspires a team to victory and personal lessons of triumph; 2) creating your own path of success in the world though athletics often dancing along the way; and 3) women who can kick butt in a male dominant world inside and out of the boxing ring.  Dancing is culturally connected to queers—don’t forget about our influence with disco and having the best clubs to go to—so let’s look at the lessons from such movies.

Editor’s note:  As contributor Matthew Free is completing the hours of watching high stepping action for this review of sports films we would like to hear about your favorite sports films and their significance to you as an athlete.  Come back August 18^th for this story wrap up.

Posted by MatthewFree on Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 at 8:33 am.