025 - Ed Wood (and Glen or Glenda)

Join us on Cinema Very Gay as we journey back in time, a beautiful time before Tim Burton discovered CGI. In 1994 Burton directed the biopic Ed Wood, chronicling the career of notorious B-movie writer and director, widely claimed to be one of the worst directors of all time. Wood was more than just an eager and enthusiastic film-maker though, it was also an open secret that he was a cross-dresser, going so far as to show up to his own production sets in women's clothes (especially angora sweaters). Ed Wood (film) stars Johnny Depp as the titular director alongside Oscar-winner Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi, with whom Wood had formed an unlikely friendship. As a companion to Ed Wood, we also look back at one of Wood's exploitation films featured in Burton's movie, Glen or Glenda (1954). In this confusing production, Wood was aiming to earn some empathy for "transvestites" and cross-dressers by following a police inspector uncovering the truth about a man's suicide. The film even starred Wood himself both in and out of drag, a bold move given the shoddy production and shaky terminology used in the script. How did Burton manage to capture the queerness of Ed Wood without turning him into a spectacle? Is Martin Landau's Lugosi one of the best screen performances ever? How many problematic actors can fit in one cast? This and more on this week's Cinema Very Gay! Then, we have finally reached the end of our mini-series of queer coding in Disney villains, rounding our list out with the pompous, maniacal Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas (1995). We have to admit, this was not a strong note to end the series on, either with the film (woefully misguided) or the villain (unnecessary). But at least we have a chance to take stock of the miniseries with some power rankings of the villains, play some Disney villain trivia, and pontificate on what the Grindr profile for Ratcliffe might be like.