Couch Potato Pickings
On ITV2 today at 2pm
While most people assumed that heartthrob Rock Hudson was a ladies’ man, the gay community knew he wasn’t heterosexual well before he finally revealed the truth about his sexuality just before he died from AIDS in 1985.
Such awareness of gay stars has not been restricted to Hudson. The gay community knew about other non-heterosexuals long before they came out – Elton John, Ellen DeGeneres, George Michael, Jodie Foster, Lindsay Lohan, to name just a few.
How so? Well it’s the gaydar isn’t it – the sixth sense that’s been developed by gay people to recognise other non-heterosexuals. It definitely exists and is based on subtle signals such as the use of certain words, ways of dressing, hair styles, mannerisms, eye contact, and I’m not talking about the cliché that is the gay man who raises his little finger while drinking a cup of tea. Nobody does that these days, unless in jest.
In Pillow Talk, Rock Hudson plays a heterosexual man posing as a gay man to unnerve Doris Day enough to win her heart. Hudson’s real sexuality was a shared joke with the gay community and there are plenty of puns and inside jokes within the movie that gay audiences get, while many heterosexuals, and certainly those of the time, totally missed.
Take a look at this clip from the film, and watch out for that cliched finger…
For many years, conservative politicians, the church and moralists prevented Hollywood from portraying gay subjects. Because of such censorship, directors and producers were forced to be creative in speaking to their gay audiences and you’ll find that there are plenty of subtle gay codes in many Hollywood movies. Check out the brilliant documentary The Celluloid Closet for a detailed, informative and highly entertaining portrayal of these.
