In the material for week 3, we explored the meaning and history behind the terms gay and queer. The word gay is known as a modern invention that formed from a political project that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. The goal of this political project was to fight for the rights of people who desire the same sex and raise positive outlooks for gay individuals in society. This political project began with the gay liberation movement in the 1970s, and from there, it has been carried out through the following years. The introduction of gay identities into cinema brought visibility and recognition to the sexuality. Film festivals and award ceremonies such as the Teddy Awards and the Berlin Festival have especially helped in building positivity and recognition around gay representation in film. Both the Teddy Awards and the Berlin Festival work to promote, represent, and recognize queer cinema. These film platforms help queer cinema thrive in a prestigious venue that is not limiting to other forms of cinema. 

In the reading titled “Tendencies,” the author, Eve Kosofsky Sedwick, explores the meaning of normativity and what it means in society. As discussed in the reading, normativity is a process that involves the natural organization of life. Normativity displays a chain in which men desire women and are expected to marry, buy a house, and have children together. In films such as the Law of Desire, the idea of normativity is visibly rejected in many ways. In the film Law of Desire, the director Pedro Almodóvar steers away from the typical norms in society and creates a world free from boundaries, where gender is not seen as a defining quality. The characters within the film exist freely without being positioned in a single category. Along with the non-normative structure of gender, Law of Desire also rejects normativity through the use of artificial lighting and the melodramatic acting, which work together to produce a sense of truth in something that is considered artificial. While the title of Law of Desire indicates the act of wanting or wishing for something, the definition of desire within the film is recognized as an impulsive obsession. Almodóvar rejected the traditional concepts of gender and instead reassessed traditional values while turning something that is considered artificial or unordinary into something usual and truthful.

In the Queer world cinema reading, Rosalind Galt and Karl Schoonover analyze and define the spaces of queer cinema while going over the significance that each area holds. The spaces of queer cinema recognize queerness as an active force across cinema, refusing to highlight any positive or negative representations of queerness. These spaces suggest that people locate queerness equally in a popular, debased, and generic form. The spaces influence Eurocentric ways of thinking cinema while rejecting the Western queer film canon. These spaces of queer cinema require thought and understanding. Many aspects of queer cinema are somewhat invisible, and that is why these spaces are important to review. When discovered, it can help filmmakers and individuals educate others and explain queer world Cinema.