SINGAPORE
TAX DOLLARS AT WORK
The
new Singapore film Be With Me, which contains three
vignettes of characters looking for love--including one
about two teenage girls who fall in love--was forced to
change its poster from a scene of the girls lying and embracing
each other on some steps, to one with one of the girls being
embraced by a man. "One of the guidelines states that
posters must not depict or promote homosexual or lesbian
intimacy," said
a representative from the government's Media Development
Authority, who polices these things. "As such, the
distributor was advised to use alternative visuals."
CENSORSHIP:
IT'S NOT JUST FOR SINGAPORE
A new documentary about legendary bisexual actress
Greta Garbo
premiered this week on Turner Classic Movies, and much to
the displeasure of Garbo's remaining family members, she
was not, er, straightened out. "The family wanted us
to put in that she wasn't lesbian," director Kevin
Brownlow said in an interview
about the documentary. "But nobody we spoke to was
that definitive...It's one of those things you can't be
definitive about. All you can do is touch on it."
IMAGINING
PIPER AND LENA...
The not-so-Coyote Ugly Piper Perabo (Lost
and Delirious) explores her Sapphic side (again) in
the new British film Imagine Me and You, which
has its world debut at the Toronto International Film Festival
this weekend, and will be released in the U.S. on February
10th. The movie, directed by Ol Parker, tells the story
of a bride, Rachel (Perabo), who gets a bad case of cold
feet when she unexpectedly falls for the florist, Luce (Lena
Headey), on her wedding day to boyfriend Heck (Matthew Goode).
She marries him anyway, but can't stop thinking about Luce,
causing turmoil and leading Rachel, Luce and Heck to wonder
what the heck is going on. Sorry, couldn't resist.
GIRLFRIEND
GETS A GIRLFRIEND ON GIRLFRIENDS?
On the upcoming season of the popular UPN sitcom
Girlfriends, biracial girlfriend Lynn (Persia
White) is reportedly going to find her own lesbian
florist, or something like that, when she finally explores
the bisexual side she's mentioned once or twice before,
but never actually done anything about. Girlfriends
has always been fairly gay-friendly--William's lesbian sister
has made an appearance
a few times, once with her partner--and the writers have
done a good job with successfully integrating potentially
controversial topics in the past (like HIV, and Lynn's biracial
heritage), but this would be the first core character on
the sitcom to have a relationship with someone of the same
sex.
Will
Lynn's bisexuality just be the stuff of Sweeps episodes,
or a whole big season-long, integrated thing? We'll have
to tune in Mondays at 9pm beginning September 19th to find
out.
That's
it for this week! Check back next Friday for a new installment
of Best. Lesbian. Week. Ever. or read past
installments of Best. Lesbian.
Week. Ever.