# I don't understand why there's a Gay/Lesbian film section on Netflix **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910 "2005-03-04T16:18:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/1 "2005-03-04T16:18:03Z")
I joined Netflix yesterday. It rocks. The selection is huge, and I’ve been having lots of fun just browsing through the choices and adding movies to my queue. I noticed there’s a Gay/Lesbian genre. I thought, “Wat’s up wit dat?” So I checked it out. It seems to me that most of these movies would actually belong in other genres. Some examples of some movies in this genre and where I think they should be: _Philadelphia_ - Drama _The Talented Mr. Ripley_ - Drama _Notorious C.H.O._ - Comedy _Go_ - Comedy _Bound_ - Drama It looks like any movie that has any sort of gay or lesbian relationship (or even a mention of one) goes in this genre. Why? I don’t understand this. Can someone explain this to me? ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/2 "2005-03-04T16:25:34Z")
Well, I could be wrong about this, but the categorzation isn’t absolute. A movie can fall under many different categories. You can look closer, but I’m guessing _Philadelphia_ is listed under Drama as well as Gay/Lesbian. As are the others. IMHO, the more ways to group things the better and easier to browse for. One way the internet beats the crap out of the Dewey Decimal system. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/3 "2005-03-04T16:26:04Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > It looks like any movie that has any sort of gay or lesbian relationship (or even a mention of one) goes in this genre. It does look that way. But how would you organize it? ---
**Author:** ![JerH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bb73d2/32.png) [@JerH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerH)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/4 "2005-03-04T16:29:13Z")
Those films are probably listed in the other categories too. That’s the advantage of a virtual video store vs. a physical one - you can put a movie into as many sections as you want. As to why…because they can, probably. I probably would have limited it to films where the gay relationship was a primary part of the plotline (like _Bound_) rather than one small plot point (like in _Go_). ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/5 "2005-03-04T16:29:43Z")
> [@Lord Ashtar](#): > > It looks like any movie that has any sort of gay or lesbian relationship (or even a mention of one) goes in this genre. Why? I don’t understand this. Can someone explain this to me? Honestly? Because there are some folks in the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) community that only live within those confines. They only watch movies with GLBT characters or themes, only go to bars, restaurants that cater to GLBTs, and pretty much stay in their little GLBT circles. It’s a very sad, but true thing. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/6 "2005-03-04T16:33:02Z")
It’s marketing. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/7 "2005-03-04T16:34:09Z")
As **Omniscient** and **JerH** suggest, apparently the “genre” tag shown in each movie’s detail listing doesn’t show all categories used. _Philadelphia,_ shown in the Gay section, is tagged “drama”, for example. I couldn’t find one that was tagged “gay”, not even [The Gay Deceivers](http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60000002&trkid=73), which I think belongs there not just for the title, but the story line as well. It’s tagged as Comedy. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/8 "2005-03-04T16:51:06Z")
I believe that it is because it is nice to see movie that acknowledge the existence of gay people, as opposed to the vast majority of fiction since the dawn of history. It’s nice to be acknowledged. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/9 "2005-03-04T17:11:01Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Honestly? Because there are some folks in the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) community that only live within those confines. They only watch movies with GLBT characters or themes, only go to bars, restaurants that cater to GLBTs, and pretty much stay in their little GLBT circles. It’s a very sad, but true thing. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don’t know _any_ straight people who only watch movies with straight characters or themes, or go to bars that only cater to straight to straight people or pretty much stay in little straight circles. It’s almost disgusting how insular GLBT community is when the straight community goes out of their way to be all inclusive and broaden their horizons. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/10 "2005-03-04T17:13:42Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Honestly? Because there are some folks in the GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender) community that only live within those confines. They only watch movies with GLBT characters or themes, only go to bars, restaurants that cater to GLBTs, and pretty much stay in their little GLBT circles. It’s a very sad, but true thing. Or is it possible that there may be gay folks who might just be interested in watching gay-themed entertainment _in addition to_ hetero romances? It’s not as either-or as you make it out to be. ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/11 "2005-03-04T17:26:27Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > Or is it possible that there may be gay folks who might just be interested in watching gay-themed entertainment _in addition to_ hetero romances? It’s not as either-or as you make it out to be. Yeah, I made that binary blanket statement. :rolleyes: I said that there are SOME. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/12 "2005-03-04T17:35:29Z")
I don’t like the tag myself. I am perfectly willing to watch a gay themed movie. I discovered the GAY/LESBIAN section of Netflix when I added The Broken Hearts Club to my queue. I have no major homophobia issues, but I feel weird in some way watching a film that has been tagged GAY/LESBIAN. Like tagging it a “Foreign” film or something. The labeling bothers me at some level. I think they should just “label” the films as drama, comedy, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/13 "2005-03-04T17:41:00Z")
Re: Netflix, your best bet is to select a gay themed movie (\*The Celluloid Closet, Boys Don’t Cry, Trick, Muppets Take Manhattan,\*etc.) and see the “suggestions”. They’re based on what other people who have rented this movie have selected and they tend to be more helpful. The reason things like _Philadelphia_ come up is because they go with what’s _most_ borrowed that’s in that category, and since a film with a major star/major studio that is only tangentially gay themed rents a lot more than an indie much lower budget “genre” film like _Edge of Seventeen_ it bumps them in the precedence. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/14 "2005-03-04T17:41:55Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Yeah, I made that binary blanket statement. :rolleyes: I said that there are SOME. And you gave that as the sole reason. You didn’t say, “one reason might be,” you said "honestly, because. . . " ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/15 "2005-03-04T17:45:48Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > And you gave that as the sole reason. You didn’t say, “one reason might be,” you said "honestly, because. . . " Yes, just keep reading between the lines until you discover your own rationale. :rolleyes: I also didn’t say that some people might want to have them bunched that way because they may be a doing a term report on gay themed music and how home delivery video service package the movies in a timely manner. Next time I’ll make sure to get all of my bases covered. Way to spaz out. ---
**Author:** ![teleute12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@teleute12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teleute12)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/16 "2005-03-04T17:49:20Z")
…_Muppets Take Manhattan_? ---
**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/17 "2005-03-04T17:53:50Z")
> [@JerH](#): > > Those films are probably listed in the other categories too. That’s the advantage of a virtual video store vs. a physical one - you can put a movie into as many sections as you want. > > As to why…because they can, probably. I probably would have limited it to films where the gay relationship was a primary part of the plotline (like _Bound_) rather than one small plot point (like in _Go_). _Go_ was an ensemble movie with multiple leads who had their own plots, and the gay ex-relationship between the actors was one of the main plotlines (that is, IIRC). There was enough gay in it to satisfy someone who only watches movies with gay content. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/18 "2005-03-04T17:55:20Z")
I am no longer a member of Netflix, but I used to look in that section to see if there were any independent films out there that I may have missed. But more importantly, I think it is for that person living 50 miles from nowhere, who doesn’t have any contact to the Gay community and thus does not know about some of these films. Mambo Italiano, Touch of Pink, My Beautiful Laundromat, Jeffrey, Life of Harvey Milk, Taxi Zum Klo …these were not exactly mainstream films and if you didn’t know what to look for, you would never find them. That would be a shame - especially if you are Gay and sometimes want to see a film that relates to your feelings. I believe these films are also cross referenced under Comedy, Drama, Indie… but unless you are an avid reader of The Advocate film reviews, a lot of these smaller films will slip right under your Gaydar and not be seen. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/19 "2005-03-04T18:00:35Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > The labeling bothers me at some level. I think they should just “label” the films as drama, comedy, etc. In modern society I have found that there is more than one man who is afraid that if he watches a mainstream film with a gay subplot, then the clerk will anounce to all within hearing range, “We got a **Gay** film for rent here. How much to rent a **Gay** film?” For those who are reading this thread **and** have a sense of humor, the following might make you chuckle. [If TiVo Thinks You Are Gay,Here’s How to Set It Straight](http://www.pvruk.co.uk/article.cfm?attributes.article=175) ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910/20 "2005-03-04T18:39:19Z")
> [@stpauler](#): > > Next time I’ll make sure to get all of my bases covered. Way to spaz out. Nah, just learn to write more clearly. Keep it up, and maybe you’ll learn how to express yourself without having to resort to smilies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-dont-understand-why-theres-a-gay-lesbian-film-section-on-netflix/292910.md?page=2)