Vito Russo

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Vito Russo, 1989

Vito Anthony Russo (born July 11, 1946 in Manhattan , New York City , † November 7, 1990 ) was an American author , film historian and LGBT activist. In his influential work The Celluloid Closet , he dealt with the representation of LGTB people in film history.

life and work

After the riots in Stonewall , Russo became a member of the Gay Activists Alliance in the early 1970s and thus part of the lesbian and gay movement in New York. Towards the end of his life he was also an active member of the Act Up organization , which was dedicated to the fight against AIDS . Professionally, Russo earned a master's degree in film from New York University and then worked as a film curator for the Museum of Modern Art and the Gay Activists Alliance.

In 1981 Russo's book The Celluloid Closet was published, in which he explored the representation of homosexuality in film history and which became a seminal work on the subject. The title The Celluloid Closet is made up of the film material celluloid and “closet” as a slang term for the condition of unouted people. He took the material for the book from his own lectures, which he had already given in the 1970s at universities and other places on homosexuality in film. On the basis of many film examples, Russo analyzed that homosexuals were either shown only vaguely in film history (since regulations such as the Hays Code forbade an open representation), or that simplifying, often negative stereotypes were drawn by them. In the expanded new edition of 1987 he came to the conclusion that there were now many more films about homosexuality, but that these were often made from the perspective of the majority society. He wanted films that would present “randomly gay” people realistically and at the same time appeal to a wide audience. In 1995, based on Russo's book, HBO produced the documentary The Celluloid Closet , which featured Russo's close friend Lily Tomlin as the spokeswoman.

In 1983 Russo wrote and produced a 13-part television show entitled Our Time for New York station WNYC-TV, one of the first LGTB-focused programs in American television history. Russo's perception of the negative way LGBT people were portrayed in the US media led him to found the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in 1985 . This organization monitors the media representation of LGBT issues and people and presents the GLAAD Media Awards annually . Also in 1985, he served as the publicity director on the Oscar- winning documentary, The Times of Harvey Milk, about gay politician Harvey Milk .

In 1989 Russo appeared in front of the camera in the Oscar-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt , in which he tells the story of his partner Jeffrey Sevcik. He had died in 1986 as a result of AIDS . Russo died of complications from AIDS in November 1990 at the age of 44.

In memory of Vito Russo, the GLAAD Media Awards have been donating the Vito Russo Award since 2000 , which is given annually to openly LGBT people in the media who are committed to the fight against homophobia .

Works by Russo

literature

  • Michael R. Schiavi: Celluloid Activist. The Life and Times of Vito Russo . U. of Wisconsin Press, Madison 2011, ISBN 978-0-299-28230-1 .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vito Russo Residence. Retrieved July 27, 2020 (American English).
  2. ↑ The Gay Dream Factory: Homosexuality in Film . Gmünder, Berlin 1990. pp. 255-256.
  3. ↑ David Hudson: Lily Tomlin did this beautiful thing for Vito Russo before he died. September 3, 2019, accessed July 27, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Our Time Vito Russo 1983 groundbreaking TV series Internet. In: 2mecs. November 26, 2013, accessed on July 27, 2020 (German).
  5. ↑ Stephen Holden: Vito Russo, 44; A Historian of Film and a Gay Advocate . In: The New York Times . November 9, 1990, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed July 27, 2020]).
  6. ↑ Stephen Holden: Vito Russo, 44; A Historian of Film and a Gay Advocate . In: The New York Times . November 9, 1990, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed July 27, 2020]).
personal data
SURNAME Russo, Vito
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Russo, Vito Anthony (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH Manhattan , New York City
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1990
Place of death Manhattan , New York City