Alonso Duralde joins me to talk about his new book, 'Hollywood Pride: A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Representation and Perseverance in Film'. Published in May 2024, 'Hollywood Pride' presents a history of film from the dawn of cinema to the "pansy craze" of the 1930s and the New Queer Cinema of the 1990s, all the way up to today.

Illustrated with more than 175 colour and black-and-white images, 'Hollywood Pride' points to the bright future of LGBTQ+ representation in cinema, by revealing the story of the community's inclusion and erasure, its visibility and invisibility, and its triumphs and tragedies.

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Time stamps:

4:00 I ask Alonso about the formative media that inspired his career in journalism

8:42 "Tell me about how your career has developed..."

9:00 Alonso has worked as a film festival programmer

11:00 Alonso tells me about his other books, including books on Christmas movies

11:19 I ask Alonso about his work with Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

14:52 Queer representation in film, especially in the 1990s (as in 'Mrs. Doubtfire'; 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', etc.)

17:41 "What's valuable about a book like this is that it's a reminder that [inclusion] didn't all just happen... they could take it all away real quick..."

18:47 Rock Hudson, Anthony Perkins and Tab Hunter's happy ending

20:38 Alonso on closeted famous Hollywood stars

21:27 Claudette Colbert and Marlene Dietrich ride an amusement park slide at a birthday party for Carole Lombard, as you do

22:00 The end of Pre-Code American cinema

24:08 Home media as a "Godsend" for access to LBGTQ+ films

27:14 'Brokeback Mountain' and the mid-2000s

32:42 Same-sex marriage in the US and Canada

37:00 Metrosexual culture in the 2000s: "guyliner", guys kissing, etc.

39:20 Reality TV and LGBTQ+ representation

41:06 Alonso tells me about interviewing Heath Ledger for The Advocate on a junket at the Toronto International Film Festival

45:14 "'Brokeback Mountain' is hardly Jane Austen, but it is [about] people living in a society that's being rather proscriptive about who you are allowed to love and not allowed..."

46:30 I put Alonso on the spot and ask him about his favourite film in 'Hollywood Pride'

48:50 "What advice would you give your teenage self today?"

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Podcast notes:

Thanks to Running Press for sending me a copy of Alonso's book! Buy it here: https://www.runningpress.com/titles/alonso-duralde/hollywood-pride/9780762485895/

Check out my interview with TCM host Dave Karger: https://soundcloud.com/teenpeoplepod/davekarger

Find me on Twitter and Instagram at TeenPeoplePodAnd online at www.annasoper.ca

Music and sounds:

The Sound of dial-up Internet by wtermini on PixabaySpirit Blossom by RomanBelov on Pixabay

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Teen People is recorded in Kingston/Katarokwi, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat.