‘Sheer outrageousness’: writers on their favourite LGBTQ+ movie characters

The article is part of a series published during Pride month, where writers share their favourite LGBTQ+ movie characters, highlighting the diversity and complexity of queer representation in film. The character of Corky, from the 1996 film Bound, is notable for her unapologetic and visible portrayal of queerness, which was rare in films at the time. This representation has had a lasting influence on the portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters in media, with Corky's impact still being felt in contemporary films and TV shows.

‘Sheer outrageousness’: writers on their favourite LGBTQ+ movie characters

From gritty criminals to teens coming to terms with their identity, pride month sees Guardian writers on their most beloved queer characters Forget about dimly lit period dramas where miserable women with no access to electricity gently sob in their heaving corsets and accidentally-on-purpose brush hands in the trembling candlelight; overblown, bombastic heist-capers and brooding, butch anti-heroes are far more up my street when it comes to lesbian cinema. What, after all, could be more intensely gay than immediately committing to a life of crime with someone you’ve only just set eyes on? My favourite of the entire bunch has to be the swaggering ex-con turned plumber Corky, who helps to save Violet from the clutches of her mob boss husband in 1996’s cult classic Bound. Though we first meet Corky trussed up in a literal closet, the metaphor doesn’t play out how you might expect: unapologetic and visible in a time when few films explored queerness full stop, she flexes a labrys tattoo, spends her down time swigging beer in grotty dive bars, and eventually drives off into the sunset, her new partner-in-crime in tow, in a beaten-up Chevy pick-up. The sheer simplicity of Corky as a queer heartthrob was, somehow, ridiculously ahead of its time, and her magnetic influence has played out everywhere from Bottoms to Love Lies Bleeding. El Hunt Continue reading...