The Emerald City of Oz: The city of Sydney as a gay space in Australian feature films

Abstract

ABSTRACTAustralian feature films featuring gay male characters have consistently defined the inner-city—and. particularly the inner-city of Sydney—as. a gay space. This article examines a range of such films within the historical context of the emergence of gay male community and culture in Sydney. While this history reveals the complex and contested nature of gay men's connections to the city, on-screen depictions have tended to mask such complexity in favour of a simplistic urban/gay versus rural/straight divide. By repeatedly exploring gay life in inner-city spaces through the eyes of heterosexual, rural visitors, Australian films have developed and replicated discourses that have seen Sydney defined as the ‘true’ home of gay male community and culture.