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Portrayals of gay best friendship-here defined as the heterosocial relationship, often erotic but usually non-physical, that develops between a heterosexual, cisgender woman and a homosexual or queer-identifying man-became an undeniable trend in mainstream Western film at the end of the twentieth century. In particular, the romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding and the romantic drama Get Real were heralded as films exemplifying this "screwball comedy match for the millennium" (Jacobs 1998, 20). Such portrayals of gay best friendship are, as Boze Hadleigh observes, a case of two steps forward, one step back (1993), since the inclusion of non-conforming couples in mainstream narrative requires simultaneous regulation in order to render them palatable to audiences "imbued with heteronormative sensibilities" (Shugart 2003, 68). Due in part to a mass media producer and majority audience, both of which are characterised by heteronormative ideology, this regulation is also achieved by assigning the straight woman a role that, although initially appearing unconventional, tempers the impact of sexual and gender progression beyond heteronormativity within gay best friendship and the broader film narrative. Using the methodology of critical discourse analysis, this study examines Get Real's Linda and My Best Friend's Wedding's Julianne in terms of their appearance, and its effect on their desirability and sexual function, the construction of their gender type in relation to male and female heteronormative characters, and to each character's respective gay best friend, Steven and George. In addition, this study explores the significance of female 'unruliness' to identity politics in gay best friendship (Rowe 1995), and examines how the straight woman is 'de-gendered' through her role in gay best friendship.
Portrayals of gay best friendship-here defined as the heterosocial relationship, often erotic but usually non-physical, that develops between a heterosexual, cis-gender woman and a homosexual or queer-identifying man-became an undeniable trend in mainstream Western film at the end of the twentieth century, reflecting the increasing economic viability of homosexuality in 1990s mass media and the wider trend of 'queer chic', a marketing strategy intended to flatter the "liberal leanings" of its target audience by making an appealing statement against the heteronormative majority (Thompson 2004, 41).1 Related to queer chic, the growing prominence of gay best friendship in films produced within the same period is indicated by the...