A Queer Film Classic on the groundbreaking 1977 documentary that profiles the lives of ordinary gay men and lesbians of different ages, races, and backgrounds. Word Is Out found a wide audience theatrically and, perhaps more importantly, had a national public-television broadcast. The film provided an intimate portrait of gay men and lesbians, and by doing so, it played a significant role in the then-nascent struggle for gay rights. It premiered six months after Anita Bryant's infamous "Save Our Children" campaign led to the repeal of a gay rights ordinance in Florida, and just as other antigay activists were beginning to copy her tactics elsewhere in the US. With its affable portrait of twenty-six gay men and women, Word Is Out offered an important counterpoint to the homophobic rhetoric that Bryant and others were spreading. Greg Youmans examines the historical, political, and aesthetic significance of this important film, situating it firmly in its late-1970s context. He also delves beneath the film's surface to explore the backstory of its making, from the complicated relationships among its six filmmakers (three men, three women) to the more than 140 video pre-interviews they conducted in their search for the perfect cast. Arsenal's Queer Film Classics series cover some of the most important and influential films about and by LGBTQ people.

グレッグ・ユーマンズによる本書は、伝説的映画を「言葉による魂の奪還」として鮮烈に解読します。差別が渦巻く時代、自らの生を語る人々の声は、単なる記録を超えた文学的な響きを湛えています。著者は制作陣の葛藤や膨大な予備調査の裏側に切り込み、沈黙を強いられた人々が尊厳を取り戻す瞬間の美学的・政治的意義を深く掘り下げます。 映像が捉えた肉声の震えに対し、本書は緻密な考察で時代背景という文脈を補完します。映画の一瞬の輝きと著者の情熱的な筆致が共鳴することで、作品は重層的な魅力を放ちます。映像と活字が手を取り合うことで、歴史に刻まれた勇気ある告白は、今を生きる私たちの心に、より深く普遍的な灯をともすのです。