Arts & Entertainment

Short film ‘American Male’ shows wrath of internalized homophobia

movie won MTV filmmaker competition

Published

9 years ago

September 23, 2016

Mariah Cooper

(Screenshot via YouTube.)

Short film “American Male,” winner of MTV’s Look Different Creator Competition, examines the detrimental nature of internalized homophobia. The competition required up-and-coming filmmakers to focus on the topic of privilege.

The film, directed by Michael Rohrbaugh, follows a frat boy who is working overtime to present as hyper-masculine. Shots of the college student performing stereotypical masculine activities such as working out, attending frat parties and drinking beer are shown throughout.

In a voice-over the student explains how he has carefully crafted his persona to appear as masculine as possible and schools the viewer on the behaviors of women and men. At one point he explains how women gesture more and that as a child he would gesture a lot, but trains himself to stop.

“Order beer. Not wine. And beef, not chicken. Never light beer, though. And no tofu. Can’t get more gay than tofu,” he says.

Living life isn’t easy for the student as he is shown struggling with attraction to his fellow frat brother and overall unhappiness at supressing his identity.

In an interview with Huffington Post, Rohrbaugh explained the message of the film.

“I would like for viewers to gain a better understanding of what life feels like in the closet. I also hope they’ll reflect upon their own lives and think about falsehoods that might be holding them back,” Rohrbaugh says.

“So many of the social norms we’ve been taught are rooted in discrimination, and so many young people are taught to feel ashamed of who they are, raised to believe that there’s something wrong with them, that they’re not normal or not who they should be. Those types of lies are really destructive, which is why they must be exposed and debunked,” Rohrbaugh continued.

Watch “American Male” below.

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Queer highlights of the 2026 Critics Choice Awards: Aunt Gladys, that ‘Heated Rivalry’ shoutout and more

Amy Madigan’s win in the supporting actress category puts her in serious contention to win the Oscar for ‘Weapons’

Published

2 days ago

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From Chelsea Handler shouting out Heated Rivalry in her opening monologue to Amy Madigan proving that horror performances can (and should) be taken seriously, the Critics Choice Awards provided plenty of iconic moments for queer movie fans to celebrate on the long road to Oscar night.

Handler kicked off the ceremony by recapping the biggest moments in pop culture last year, from Wicked: For Good to Sinners. She also made room to joke about the surprise hit TV sensation on everyone’s minds: “Shoutout to Heated Rivalry. Everyone loves it! Gay men love it, women love it, straight men who say they aren’t gay but work out at Equinox love it!”

The back-to-back wins for Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein and Amy Madigan in Weapons are notable, given the horror bias that awards voters typically have. Aunt Gladys instantly became a pop culture phenomenon within the LGBTQ+ community when Zach Cregger’s hit horror comedy released in August, but the thought that Madigan could be a serious awards contender for such a fun, out-there performance seemed improbable to most months ago. Now, considering the sheer amount of critics’ attention she’s received over the past month, there’s no denying she’s in the running for the Oscar.

“I really wasn’t expecting all of this because I thought people would like the movie, and I thought people would dig Gladys, but you love Gladys! I mean, it’s crazy,” Madigan said during her acceptance speech. “I get [sent] makeup tutorials and paintings. I even got one weird thing about how she’s a sex icon also, which I didn’t go too deep into that one.”

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Over on the TV side, Rhea Seehorn won in the incredibly competitive best actress in a drama series category for her acclaimed performance as Carol in Pluribus, beating out the likes of Emmy winner Britt Lower for Severance, Carrie Coon for The White Lotus, and Bella Ramsey for The Last of Us. Pluribus, which was created by Breaking Bad’s showrunner Vince Gilligan, has been celebrated by audiences for its rich exploration of queer trauma and conversion therapy.

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Jean Smart was Hack’s only win of the night, as Hannah Einbinder couldn’t repeat her Emmy victory in the supporting actress in a comedy series category against Janelle James, who nabbed a trophy for Abbott Elementary. Hacks lost the best comedy series award to The Studio, as it did at the Emmys in September. And in the limited series category, Erin Doherty repeated her Emmy success in supporting actress, joining in yet another Adolescence awards sweep.

As Oscar fans speculate on what these Critics Choice wins mean for future ceremonies, we have next week’s Golden Globes ceremony to look forward to on Jan. 11.