Queen Christina

A black and white still from the film Queen Christina. Greta Garbo, a white woman with a bob, sits in on a throne wearing traditional men's clothing. There are two large dogs at her sides.

“I imagine you left Hollywood at thirty-six

because you had enough money to live as a lesbian

and didn’t have to buy into heterosexuality

after Christina”

– Cheryl Clarke, "Greta Garbo"

Queen Christina, a film as historic as its titular character. Queen Christina was released in 1933, during a time called pre-code. The Hays Code was a set of guidelines written for Hollywood by a group of religious leaders, most notably William Hays, that dictated what could and could not be shown on screen. It was put into place just after the invention of “talkies” and banned numerous “immoral acts” from being shown on film. Among those “immoral acts” was any reference to or implication of homosexuality.

However, the fact that Queen Christina is pre-code does not mean that the film was released before the code, but that the film was released before the code was enforced by people other than Hollywood executives. Queen Christina was filmed and released in a relatively open time when films were slightly more risque and allowed to be more progressive. However, the code still existed, so Hollywood executives tried to get most films to follow the guidelines, and most did. This film did not.

Queen Christina starred Greta Garbo, who many know as a bisexual Swedish actress who was quite sought after during that time. Because of her popularity, she was given a significant amount of creative control over the films she starred in, which is evident in this project.

Garbo developed the film in partnership with Salka Viertel, who was rumoured to be in a relationship with Garbo. Most people involved in the film were friends or former lovers of Garbo’s, as she had enough control to keep the people she enjoyed working and being with. She even influenced the casting of her ex-fiance as the romantic interest for the film.

Despite all the control she had over the production, she was meant to follow a set of rules: the Hays Code. Specifically, she was not meant to reference or imply anything about Christina’s possible homosexuality. Upon watching the film, though, it’s clear she ignored those instructions as thoroughly as she could.

The film introduced King Christina, referred to by this title instead of the “Queen” the movie title advertised. From here on out, the lines of gender only blur further. When Christina is an adult, it is set up so that she is only seen from behind, in clothing that was traditionally worn by men at the time. It is only revealed this is, in fact, Christina, and not just a hunter passing through when she later sits down with her advisors. It can be said this allowance of cross-dressing in the film was in the name of historical accuracy, and that could be the case, as King Christina was known for dressing in breeches and other clothing traditionally worn by men in Sweden at the time. But as the film continues, it is not just the clothing that plays with gender roles.

At one point, when arguing with an adviser about marriage, King Christina says:

“Chancellor: But your Majesty, you cannot die an old maid.

Christina: I have no intention to, Chancellor. I shall die a bachelor!”

Later in the film, King Christina is perceived as a man time and time again, and she doesn’t correct anyone who does so. In one particularly memorable moment, she helps a group push their carriage out of a snowdrift, and the lord tells one of his men to “give the boy a dollar.” When Christina gets this dollar, she smiles, looking at her face on the coin. She lets this “misunderstanding” continue as long as she can until she is forced to take off her clothes while sharing a room with her romantic interest.

Romantic interests in this film are also not quite what one would expect when watching a film made in this period, given the rules films were supposed to follow. King Christina has three romantic partners throughout this film: two male and one female.

While this film plays fast and loose with historical accuracy, they thought it necessary to include Ebba, King Christina’s female lover, in a passing part, even though she does not play an important role in the plot.

As previously mentioned, this film was not strict on historical accuracy (adding a heterosexual love interest who never existed in real life). So, they did not include Ebba in the film for reasons of historical accuracy. Rather, when Ebba is seen, there is a kiss shared between her and Christina. It’s not on the cheek, as she does on-screen with one of her male lovers, but on the mouth. While many of their interactions are interactions friends could theoretically have many dance on the edge of romance.

At one point, Ebba is talking to a man she is in a relationship with, and she is discussing with him why she can’t tell Christina about him. Not because of their plans to marry (which is an institution Christina ardently opposes), but because of the existence of a romantic relationship at all, citing that Christina is domineering. King Christina overhears this conversation and is deeply offended, running off to hunt instead of taking a weekend trip with Ebba as she originally planned. She only forgives this offence when she finds another romantic relationship, suggesting that she has replaced Ebba, so there is no need for her to be angry anymore.

When one watches a film, one looks for someone to relate to in it, for queer and non-queer watchers alike. But queer audiences, have been historically forced to look deeper to find anything that represents them in mainstream films, so queer people have become adept at reading subtext.

It is also clear that when artists work, it is impossible to remove their identity completely from the art. Artists leave parts of themselves in their work, and that is often what makes their work great. So when queer artists work on a project, purposefully or not, they often reflect parts of their own identity on it.

So when these two realities interlock, a dialogue is formed, a conversation that can only be heard by those in the queer community, a connection that is made between artist and audience. With small clues and hints, snips of dialogue, and symbolism. In other words: a queer code.

In this film, there are many hints to King Christina’s sexuality and gender identity. Outside of the obvious ones, there are many more subtle clues, such as how King Christina walks. Since Greta Garbo was such a well-known and well-loved Hollywood starlet, she walked like one, except for when she was in character. It is often noted that in this film, Garbo takes on a more traditionally masculine gait and mannerisms.

Christina's character is also given many traditionally male things: the large dogs she keeps with her, a manservant who accompanies her everywhere instead of a maid, and the constant presence of other men. This is aside from Ebba, who is only there for a brief time and is replaced by a new lover. King Christina is also given traits that one would often be associated with masculinity at the time, including a highlighted reputation as someone who sleeps with many people.

Often seen as a negative thing for a woman, but in this case, Christina, herself, encourages it. In one scene, when two men come to her thinking she is an ordinary lord and not the Queen, they ask her whether Christina has had six or nine lovers in the past year. With some persuasion, she ends up starting the rumour she has, in fact, had twelve.

These are all traditionally masculine traits, used to either suggest her not being heterosexual, as it was often believed non-heterosexual women were more masculine than most women or suggesting she may not have been a woman at all, but instead a transgender man. Either way, because Greta Garbo and all the others who worked on the film were not allowed to be explicit in their portrayal of King Christina as a queer person, they still did their best to make that fact obvious. To many queer viewers, it was.

This code was not perfect; it could not be explicit, so they had to use symbols, and such symbols in more recent years have become stereotypes. Queer women were often portrayed as doing traditionally masculine things, such as wearing suits and having short haircuts. Queer men were shown doing traditionally feminine things, such as dressing extremely well, having high-pitched voices, and being preoccupied with fashion.

It was not long before film executives noticed these things and often promoted them, knowing such controversial things would get more people to watch their films. And so, a new, more sinister tradition emerged.

The difference between queer coding done by queer people and queer coding done by heterosexual, cisgender, allosexual/romantic people is obvious. When queer people were doing it, they were doing it to connect to a queer audience and show they weren’t alone, and when non-queer people did the same thing, it became something else entirely.

There was a small loophole in the Hays Code; it often would not be enforced if the homosexuality that was implied was punished or shown in a negative light. And many have examined how that affects how queer characters are seen today in the “bury your gays” trope, but it also affects how often queer villains are portrayed.

In Alfred Hitchcock’s film Rope, the same language that queer people used to talk to each other through art is taken advantage of to portray the film's villains as queer. Another undeniable example is Ursula, who was based on a drag queen and is the villain in The Little Mermaid.

Queer people were forced to talk to each other through the code, and when non-queer people found out how this communication worked, they took advantage of it. Used the language created and turned it against the community, using symbols and making them stereotypes, using how queer people talked to each other and saw themselves in films to weave in the message that the queer community was evil and depraved. Pushing to connect queer people with villains and forcing people outside of the community to see queer people as monsters. There are still remnants of this all throughout popular culture.

While many films still use queer coding to suggest queer people are bad, others have used it for a more pretty but just as sinister purpose.

As queer culture has moved further into the spotlight corporations, have realized that queer people’s money is just as good as non-queer people’s. But they needed to figure out a way to draw queer people in without offending their “family values” audience, so they began queerbaiting. They took the language again, sewing in subtext about characters and queer couples, but never taking the final step. They build romances and characters that connect with a queer audience, then suggest that the audience itself is stereotyping for seeing what they are shown. Using a technique known as gaslighting, film executives have used the queer communities language to draw a queer audience in and then call them irrational for believing they may see themselves represented.

While not all queer coding and queerbaiting are meant maliciously, it is all harmful. While there still are many instances when film executives stop queer representation, so the artists rely on subtext, more often than not, it is a manipulative tactic. The codes used are no longer the queer communities; they were taken and made into harmful stereotypes and aggressive brainwashing campaigns.

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material

Angel City Sirens. (2015, July 29). Gals Being Pals [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cstjjOXKOYY

AreTheyGay. (2016, August 19). The Problem With Queerbaiting [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-nWufwm074

AreTheyGay. (2016, July 22). A Brief History of Subtext [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwrTU-FnGlw

Brisman, S. Salka Viertel. Jewish Women’s Archive. http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/viertel-salka

Conochalla, C. (2015, June 15.) The Most Powerful Lesbian of 1930s Hollywood. https://lescentricguide.com/2015/06/24/lets-start-from-the-beginning/

Ellis, R. (2015, November 2). Queer Witches in Pop Culture // Something Wicked pt. 2 [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLwfi_-YlL0

HippieXena. (2015, November 30). Representation of queer women in film and TV [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--Cg_pJX4M

Hyden, Sage. [Just Write]. (2015, July 2). History of Homosexuality on Film [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeDhMKd83r4

Media Smarts. Queer Representation in Film and Television. http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-media-literacy/media-issues/diversity-media/queer-representation/queer-representation-film-television

Mislak, M. (2015, August 15). From Sissies to Secrecy: The Evolution of the Hays Code Queer. Filmic. https://filmicmag.com/2015/08/01/from-sissies-to-secrecy-the-evolution-of-the-hays-code-queer/

(n.d.). What is Pre-Code Hollywood? Pre-Code.Com. http://pre-code.com/what-is-pre-code-hollywood/

Petersen, A. (2012, September 12). Scandals of Classic Hollywood: The Exquisite Garbo. The Hairpin. https://thehairpin.com/scandals-of-classic-hollywood-the-exquisite-garbo-72f0f9409ec#.zandhu4pf

Queen Christina (1933) Review, with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert. Pre-Code.Com. http://pre-code.com/queen-christina-1933-review-greta-garbo-john-gilbert/

Scahill, A. Queer Representation in the Cold War [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmlLcAta_6A

The Princess and The Scrivener. (2015, October 2). Queer Coding Disney's Male Animated Villains: Chilling Challenge Day 2 [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAJ-mqepq3I

University of Oregon. (2012, July 27). Community Conversations: Over the Rainbow -- Queer Coding in the Media [Video file]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbJZm3spGhc