Gregg Araki On the Gay Sex Scene In ‘The Living End’ That Shocked Audiences 30 Years Ago
In 1992, Gregg Araki’s gay indie-thriller The Living End rode a cultural wave of Queer cinema, a cinematic movement which changed the way gay audiences viewed themselves and the world in which they lived.While critical reaction at the time of the film’s release was mixed (Quentin Crisp called the film “dreadful”), The Living End has gone on to maintain an influential place in the annals of gay film.
Despite an essentially non-existent budget The Living End went on to become a cult favorite, and influenced a raft of Queer filmmaking which followed in its wake.Now, 30 years after the film hit cinemas, Araki remembers the production of his best known film as “this whole crazy adventure and we had nothing to lose.”Speaking to i-D, in celebration of the film’s 30th anniversary, Araki recalled, “We just kind of went for it.
There was no self-censorship involved and, in that way, it was creatively reckless and free.”“The film captures that period of my life.
It was my crazy, random, wild thoughts. That The Living End is a document of that is, for me personally, really cool and something I look back on very fondly.” Produced at the height of Act-Up and Queer Nation activism, The Living End joined a cache of films which heavily spoke to the emerging Queer voice of protest.
