Gaydom’s Favorite Movie Moms— The Good, The Bad, and The Campy!

Sunday is Mother’s Day and whether you’re a stereotypical mama’s boy or a Christina Crawford wannabe (you’re a true gay if you got that one…), all of us gays have a strong attachment not just to our own mothers, but all mothers.

Just ask Norman Bates…

Some of the gayest movies ever have been about that mysterious maternal instinct and we are all the gayer for loving them.

Let’s have a look at some of the Gaydom’s Favorite Movie Moms:

Mother (1996, D. Albert Brooks)

We automatically love Debbie Reynolds for being the triple threat superstar of film's most memorable musicals, but she also has played a lot of memorable movie moms. In 1996, she played the mother of Albert Brooks in the appropriately titled Mother. Brooks decides to go back and live with her to find out if she is the reason he can’t make things work with a woman. The next year, she was closeted Kevin Kline’s sweet mother in the dated, but still funny In and Out. Add to this that Debbie was the real-life mother of Princess Leia herself Carrie Fisher (who turned their complicated relationship into another gay favorite, Postcards from the Edge) and Debbie is just the mother we all wish we had and are afraid we do have at the same time.

Serial Mom (1994 d. John Waters)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwYOoVexwZg

Beautiful bitch Kathleen Turner playing a housewife/mother/serial killer? YES! This cult classic from the one and only John Waters has Kathleen living a double life. If she's not baking pies, she's killing a woman by beating her to death with a rack of lamb, both with Annie playing in the background. Could it get any weirder or gayer?!

Mildred Pierce (1945 d. Michael Curtiz)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4CEkYJNir0

This classic melodrama is maybe the ultimate sacrificing mother story. In her Oscar winning performance, gay icon Joan Crawford plays a single mother who goes from broke waitress to wealthy CEO, and who even takes up with a hot wealthy society guy, all for the sake of her spoiled rotten daughter Veda (Ann Blyth might be the scariest daughter ever!). The fiery scenes between mother and daughter are what great acting (and gay loving bitchery) are all about.

Mommie Dearest (1981 d. Frank Perry)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZEYYF6PpEg

With “The biggest MOTHER of them all” as its slogan, you know that this has to be a movie about a mother and a movie for the gays. What was supposed to be a serious story about child abuse became, as one reviewer wrote, “the Citizen Fucking Kane of CAMP!” Faye Dunaway’s over the top performance as movie star Joan Crawford has become the greatest source of drag parody, GIFs, and memes for over four decades now. Even people who haven’t actually seen the movie know some of its most famous moments.

I mean, who doesn't know the infamous wire hanger scene?

Auntie Mame (1958 d. Morton DaCosta)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGdLNDu-H40

Ok, she’s not technically his mother, but Auntie Mame shows her young nephew Patrick and (all of us) all of the wonders of the world and of life. We all want (need) someone to show us how to make the perfect martini, how to steal a scene on stage, how to help a pregnant woman in need (especially now!), and how to handle bigoted jerks all while being absolutely fabulous in our wild clothes and luxurious surroundings and having several handsome male suitors. This eccentric, hilarious, loving, brave lady has become a heroine of not just the gay community, but the whole world.

Who are some of your favorite movie Mothas?

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