Framed Youth: Revenge Of The Teenage Perverts (1983)

[Mel O'Drama]

Firstly... what a great name!

Secondly, I wasn't sure whether to drop this here or in music. Not only does it have a poptastic early-Eighties soundtrack, the "perverts" include Jimmy Somerville (then going by Jimi) and (the future Reverend) Richard Coles, a pairing soon about to form The Communards (Jimmy performs a track in the doc).

It's a time capsule all round. Essentially a documentary by and about young LGB people (T wasn't as much a thing then, and it's not mentioned at all here), there's frank discussion of being gay bashed, coming out to family, sexual experiences, and prejudices faced. They also take to the streets and interview members of the public. While the attitudes aren't surprising, it is kind of amusing to see the lack of awareness about what terms like "lesbian", "bisexual" or "homosexual" mean. One woman is incredulous when asked if she is heterosexual, not even knowing what that means!

The most notable aspect of this film is the presence of Mark Ashton. It's a little online searching about him that led me to discover this quirky and rebellious little documentary. Sadly, he'd be dead at the age of 26, within four years of this little documentary being made, but not before playing a fundamental role in the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) group a year after this was shot (a story brought to the masses many years later in the film Pride. Hearing him speak has made me realise what a flawless job American Ben Schnetzer did in recreating Mark's Northern Irish lilt).

Unless I missed him, Mark first appears around the 35 minute mark, with a no holds barred description of his first sexual encounter. But it's his comments about questioning the current climate - appropriately over footage of Thatcher giving yet another of her hate speeches - that really helps one understand why the LGSM campaign would be so important to him:

I started to question other things. I started thinking, well, if that's what they say about sexuality, then what about the rest of life, you know? And I started to see that basically, the whole country is not geared for the people. It's geared for the few people who are making money out of it.

At the end of the film, Mark talks about being scared of the police because of how they view him. Again, this is exactly why he would back the miners who were similarly maligned at the time. He really is the bright spot of this film for not being stuck in some gay vacuum, but for looking outwards to see others being equally affected by Thatcher's crippling of the country, and - as it would turn out - considering what he can do for them.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The most notable aspect of this film is the presence of Mark Ashton. It's a little online searching about him that led me to discover this quirky and rebellious little documentary. Sadly, he'd be dead at the age of 26, within four years of this little documentary being made, but not before playing a fundamental role in the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) group a year after this was shot

it's his comments about questioning the current climate - appropriately over footage of Thatcher giving yet another of her hate speeches - that really helps one understand why the LGSM campaign would be so important to him

And here's a gem of a video about that incredible, unlikely friendship between the London gay men and lesbians and the striking miners:

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Just stumbled on a couple of Framed Youth related videos...

Jimmy Somerville on TV-am, one year after Mark's death talking about his new single about Mark and the obstacles presented by the subject matter, such as radio stations refusing air play and the record company refusing to give up royalties for AIDS charities (he has a nice, defiant fourth wall breaking moment as he makes this clear):

And almost three decades on, in the wake of the Pride film (which he hasn't watched due to it being too close to home), Jimmy reflects on his friendship with Mark and talks about survivor's guilt:

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