Historic Lesbian and Gay books, art and films for teens

[WandsOut]

Any recommendations on these?
Poetry, novels, films, art... fashion designers etc

Ideally non captured of course!

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - film
any of the Ellen Galford books

this is a lovely thread, thank you for reminding me of some of the books and films that helped me explore...very cautiously!

@VeryQuaintIrene my favourite books too! Quaint Irene is definitely more interested in women (Lucia anyway) than men.
There is a gay strand in the excellent film LA Confidential.

Set in the 1950s, My Policeman (cert 15, Amazon) is an interesting insight into being gay, in a small town, where people like coppers aren't meant to be gay.
Harry Styles plays the lead character, which may or may not be a draw, and he's not bad in it.

I see @StamppotAndGravy and @AlbertCamusflage have already suggested Mary Renault - the Alexander trilogy is wonderful but my favourites that portray same sex relationships rather beautifully, both gay and lesbian relationships are:

• The Mask of Apollo (Nikeratos/Thelattos and Axiothea/Lastheneia);
• the Last of the Wine (Alexias/Lysis) and finally
• the King Must Die, the main character Theseus's interests are oriented towards women, but other characters are mentioned to be gay with no particular focus or comment, just a natural part of their character or storyline (Iros/Hippon, the Corinthian, Thalestris the Amazon etc).

And she lives with her 6 foot tall "maid" Lucy!

Not sure if anyone has said call the midwife there have been some interesting story lines involving LGB

Hey my favourite lesbian literature - and wonderful for any teen! Rubyfruit jungle - Rita Mae brown

Is there a biography you would recommend, please?

@pontefractals
The one I read, many years ago, was by Angela Bull. It's out of print now, but not wildly expensive on second hand websites.

Noel Streatfeild did write an autobiography, but it is clearly wildly sanitised. It's 3 volumes, starting with A Vicarage Family. The next two volumes are out of print and very expensive.

”Olivia” by Olivia (Dorothy Bussy)

To bring two strands together, Learned by Heart by Emma Donaghue is an imaging of the early life of Anne Lister and her first love, Eliza Raine, while they were at boarding school in York as teenagers. It's not explicit but you really can feel the love they have for each other as well as the tight restrictive lives expected for them and how they both didn't fit into society. Lister's portrayal is an absolute treat.

I don't really The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters being explicit, it's a good read as well.

My Summer of Love (adapted from a book of the same name) was filmed in Todmorden which is also where Oranges are not the only fruits was filmed. It's set late 90s. Also has Emily Blunt in her first film as well as young Paddy Considine. Todmorden and nearby Hebden both have thriving lesbian communities (and are pretty close to Anne Lister's house at Shibden, must be something in the hills! 😏)

Imagine Me and You - 00s lesbian romcom

Sugar Rush - 00s but huge for lesbian representation

Beautiful Things - 90s gay working-class romance (also Gimme Gimme Gimme - 90s sitcom by the same writer)

Beautiful People - underappreciated British gay sitcom set in the 90s

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe - film

I always get that mixed up with Mystic Pizza!

Bit of a derail here but I had to share!
I was looking for a rare book online and one of the 'vintage' books on offer was a book on etiquette - by Lady Troubridge.
That rang a bell, so I checked and yes it is by that Una Lady Troubridge who was Radclyffe Hall's main squeeze.
Maybe a book on etiquette written by a lesbian isn't exactly what the OP had in mind

PS I didn't buy it, only because the postage from the UK was so high, otherwise it would have been fun to own it. I was going to say 'and have it on the shelf beside The Well of Loneliness', but I've never wanted to give shelf space to The Well, too depressing..
One little detail I remember is that Stephen called her beloved horse 'Raftery' after the 18/19th century Irish poet Antoine Ó Raifteirí, which impressed me greatly.
Depressing spoiler alert: she shoots it, wouldn't ya know...🙄