The Hollywood Lavenders: What Babylon (2022)’s portrayal of lesbians in the Jazz Age can teach us about queer history

Babylon is a movie that, now, three years from its inception, never truly won the praise of critics. It’s historically inaccurate,  yet real enough to portray the Roaring Twenties in all its ferocious glory. It is equal parts a masterpiece and a horror show, going deeply into the very human nature of morality and identity.  However, it is particularly notable for its characters - fictional, yet heavily inspired by historical figures and social contexts of the time. Through this movie, we get a glimpse into the glamorous tragedy which was the lives of lesbian women in twenties’ Hollywood.

While not the lead romance, the heady lesbian fling between Lady Fay Zhu (Li Jun Li) a jack-of-all-trades chanteuse and Nellie LaRoy (Margot Robbie) a free-spirited, scandalous “wild child” of the silent film industry, is simultaneously spellbinding and heartfelt, a distant fantasy yet a story held close in the hearts of queer watchers. Fay Zhu - inspired by the Asian American actresses Anna May Wong and the openly bisexual Marlene Dietrich - serves as a severe seductress, with powerful allure. Alongside her, Nellie LaRoy - a free spirit, embodying the traditions of the “flapper” of the 1920s in her free spirit, Louisianan accent and short skirts. 

Their romance somewhat accurately depicts the life of LGBTQ actresses in the “moving picture” era of Hollywood, giving homage to the queer icons of this era. The 1920s were a time of increased freedom, particularly in Hollywood - the new Hollywood studio system created one of almost instant and unlimited gratification - a propagator of social chaos. This allowed many queer actors and members of the Hollywood scene to freely engage in homosexual relationships as part of this distant, fantastical world, where they were free of the moral restrictions of their time. Surprisingly enough, large directors of the time believed that the “lesbianism”, as it was named, produced a special sort of performance on screen - as Joseph Stenberg called, an “androgynous magnetism”. This fantasy is explored in the movie’s first act, with a crazy party in which the musical  number of Lady Fay Zhu takes place. The piece was, in fact, heavily inspired by Marlene Dietrich’s film Morocco (1930) which featured the first lesbian kiss on Hollywood screens. 

However, most studios knew that the image of Hollywood could not remain as unpalatable to an enduringly conservative public eye.  In 1923, Will Hays became the head of the new Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America - a collective of all the largest film moguls and studios in existence at the time. Hays believed that stability of working contracts was crucial to creating structure in the film industry. He had “morals clauses” put into film contracts, not dissimilar to the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policies of the modern-day United States. This restrictive policy began a culture of discretion for  LGBTQ+ relationships. In the 1920s, a number of prominent gay, bisexual and lesbian actors and actresses rose to fame in the silent film - Marlene Dietrich, for example, Ramon Novarro, William Haines, and Alla Nazimova - whose queer identities were open secrets within the Hollywood community, yet kept tightly secret outside of it. The movie shows the two characters beginning their romantic relationship during this time, after a party in which the two passionately make out after Fay Zhu saves Nellie LaRoy from a rattlesnake bite. Their relationship progresses, and Fay helps Nellie with acting and both act as supporting figures in each others’ lives. 

In the 1930s, with the advent of the Great Depression, the Hollywood Production Code came into being in 1930. This code essentially ruled out any form of “sexual perversion” from being told on screen. In 1932 it was further constricted by the “National League of Decency”, and from 1934, it was strictly enforced. The new rigidity of the studio system affected the lives of many LGBTQ individuals, forcing them into heterosexual relationships. At the same time, Hollywood gossip, tabloids and public buzz grew significantly, at the cost of the private lives of these queer individuals.  In the movie itself, Nellie and Fay are told to break up because of this new grip of morality. It was furthered by the fact that the two were an interracial couple, and “miscegenation” was highly taboo at the time. It was enforced in the Hollywood Production Code, and the two were forcibly separated once their relationship made headlines. 

Babylon portrays a rather historically congruent portrayal of female same-sex relationships in the 1920s. It’s poignant, and reflects the shift from relative freedom to total secrecy between the 20s and 30s, and theorises the lives of LGBTQ actresses during the time. As the 30s transitioned Hollywood to the rigid, censored entity of the studio system, this underground community slowly was suppressed, losing their history over decades. In that, Babylon (2022) brings this history back to the forefront