Mommie Dearest

Since 1980, the Golden Raspberry Awards, the anti-Oscars, have ‘honoured’ the worst Hollywood films of a season. And from the very beginning, actually especially at the beginning, queer titles have appeared among these films. Let’s take a look at them – these are by no means forgotten relics of a bygone era, but queer classics that are still present in the conversation. Are these in fact unsuccessful, bad films, (un)worthy of the Golden Raspberry Awards? Or was it the award’s chapter at the time that was homo-, transphobic and not ready for the representation of the rainbow community in the mainstream films of the year? We’ll take a look at three films and see how they have stood the test of time and how they are received by audiences anno Domini 2025!

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In 1978, Christina Crawford, daughter of the then already legendary star Joan Crawford, publishes a biopic-exposé on what a hopeless mother Joan was.

The sensation-hungry Hollywood immediately picks up on the subject and creates an assumedly solemn and Oscars-hoping biopic focusing on the maternal side of Crawford’s life. From the very first screenings, the audience recognises the film as a camp comedy, the screenings are accompanied by salvos of laughter. Instead of the highly anticipated Oscars, the film dominates the Golden Raspberry nominations and continues to redefine Joan Crawford’s legacy to this day.

In the film you will hear i.a. the famous quote ‘no more wire hangers!’ (repeated, for instance, by Alyssa Edwards in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’), although it will not necessarily take on a deeper meaning after the screening.