The terms 'pansy' and ' sissy' became tagged to homosexuality and described 'a flowery, fussy, effeminate soul given to limp wrists and mincing steps'. Oftentimes male characters intended to be identified as gay were flamboyant, effeminate, humorous characters on film. During the late nineteenth century and into the 1920s and 30s, homosexuality was largely depicted through gender-based conventions and stereotypes. However, film critic Parker Tyler stated that the scene 'shocked audiences with its subversion of conventional male behavior'. At the time, the men were not seen as “queer“ or even flamboyant, but merely as acting fancifully.
The first notable suggestion of homosexuality on film was in 1895, when two men were shown dancing together in the William Kennedy Dickson motion picture The Dickson Experimental Sound Film, commonly labeled online and in three published books as The Gay Brothers.
The Dickson Experimental Sound Film (1895)
