Ah, the gay best friend; that media coined phrase which forever relegated us to mere supporting status at the movies: a source of camp fun and bitchy one-liners and of course a shoulder to cry on when it all goes tits up.

NewStatesman.com (we’re going high-brow today) has a great piece about the potted history of the GBF on film, as well as pointing out a few good exceptions. The article notes that the traditional role of gays in movies was to counterpoint the straight characters’ sexuality. “The sissy made everyone feel more manly or womanly by filling the space in between,” observes actress Lily Tomlin in 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet.

Film journo Ryan Gilbey cites Scott Pilgrim Vs the World as proof of a brave new era for the gay best friend, a world in which they’re fully-fleshed and integral to the story – Wallace Wells (Scott Pilgrim’s gay roommate) even gets a sex life in the movie!

In fact, Scott Pilgrim Vs the World even flips the old convention on its head so that Scott is the ‘sissy’ character’ and often acts like the GBF of old, while Wallace is far more together and ‘straight acting’.

We still have to be vigilant, however, judging by the trailer for The People I’ve Slept With (or maybe it’s just the way the trailer’s been cut)…