Are Coming Out Stories in Films Passe'?

Went to the first session of screenwriting class for short films and the instructor, (female presenting, 50s), started by showing us one of her favorite short films, Miller & Son (2019). It went like this:

The lights goes up and the instructor tells us why she thinks is a great film and how tough coming out is. But the group, completely mixed but mostly 40 to 65YO, starts debating whether the father already knew. It was my impression that he did and that makes the story not about coming out per se but rather about the family dynamics of a trans child and how the two of them would deal with Trey.

I bring up Trey's comment -- "You were dressed like sl_t!" and point out that it is what a snarky closeted gay man, not a naive homophobe, would say and that would have been a more interesting movie. And I mention 'Power of A Dog' because that it would be close to that plot.

But the instructor cuts all that off and brings us back to "No, it is just the tender story of a vulnerable young gay man being rudely outed by a toxic male co-worker."

But the group is relentless. Someone points out the family power dynamic made it more likely that Trey as employee would be fired than Ryan. Another woman offered that Trey presented as gay or trans in the very opening of the film so like me she had a very different expectation for where the story was going. Eg. exploring some ambiguities and being very current in its sensibilities. Finally another person pointed out that it was unclear to them whether Ryan was gay or trans.

Ultimately, coming out (whether as gay or trans) seemed to most of us like it was not novel or dynamic enough in 2025 to be the entire plot of a 20 minute film but the instructor thought that was all there was to it and she loved it.