Chapter 5: Resistance

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Campbell, J.  (2004). Getting it on online:  Cyberspace, gay male sexuality, and embodied identity.  New York, NY:  Routledge.

Doty, A.  (1993). Making things perfectly queer:  Interpreting mass culture.  Minneapolis, MN:  University of Minnesota Press.

Doty, A. (2000). Flaming classics: Queering the film canon. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Farmer, B. (2005). The fabulous sublimity of gay diva worship. Camera Obscura, 20 (2), 165–195.

Gregg, R. (2010). Queering Brad Pitt: The struggle between gay fans and the Hollywood machine to control star discourse and image on the web. In C. Pullen & M. Cooper (Eds.), LGBT identity and online new media (pp.139–146). New York, NY: Routledge.

Halberstam, J. (2003). What’s that smell? Queer temporalities and subcultural lives. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 6 (3), 313–333.

Kohnen, M.E.S. (2008). The adventures of a repressed farm boy and the billionaire who loves him: Queer spectatorship in Smallville fandom. In L. Stein (Ed.). Teen television: Essays on programming and fandom (pp. 207–223). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.

Marwick, A., Gray, M., & Ananny, M. (2013). Dolphins are just gay sharks: Glee and the queer case of transmedia as text and object. Television and New Media, 20.

Ng, Eve.  (2008). Reading the romance of fan cultural production:  Music videos of a television lesbian couple.  Popular Communication, 6, 103–121.

Music and the Intersections of Identity

View the TEDxWellesleyCollege video of Silavia Galis-Menéndez’s discussion of her research on queer identity and hip-hop in which she describes how the music of the Cuban queer feminist hip-hop group Krudas Cubensi appealed to her because of the way it bridged queerness and hip- hop.  Drawing on Galis-Menéndez’s descriptions of Judith Butler’s, José Esteban Muñoz’s, Mark Norris Lance’s and Allessandra Tanesini’s theories of identity, consider whether any of the GLBT music videos available on the Q tube address the intersections of (or bridge between) gender, race, and sexuality.  How prevalent are videos by GLBT artists of color?  Who are the intended audiences for these videos?  Are certain aspects of identity privileged over others in the lyrics/visuals?  Which videos succeed as recognizing the complexity of identity?  To whom might these videos most appeal and/or give a voice?

Queer Pleasure or Queerbaiting

As noted in the book, an increasing number of television shows and movie franchises playfully forward their potentially queer subtext for viewers.  Rizollii & Isles, Pretty Little Liars, Supernatural, Smallville, and Teen Wolf are but a handful of texts that deliberately engage with audience readings of certain characters as involved in queer relationships.  While this practice grows from past practices of “coding” gay characters and relationships in order to avoid censorship, today the practice occurs more openly.  But, still, as a number of commentators point out, is this now a new homophobic practice that critics dub queerbaiting?  Are producers just teasing audiences with potential romances to gain queer fans, while at the same time denying the full existence of queer relationships in order to appeal to straight audiences?  Use the links provided below to more fully consider these questions.

“Supernatural Has a Queerbaiting Problem”   http://www.tvguide.com/news/supernatural-queerbaiting-destiel-1089286/

“Let’s Talk About Queerbaiting on Television”   http://groupthink.jezebel.com/lets-talk-about-queer-baiting-on-television-575663462

“How Do We Solve a Problem Like Queerbaiting? On TV’s Not So Subtle Subtext” http://www.autostraddle.com/how-do-we-solve-a-problem-like-queerbaiting-on-tvs-not-so-subtle-gay-subtext-182718/