Queers in American Popular Culture [3 volumes] (Praeger Perspectives)

990 Pages·2010·6.037 MB·English

by  Jim Elledge (editor)

Queers in American
Popular Culture
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Queers in American
Popular Culture
Volume 1
Film and Television
J E , E
IM LLEDGE DITOR
PraegerPerspectives
Copyright2010byJimElledge
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina
retrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,
mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,exceptfortheinclusionof
briefquotationsinareview,withoutpriorpermissioninwritingfromthe
publisher.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
QueersinAmericanpopularculture/JimElledge,editor.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978–0–313–35457–1(set.:alk.paper)—ISBN978–0–313–35458–8
(set:ebook)
1. Gaysinpopularculture—UnitedStates. I.Elledge,Jim,1950–
HQ76.3.U5Q447 2010
0
306.7660973—dc22 2010023183
ISBN:978–0–313–35457–1
EISBN:978–0–313–35458–8
14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ThisbookisalsoavailableontheWorldWideWebasaneBook.
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Contents
SetIntroduction
JimElledge ix
Chapter1: PoliticallyQueer:EllenandtheChangingFace
ofAmericanTelevision,1997to2007
RachelLoewenWalker 1
Chapter2: “There’sNowtSoQueerasFolk”(NortheSpaces
TheySeek)
MarkJohnIsola 25
Chapter3: AfterNoah’sArc:WhereDoWeGofromHere?
MichaelJohnsonJr. 35
Chapter4: AnatomyofaLesbianRelationshipandItsDemise:
TheFirstLesbianRelationshipoftheMedical
DramaGrey’sAnatomy
NiinaKuorikoski 47
Chapter5: FromStereotypestoCharacters:TheDevelopment
ofQueerMotifsinAmericanCinemafromWings
toTheChildren’sHour
FlorianMundhenke 69
Chapter6: WomenActorsandMalePerformativityinEarly
Hollywood
SarahSmorol 87
Chapter7: ACinemaofContradictions:GayandLesbian
Representationin1970sBlaxploitationFilms
NovotnyLawrence 103
viii Contents
Chapter8: TonguesUntied:African-AmericanMenTake
theSpotlight
RodgerStreitmatter 123
Chapter9: WhenStraightAmericaStarts“Queering”:Brokeback
MountainandItsParodies
JenniferMalkowski 139
Chapter10: QueernessTakingPlace?:Constructingthe“Urban
RedecorationProject”ofShowtime’sTheLWord
RosemaryDeller 167
Chapter11: NobodyWantstoWatchaBeacon:Will&Grace
andtheLimitsofMainstreamNetworkTelevision
KathleenBattlesandWendyHilton-Morrow 187
Chapter12: “TheyCan’tShowaWholeScreenFullof
GayPeople”:Gay,Lesbian,andBisexualTelevision
ViewersAssessPortrayalsoftheGayCommunity
onTelevision
LynJ.Freymiller 209
Chapter13: CampFiguresofAmericanTelevisionintheSixties
andSeventies:ABoyhoodMemory
WalterR.Holland 231
Chapter14: “We’llHaveaGayOldTime!”:QueerRepresentation
inAmericanPrime-TimeAnimationfromtheCartoon
ShorttotheFamilySitcom
JoJohnson 247
Chapter15: RecuperatingandRevilingSouthPark’sQueer
Politics
JamesKeller 273
Index 303
AbouttheEditorandContributors 315
Set Introduction
Jim Elledge
QueersinAmericanPopularCultureattemptstocover,inacomprehensive
way,thepresenceofgay,lesbian,bisexual,andthetransgenderedper-
sonsinpopularculturevenuesoftheUnitedStates.Althoughlargely
post-Stonewallinscope,thisthree-volumesetalso,attimes,investigates
queersandtheirrepresentationinperiodsasearlyasthelate1880s.The
topics covered may be new to a non-queer readership (and even to
somequeerreaders),perhapsevenstrangetothem,buttheyarealways
eyeopeningandthoughtprovoking.
WhilemostreaderswillhaveseenepisodesofWill&Graceormay
even be diehard fans of the popular television sitcom, forexample,
only a handful will have heard of—much less seen—the post-op,
female-to-male-with-a-vagina porn star, Buck Angel. Fewer yet
will havebeenenthralledby his body,his ruggedsexuality,andhis
sexual appetite(s). Transforming from man to woman to pop icon,
RuPaulhas“sashayedshante”veryvisiblyacrossBillboard’scharts,
becomingthebest-knowndragqueenentertainerintheUnitedStates
andacrosstheglobesinceBoyGeorge.YetwhileRuPaulistakingher
turnonthecatwalk,“boi”—apersonalityasimportanttocontempo-
rary queer culture as the fairy was to our grandfathers and grand-
mothersacenturyago—scootsalongthestreets,hangsout,andclubs
hardvirtuallyunknownandunnoticedbyallbutthoseintheknow.
Queers in American Popular Culture gives notice to, and provides a
forum fordiscussionabout,both“boi”and Buck Angel,along with
themuchmorevisibleRuPaulandWill.