Out in Culture

Gay, Lesbian and Queer Essays on Popular Culture

Corey K. Creekmur, Alexander Doty, Corey K. Creekmur, Alexander Doty

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Year: 1995
• Print ISBN: 9780822315414, 9780822315322
• eBook ISBN: 9780822397441
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: LGBT Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Out in Culture charts some of the ways in which lesbians, gays, and queers have understood and negotiated the pleasures and affirmations, as well as the disappointments, of mass culture. The essays collected here, combining critical and theoretical works from a cross-section of academics, journalists, and artists, demonstrate a rich variety of gay and lesbian approaches to film, television, popular music, and fashion. This wide-ranging anthology is the first to juxtapose pioneering work in gay and lesbian media criticism with recent essays in contemporary queer cultural studies.
Uniquely accessible, Out in Culture presents such popular writers as B. Ruby Rich, Essex Hemphill, and Michael Musto as well as influential critics such as Richard Dyer, Chris Straayer, and Julia Lesage, on topics ranging from the queer careers of Agnes Moorehead and Pee Wee Herman to the cultural politics of gay drag, lesbian style, the visualization of AIDS, and the black snap! queen experience. Of particular interest are two "dossiers," the first linking essays on the queer content of Alfred Hitchcock's films, and the second on the production and reception of popular music within gay and lesbian communities. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography—the most comprehensive currently available—of sources in gay, lesbian, and queer media criticism.
Out in Culture explores the distinctive and original ways in which gays, lesbians, and queers have experienced, appropriated, and resisted the images and artifacts of popular culture. This eclectic anthology will be of interest to a broad audience of general readers and scholars interested in gay and lesbian issues; students of film, media, gender, and cultural studies; and those interested in the emerging field of queer theory.

Contributors. Sabrina Barton, Edith Becker, Rhona J. Berenstein, Nayland Blake, Michelle Citron, Danae Clark, Corey K. Creekmur, Alexander Doty, Richard Dyer, Heather Findlay, Jan Zita Grover, Essex Hemphill, John Hepworth, Jeffrey Hilbert, Lucretia Knapp, Bruce La Bruce, Al LaValley, Julia Lesage, Michael Moon, Michael Musto, B. Ruby Rich, Marlon Riggs, Arlene Stein, Chris Straayer, Anthony Thomas, Mark Thompson, Valerie Traub, Thomas Waugh, Patricia White, Robin Wood

Table of contents

• Contents
• Introduction - Corey K. Creekmur and Alexander Doty
• Responsibilities of a Gay Film Critic - Robin Wood
• Lesbians and Film - Edith Becker, Michelle Citron, Julia Lesage, and B. Ruby Rich
• The Hypothetical Lesbian Heroine in Narrative Feature Film - Chris Straayer
• The Great Escape - Al LaValley
• There's Something Queer Here - Alexander Doty
• Supporting Character: The Queer Career of Agnes Moorehead - Patricia White
• The Ambiguities of "Lesbian" Viewing Pelasure: The (Dis)articulations of Black Widow - Valerie Traub
• From Repressive Tolerance to Erotic Liberation: Madchen in Uniform - B. Ruby Rich
• Acting Like a Man: Masculine Performance in My Darling Clementine - Corey K. Creekmur
• Dossier on Hitchcock - Introduction by Alexander Doty
• Dossier on Popular Music - Introduction by Corey K. Creekmur
• Gay, Lesbian, and Queer Popular Culture Bibliography
• Acknowledgments of Copyright
• Contributors
• Index