NEW QUEER CINEMA

(Redirected from Queer Cinema)

'New Queer Cinema' is the seemingly simultaneous appearance on the independent film circuit of movies dealing openly and even aggressively with queer culture, politics, and identity that began in the early 1990s.
In 1992, ''Sight & Sound'' magazine printed an article by North American Feminist and critic, B. Ruby Rich. The article, which gathered together Rich’s experiences of, and reflections upon, the strong gay presence on the previous year’s film festival circuit, effectively coined the phrase "New Queer Cinema".History of New Queer Cinema, webpage:
As B. Ruby Rich also wrote in the Village Voice,History of New Queer Cinema, webpage: . she described films that were radical in form and aggressive in their espousal of sexual identities which challenged both the heteronormative status quo and the promotion of positive images of lesbians and gay men that had been advocated by the gay liberation movement for more than ten years: films such as Todd Haynes's ''Poison'' (1990), Isaac Julien's ''Young Soul Rebels'' (1991), Derek Jarman's ''Edward II'' and Tom Kalin's ''Swoon'' (1992).
These directors were making their films at a time when the gay community was still reeling from the early days of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s and the neo-conservative political wave brought on by the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and later George H.W. Bush in the United States of America (US) and Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) during the same decade. Jarman himself had been diagnosed with AIDS in 1986.
Simultaneously, queer theory and politics had begun to take hold in academic circles. Queer contends that "gay," and the concepts of "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality," are pre-constructed identities. Queer theory asserts that as these are the products of a specific era of social history, they are arbitrary and that there will come a time when they are no longer relevant categorizations.
When Rich noted that many films were beginning to represent sexualities which were unashamedly neither fixed nor conventional, the phrase "New Queer Cinema" was coined.

Contents

New Queer Cinema figures

Directors

Producers

Notes

Further Reference

See also

External links

New Queer Cinema figures

Directors

★ Gus Van Sant: ''Mala Noche'', ''My Own Private Idaho'', ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''

★ Todd Haynes: ''Poison'', ''Safe'', ''Dottie Gets Spanked'', ''Velvet Goldmine'', ''Far From Heaven''

★ Christopher Munch: ''The Hours and Times''

★ Gregg Araki: ''The Living End'', ''The Doom Generation'', ''Mysterious Skin''

★ Tom Kalin: ''Swoon''

★ Derek Jarman: ''Edward II'', ''Caravaggio''

★ Bruce LaBruce: ''No Skin Off My Ass'' (although this might properly be classified as Queercore)

Producers

★ Christine Vachon: ''Poison'' and ''Swoon''

★ Andrea Sperling: ''The Hours and Times'' and ''The Doom Generation''

Notes

Further Reference

★ B. Ruby Rich “New Queer Cinema”: ''Sight & Sound'', Volume 2, Issue 5 (September 1992)

★ B. Ruby Rich “Queer and present danger”: ''Sight & Sound'', Volume 10, Issue 3 (March 2000): http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/80/

★ Joseph Bristow: ''Sexuality'' (1997) ISBN 0-415-08494-6

★ Derek Jarman: ''Queer Edward II'' (1991) ISBN 0-85170-316-X

★ Mark Simpson (journalist) (ed.): ''Anti-Gay'' (1996) ISBN 0-304-33144-9

★ Tamsin Spargo: ''Foucault and Queer theory'' (1999) ISBN 1-84046-092-X

★ Colin Spencer: ''Homosexuality: A History'' (1995) ISBN 1-85702-447-8

★ Richard Dyer: ''The Culture of Queers'' (2002). ISBN 0-415-22376-8

See also

★ Queer theory

External links

★ toddhaynes.net : Tribute site with interviews and forum.

★ GLBTQ article on New Queer Cinema

★ GreenCine primer on Queer Cinema

★ Outfilms gay movie reviews

★ B.Ruby Rich's website

★ PopcornQ