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Straight Skin, Gay Masks and Pretending to Be Gay on Screen examines cinematic depictions of pretending-to-be-gay, assessing performances that not only reflect heteronormative and explicitly homophobic attitudes, but also offer depictions of gay selfhood with more nuanced multidirectional identifications.
The case of straight protagonists pretending to be gay on screen is the ideal context in which to study unanticipated progressivity and dissidence in regard to cultural construction of human sexualities in the face of theatricalized epistemological collapse. Teasing apart the dynamics of depictions of both sexual stability and fluidity in cinematic images of men pretending to be gay offers new insights into such salient issues as sexual vulnerability and dynamics and long-term queer visibility in a politically complicated mass culture which is mostly produced in a heteronormative and even hostile cultural environment. Additionally, this book initially examines queer uses of sexuality masquerade in Alternate Gay World Cinema that allegorically features a world pretending to be gay, in which straights are harassed and persecuted, in order to expose the tragic consequences of sexual intolerance. Films and TV series examined as part of the analysis include The Gay Deceivers, Victor/Victoria, Happy Texas, William Friedkin's Cruising and many other straight and gay screens.
This is a fascinating and important study relevant to students and researchers in Film Studies, Media Studies, Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Sexuality Studies, Communication Studies and Cultural Studies.
List of contents
Introduction Fabricated Screens: Sexual Authenticity, Flamboyant Masquerade, and the Queer Epistemology of Pretending-to-be-gay Films. Chapter 1 Staging Effeminacy: Screening the Perilous Pleasures of Pretending to be a Sissy Chapter 2 Take It Like a Man: Cruising Machismo in Leatherland Chapter 3 Pretending to Be Allies? Straight Women, Their Pretending-to-Be-Gay Admirers and Sexual Authentication Chapter 4 Odd Couples, Queer Partnerships and Gay Marriages in Pretending-to-Be-Gay Films Chapter 5 Screening Compulsory Homosexuality: The Perilous Pleasures of Parodying Heteronormativity and Fantasizing a Topsy-Turvy Martyrdom Afterword When Gay Masks Gaze at the Deceiver's Straight Skin: The Grotesque Screening of Deceptive Horrors and Delights
About the author
Dr. Gilad Padva is a film, popular culture, men’s studies and queer theory scholar. He is the author of Queer Nostalgia in Cinema and Pop Culture (2014) and co-editor of Sensational Pleasures in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture: The Phallic Eye (2014), Intimate Relationships in Cinema, Literature and Visual Culture (2017) and Leisure and Cultural Change in Israeli Society (2020). He also publishes extensively in international academic journals, international collections and international encyclopedias. He currently teaches men’s studies and popular culture at the Program for Women and Gender Studies with the NCJW at Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Summary
Straight Skin, Gay Masks and Pretending to Be Gay on Screen examines cinematic depictions of pretending-to-be-gay, assessing performances that reflect heteronormative and explicitly homophobic attitudes, but also offer depictions of gay selfhood with more nuanced multidirectional identifications.
