Youth, Realism and Form

This chapter explores the straight girl and queer guy relationship in relation to the transgressive potential of social realism, and the context of youth. Initially Beautiful Thing (Hettie MacDonald 1996, UK) and The Way He Looks [Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho] (2014, Brazil) are examined as exemplars of social realism, framing the affective youthful queer body as a site of feeling and agency. Later the landmark television series Glee (Fox 2009-2015, US) explores the abject position of the queer guy and the straight girl, hypothesizing the significance of youth culture within TV form. After this the queer independent films Gayby (Jonathan Lisecki 2012, US) and G.B.F. (Darren Stein 2013, US) are examined considering diverse issues such as dating, child-raising, the commodity of identity and the significance of masquerade..

Conclusion

The representation of the straight girl and the queer guy within film and television is a complex source of identification. This book has offered a glimpse into this subject area, foregrounding the notion of the hetero media gaze, which may be considered as the dominant viewing processes of western media production worlds that address, and try to represent, heterosexual audiences. This may be coded as both post-feminist and neoliberal (see ...

Documentary and Performance

This chapter considers the representation of the straight girl and the queer guy within varying documentary media forms, considering the notions of social agency and performativity. Foregrounding both documentary theory and performance studies, the documentary biographical film drama Carrington (Christopher Hampton 1995, UK), offers a historical precedent in the representation of the straight girl and queer guy, all the while foregrounding notions of devotion and intensity. The context of the social actor is further examined in more recent documentary case studies such as Fag Hags: Women Who Love Gay Men (Justine Pimlott 2005, Canada), My Husband Is Gay (Benetta Adamson 2005, UK) and My Husband Is Not Gay (TLC 2015, US), framing the intense relationships between straight girls and queer guys – in many instances relating legal marriages and questioning issues of fidelity. Also the performative potential of reality television is explored in Would Like to Meet (BBC 2001, UK), Boy Meets Boy (Bravo 2003, US) and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (Bravo 2003–7, US), through examining the confines and opportunity of television formats.

Introduction

In Daniel Ribeiro’s groundbreaking film The Way He Looks [original title Hoje eu quero voltar sozinho] (2014, Brazil) which tells the story of the blind queer youth Leonardo (see Chapter 6), the subtitle ‘not every love happens at first sight’ offers an allusion to the notion of the gaze, a central premise of this book. We know that while Leonardo cannot possess the physical gaze, his sense of feeling, relating his close friendship with the straight girl Giovana, and the quest for his ultimate soulmate Gabriel, enables him to challenge normative perceptions of the gaze. This book consequently considers such opportunities, and tensions, in exploring the relationship between the straight girl and the queer guy within film and television, evident in drama and documentary forms. The straight girl and the queer guy relate to each other, while defining each character’s identity potential, at the same time as they are constructed by the audience as subject to a dominant gaze....

Television and Domesticity

This chapter considers the representation of the straight girl and queer guy within television form, framing the notion of the glance rather than the gaze, relative to domesticity and female identity. Considering early and developing television representations within sit-com such as those within Love Sidney (Warner Bros 1981–83, US), Tales of the City (Channel 4 1993, UK and US), Ellen (ABC 1994–98, US), Will and Grace (NBC 1998–2006, US) and Gimme Gimme Gimme – (Channel 4, 1999–2001, UK), the notion of union and alliance is foregrounded, whilst also focusing on leisure and consumption. Besides this, the queer guy and straight girl are considered separately as minorities, within Sex in the City (HBO 1998–2004, US) and Girls (HBO 2012 to present, US), where the queer guy is minority to the main straight female cast, and in Queer as Folk (Showtime 2000–5, US) and Looking (HBO 2014–15, US), where the straight girl is minority to the main queer male cast. At the same time the context of bisexuality is explored in Russell T. Davies’s Bob and Rose (ITV 2001, UK) and Torchwood (BBC 2006–11, UK), highlighting the transformation of the queer male as vulnerable to the advances of the straight girl.

Queer Gazes and Identifications

This chapter considers the hetero media gaze in relation to queer subjectivity and narcissism, exploring the prototypical filmic representation of queer desire in early Hollywood cinema, and the later impact of New Queer Cinema. Considering the case studies Rope (Alfred Hitchcock 1948, US) and Suddenly Last Summer (Joseph L. Mankiewicz 1959, US), as prototypes of queer desire and the formation of the queer gaze, and Swoon (Tom Kalin 1992, US) as a contemporary queer text, issues of adaptation and historical biography are centrally framed. Later the significance of the queer auteur is explored, evident in Caravaggio (Derek Jarman 1986, UK), Edward II (Derek Jarman 1991), The Living End (Gregg Araki 1992, US) and Mysterious Skin (Gregg Araki 2005, US) considering the aesthetics of the painterly and historical image, in developing the notion of the queer gaze.

Film and Commodity

This chapter considers the representation of straight girl and queer guy within mainstream film, relating the context of the star persona, or the life world of the star. Initially considering the representation of Kenneth Williams within a range of Carry On films, arguing that his imagined real-life friendship with female characters influences how we might read these films, aspects of camp, fantasy, irony and parody are foregrounded. Later more explicit filmic representations of the straight girl and the queer guy are examined, contextualizing the self-reflexive influence of John Schlesinger and Christopher Isherwood respectively within the landmark films Sunday Bloody Sunday (John Schlesinger 1971, UK) and Cabaret (Bob Fosse 1972, US). This leads into an examination of the explicitly commoditized representation of queer man in union with the straight girl, in the films My Best Friend’s Wedding (P. J. Hogan 1997, US), The Object of My Affection (Nicholas Hytner 1998, US) and The Next Best Thing (John Schlesinger 2000, US). As part of this the life world and the cultural capital of the female co-star dominates in providing the cultural reading.

The Hetero Media Gaze

This chapter considers the emergence of the female gaze upon the queer male, foregrounding the concept of the hetero media gaze, framing histories of female representation within Hollywood film. As part of this foundational theories of the gaze are critiqued, relating issues of genre and audience identification. The central case studies include, an examination of the emerging female gaze considering the representation of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, within the films Pillow Talk (Michael Gordon 1959, US), Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann 1961, US) and Send Me No Flowers (Norman Jewison 1964, US), considering the notion of the star persona. At the same time more explicit representations of the straight girl and the queer guy are explored, considering three diverse films and their connection to social realism: A Taste of Honey (Tony Richardson 1961, UK), Darling (John Schlesinger 1965, UK), and Zee and Co (Brian G. Hutton 1972, UK).