Queer studies Essays

  • Excluded Films: Blue Is the Warmest Colour

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    What constitutes a ‘good’ queer cinema? The question is as ambiguous as the idea of queer theory, which in its actuality is characterized to be “…nothing in particular to which it necessarily refers. It is an identity without a [defined] essence”. The combination of queer theory’s fluid nature and the rather touchy subject of queer history often make it difficult to draw black and white conclusions on what discerns an exceptional queer film from a mediocre one. Blue Is the Warmest Colour, based on

  • Canadian Drama

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    The representation of queer culture within Canadian literature, and more specifically theatre, can vary based on the multiple means that the playwright chooses to animate. In this instance, by differentiating French Canadian and Western Canadian queer theatre, we are able to analyze what drives each cultural representation. Montreal had experienced gay liberation in the mid 70’s, and theatre was empowered by such a movement to captivate audiences with the idea of a gay individual rather than

  • Post-Colonial Criticism In Langston Hughes's The Weary Blues

    940 Words  | 2 Pages

    American lives amid the many years of the most recent century. His verse is normally effortlessly comprehended and straight forward to the point. However, it could be analyzed in three different theories; New Historicism, Post-Colonial Criticism, and Queer Theory. “The Weary Blues” is a verse ballad with two voices. The focal story voice portrays an African American or Negro, in this 1923 sonnet, in Harlem, New York, who is watched singing and playing a soul number. The lyric gives an example of soul

  • Self-Validation and Social Acceptance

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    People often need to have validation from themselves, in regard to both their sexuality and general self, before being able to be accepted others. Too often this important fact is disregarded by today's culture and societal norm. This appears to be a recurring theme throughout the many passages and articles we have read in class, as well as in various piece of fictional literature. I will be using the 1991 film "Paris Is Burning," a short work of fiction by Jane S. Fancher called "Moonlover and

  • Esther Newton's Unrequited Love And Gay Latino Culture

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1968, Esther Newton work was one of the first major anthropological that studied the homosexual community in the United States. Newton’s PhD thesis “the drag queens; a study in urban anthropology” examined the experiences, social interaction and the culture of the drag queens. In various kinds of theatrical settings there were men who dressed and performed as women, or as an expression of their sexual identity (Newton, 1968). Later in 1972, she wrote the book “Mother Camp: female impersonators

  • A Unique Perspective of The Yellow Wallpaper

    2856 Words  | 6 Pages

    perspective on the story, although in my readings of psychology, particularly the psychological knowledge surrounding both women and queers, I find the discipline incredibly tainted with patriarchy and heterosexism. At this point, I’d like to define a few terms somewhat precisely, at least as I intend to use them in the context of this paper. In this paper, I use the term "queer" for two reasons: one of which is in the spirit of reclaiming a word that has traditionally been used to verbally abuse non-heterosexual

  • The Importance Of Queer Theory

    996 Words  | 2 Pages

    understanding of the way we think is perhaps one of the most crucial aspects of understanding our own society. It is for this reason that the fields of psychotherapy, psychology, psychiatry, and sociology are so incredibly important. Within these areas of study, the boundaries of normative life must fall away in order for us to truly understand our minds. When there is discrimination in a field as extensive as the understanding of the human psyche, we run the risk of wholly alienating entire segments of the

  • American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism

    1123 Words  | 3 Pages

    American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism Works Cited Missing Nancy Ordover argues that current attempts to regulate marginalized social groups are eugenicist movements couched in new language. While "today, the preoccupation with immigrant fertility is couched in concerns over expenditures rather than in classic eugenicist worries over the depletion of the national gene pool" (54), that supposed strain on the national economy presented by immigration is still located

  • 1990s Gay Culture

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    celebrities coming out like Ellen Degeneres during her tv show Ellen. The two kinds of media contrast as a form of whether or not to come out as a gay or not during a time when AIDs was prominent and new. Within the early 1990s there is a rise in queer culture that many people did not know for what it was. At first, the United States thought it was problematic because it was an invasion on the home-front and the country is trying to figure out its own identity culturally, which led to the “culture”

  • Lesbianism in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    6152 Words  | 13 Pages

    important sites where viewers negotiate personal and cultural concepts of sexuality and subjectivity. This queer reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer investigates the disguised homo-erotic tensions between the out lesbian characters in the series. It avoids an elaborate search for homoerotic and non-normative sexual couplings between other characters in the series. If I were to do such a queer reading, I would probably concentrate on the Willow and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar), or Faith (Eliza Dushku)

  • Derek Jarman’s film Blue

    4152 Words  | 9 Pages

    vision due to HIV related illness. The strategy to deny the viewer a visual image of the person with AIDS was effectively a counterpoint to the saturation of images that was prevalent in early 1990s post modern culture.[4] The intersection between queer activist politics and post modernist culture was important to the practice of many western artists working around issues associated with HIV... ... middle of paper ... ... Beauvais, Y 1992, AIDS A SIDA, film, France, 51/2 min Bordowitz, G 1993

  • Minister's Black Veil - Poverty in Minister’s Black Veil and in Hawthorne’s Life

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    and sisters (547). Sculley Bradley, Richmond Croom Beatty and E. Hudson Long in “The Social Criticism of a Public Man” consider his poverty a determining influence in his life: “…a young man engrossed in historical study and in learning the writer’s craft is not notably queer if he does not seek society or marriage, especially if he is poor” (47-48). Fame was slow in coming for the author, likewise prosperity. Clarice Swisher in “Nathaniel Hawthorne: a Biography” explains in great detail the

  • Inner Smile - Deconstructing the Heterosexual Matrix

    6111 Words  | 13 Pages

    These past few decades have seen a large increase in awareness of issues concerning homosexuality. Gender is intricately linked to homosexuality and numerous theorists have explored gender and sexuality under the umbrella term of Gay and Lesbian studies or Queer theory. In the music video of their song Inner Smile, the pop group Texas have seemingly adopted a radical image change when the groups front-person, Sharleen Spiteri, appears in drag as Elvis. The director of this video, Vaughan Arnell, utilizes

  • Cinematic Techniques in Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark

    2221 Words  | 5 Pages

    In his novel Laughter in the Dark, Vladimir Nabokov employs cinematic techniques to tell the story of director Albinus and starlet Margot. Nabokov's use of imagery and techniques from the cinema is evident throughout the novel. However, his style is not that of a screenplay, as his polished prose is always infused with his trademark irony. Gavriel Moses notes that Nabokov is aware of the overwhelming presence and claim to truth of film images, but he also recognizes that formulaic films tend to displace

  • Cultural Anthropology Book Report

    1828 Words  | 4 Pages

    Classical Readings on Cultural Anthropology What do we have to learn through the study of different cultures? I was hoping for some wonderful revelation in the collection of writings. I may have found one. This book was a difficult read for me. I am not sure whether it’s my age or my inexperience with classical readings. I also found it difficult to formulate a report on a collection of readings, the last report I did was on Laura Ingall’s Little House on the Prairie. This reading was a little

  • Analysis of A Clockwork Orange

    2417 Words  | 5 Pages

    Analysis and Interpretation of A Clockwork Orange A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess, is one of the most experimental, original, and controversial novels of the twentieth century. It is both a compelling work of literature and an in-depth study in linguistics. The novel is a satirical, frightening science fiction piece, not unlike others of this century such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. However, the conflicts and resolutions in A Clockwork Orange

  • Heinrich Schliemann

    4703 Words  | 10 Pages

    epic hero (Duchêne 14), he ensured his status as a lasting folk hero and perennial bestseller (Calder 19). The reality was that Heinrich Schliemann was an incredible con man, a generally unlikable braggart who succeeded only because of his queer mix of genius and fraudulence. He had a shylock's conscience when it came to business dealings, and his shady methods pervaded both his life and his archaeology (Burg, 15-31). Schliemann had a habit of rewriting his past in order to paint a more dramatic

  • A Child's Struggle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Child's Struggle in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll's Wonderland is a queer little universe where a not so ordinary girl is faced with the contradicting nature of the fantastic creatures who live there. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a child's struggle to survive in the condescending world of adults. The conflict between child and adult gives direction to Alice's adventures and controls all the outstanding features of the work- Alice's character, her relationship with other

  • Dracula

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    journey to Transylvania at he behest of a client Count Dracula. Jonathan starts making entries in his journal on May 3. He leaves Munich and arrives at Vienna Budapest. He stops at Hotel Royale, where he has dinner but his night is restless as he has queer dreams. He starts out again in the morning boarding the train at Bistritz. As directed by the Count, he goes to Golden Krone Hotel, where Dracula gives him a letter. On May 4, his next entry tells about the fear on the faces of is landlord and wife

  • Inhumanity

    553 Words  | 2 Pages

    creature from another world (personal). LGBT have thousands of derogatory names that they are called or labeled as. Lesbians, gays, and bisexuals are called names such as dyke, fag, fag hag, and queer. Transgender on the other hand are called different names like cross-dresser, drag queen, drag king, and gender-queer (Eli R. Green). They are called these names by the ones who thought of the them which is society. Society uses these derogatory names against LGBT to try and make them change their ways (Eaklor