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CASTRATED QUEERS

“[Gus] Van Sant is characterized as a gay filmmaker because he is an out filmmaker, but his films are anything but gay films. Van Sant is less interested in the sexual identity of his characters than he is in the more universal queering of his characters, writes notorious Queer baiter and disgraced actor James Franco for Vice Magazine in his article about the director.

As embarrassing as I find James Franco, he (sadly) has a good point. This ideology walks a fine line between “castrating” queer films and simply queering them. Is explicit sexuality required in order to “queer” a film as The Guardian article about Milk points out? “Harvey Milk was a famously horny man in 70’s San Francisco, who combined police tail campaigning with cruising for men half his age.” The Guardian article also points out that Harvey Milk strongly supported, and practiced, the idea of open relationships to oppose heteronormative ones.

But as the World Socialist Web Site article about Gus Van Sant’s Milk pointed out, just because you’re gay it doesn’t automatically mean you’re progressive. “…The [liberal causes of the corporate Democratic Party], whatever the immediate intentions of those advocating them, like Milk, had nothing progressive about them. Just because you’re gay, doesn’t automatically mean that you’re queer because you can still subscribe to the heteronormative binary.

Despite the debate about the castration of queer characters in mainstream media, there have been some strides in recent years, even if they’re baby steps.

The White Lotus, HBO- Verdict: NOT CASTRATED

The most recent example of queer representation that isn’t castrated is “The White Lotus” on HBO. HBO is an interesting example of a mainstream media outlet that successfully thrives on being explicit and pushing the envelope. This is the network that launched, Sex and the City, after all. The White Lotus became a breakout hit this summer that featured a controversial queer character played by Murray Bartlett. Bartlett’s character isn’t the most likable. He’s cruel to a new staff member who is hiding her pregnancy to maintain her job, he puts his staff in unprofessional positions that could be considered sexual harassment, and he’s relapsed into drug abuse - yet again. Not exactly the poster child for positive queer representation, but a character I find interesting.

He had a sex scene with one of his employees in the series that went viral on social media for depicting “ass eating”. While the scene itself was kind of embarrassing for the character, it was interesting to see an unapologetically queer character who was also extremely flawed and human. I think we’ve reached a point in our culture wars where there’s a lot of pressure for mainstream queer characters to be palatable for heteronormative audiences. I think The White Lotus is a great example of a queer character who is not castrated. Still, he could have used some tips on rimming, as several major publications pointed out:

Love, Simon - Verdict: Surprisingly not castrated

Love, Simon is quite a double edged sword. A success for Disney as a coming of age gay film, the movie was a bit muted in its portrayal of a queer character. The spinoff however, Love, Victor, is a moderate improvement. It allows the queer protagonist to venture into sexuality and other adult issues. Disney+ ended up selling the show to Hulu because its “adult content” wasn’t “family-friendly” for the Disney streaming platform.

Euphoria, HBO - Verdict: DEFINITELY not castrated

In what may be some of the most explicit depiction of queer sex on screen I’ve ever seen in mainstream media is HBO’s Euphoria. The show features explicit scenes of a transgender teen exploring their sexuality. While the scenes border on exploitive in its shock value, the show does present Hunter Shafter’s trans character as fully humanized character. Her character has a very strong character arc. We see her exploring her sexuality and her complicated romantic relationship with her best friend, Rue. There are countless graphic sex scenes with most of the characters on the ensemble show.

Big Mouth, Netflix - Verdict: DEFINITELY not castrated

Another mainstream hit show that has made progress in de-castrating queer characters is Netflix’s Big Mouth. The cartoon show parodies the perils of puberty among a group of sexually frustrated middle schoolers. While all of the characters explore their sexualities, the queer, bi, and sexually fluid characters all have very robust storylines in occasionally graphic detail. These middle schoolers are more sexually progressive than I have been most of my life. If only the rest of the world could start out this progressive from a young age.

Pose, FX - Verdict: DEFINITELY not castrated

Pose makes me particularly proud of the progress in mainstream media of illustrating queer characters without censoring their sexuality. In addition to seeing trans and queer POC enjoying their sexuality, the main characters are HIV-Positive. Usually films about HIV-Positive characters are trauma porn created to evoke empathy from heteronormative audiences. The HIV-Positive characters are also usually punished in some way for their sexuality and remorseful about their life choices. Pose featured a really powerful scene between two HIV positive characters who start dating and have sex for the first time since their diagnosis. These characters are fully developed and unapologetic about their sexuality since they’ve spent their lives being punished for it by the families and communities. More of this, please!

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Week 7: Bisexual Instinct

Chris Strayers essay “The She-Man: postmodern bi-sexed performance in film and video” states that: “Currently, the She-man is the most transgressive signifier of sexuality in play, evident in popular music culture as well as underground film and experimental video. The figure suggests the collapse of the phallus as the dominant signifier and is replacement by by a new empowered female sexuality which cannot be reduced to boyishness. Though Strayer’s essay encourages the idea of the “bi-sexed performance”, the piece made me think of a problematic, controversial trend in mainstream media: the bisexual bad girl. The trope was the ire of queer women throughout the 1990s thanks to films like Basic Instinct and Chasing Amy, films that featured queer women under a very heterosexual male lens, and has continued to be a topic of conversation thanks to films like Jennifer’s Body.

Though praised in Strayer’s essay for her crotch grabbing 1990 Interview Magazine Cover, Madonna has also been accused of perpetuating this bisexual exploration narrative in moments such as the infamous Britney kiss at the 2002 VMAS.

While this trend can be exploitive, I think it walks a fine line between the “Queer messiness” mentioned in the Queerty article about the web series Damaged Goods because the spectrum of sexuality can be messy. Two recent shows that aim to correct this trend by providing some nuance to the concepts presented by Strayer are Feel Good and Brand New Cherry Flavor, both on Netflix.

Both present queer, sexually fluid, She-man-esque characters in a more realistic way, particularly Feel Good since it’s written by the non-binary star of the show, Mae Martin, and explores the spectrum of their journey.

Brand New Cherry Flavor leans a bit on the early 1990’s “bisexual bad girl” trope since the book it was based on was published in the early 1990s, but the show updates it to make it more controversial. The story concerns aspiring filmmaker Lisa Nova who puts a curse on a famous slime bag producer who steals her film after she rejects sexual advances from him. But the curse starts to backfire because of Nova’s dark secret concerning her scorned and scarred Lesbian lover that she abandoned. It was interesting to see how the show updated this trope to make the story more about the exploration we learn from living in a patriarchal heteronormative world and sometimes adapt to in order to survive.

The first comment on the Queerty article about the queer messiness depicted in Damaged Goods from user Wicked Dickie reads: “Being messy is not a cute trait, no matter what color you are.”


I think identity politics in the Love, Simon age of queer media sometimes prevent great stories about how complicated it can be to queer is why there are more “Teens discovering their sexuality” and “Queer Historical Romance” films being made than there are films like The Watermelon Woman because there’s hesitation to show messiness. There seems to be a little bit of pressure to show “likeable” queer characters to appeal to heteronormative audiences. I think artists like Lena Waithe are leading the charge on changing that with the variety of shows she’s written currently on air depicting queer characters like her show Twenties. With Waithe’s numerous television shows in production, she’s definitely keeping the spirit Cheryl Burke’s The Watermelon Woman alive and well a variety of characters that are queer women of color.

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Week 7: CLAIMING LESBIAN HISTORY

Watching The Watermelon Woman made me think of a subgenera of Queer Film that I usually loathe: Historical Gay Forbidden Romance. In Linda Garber’s essay Claiming Lesbian History: The Romance Between Fact and Fiction notes that “Like most histories, lesbian history has spawned a genre of imaginative fiction. Some of this fiction has been documented as early as 1933.

There’s been several movies as of recent that tap into the imaginative history Lesbian fiction genre: Ammontie, Portrait of a Lady On Fire, and Wild Nights With Emily.

While I did enjoy, Portrait, and I thought Wild Nights With Emily was pleasant thanks to Molly Shannon, I am exhausted with this subgenre. Saturday Night Live did an incredible parody of this genre. I love the line at the end: “You only get one (queer film) a year. Make it work!” I feel like these are some of the only queer films that get made because straight people run Hollywood and this is what they think queer people want to watch over, and over, and OVER again.

I loved how The Watermelon Woman addressed this genre in a fresh, original way. While I was watching The Watermelon Woman, I thought about how progressive it was and astounding that it was made at all considering the time period. Decades after The Watermelon Woman came out, it’s fascinating that the forbidden love genre of queer film has become the status quo. I wish filmmakers would take some tips from The Watermelon Woman and breathe new life into the genre. While I find movies like Ammonite, and Brokeback Mountain for the matter, frustrating I do understand the fascination. As Laura Doan notes in Garber’s essay about the genre: “The Lesbian past grows increasingly insubstantial the nearer one draws to it; ultimately, perhaps, there is no ‘it’ to be recovered.” Ammonite faced some criticism because there was no proof of Mary Anning’s actual queerness in history (see below). Doan’s quote mentioned above perhaps provides some context to the situation. While I don’t want the genre to disappear altogether, I hope future filmmakers find inspiration in Cheryl Burke’s style and approach.

https://www.indiewire.com/2019/03/kate-winslet-saoirse-ronan-lesbian-ammonite-fictional-gay-relationship-1202051788/

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WEEK 7: SHE’S BUTCH

The first time I saw a queer women on screen, or even saw gay people congregating together in their own world, was in The First Wives Club when the trio visit a gay bar to find Diane Keaton’s gay daughter to get her involved in the operation (See clip below). I was six or seven and OBSESSED with The First Wives Club. 

My parents wouldn’t let me own it because they said it was too “adult”. In retrospect, I think it was because they knew I was gay and owning the movie would officially trigger my queerness. Despite their best efforts, my parents bought a slightly used VCR from Lowes Hardware Store right as the movie came out for sale on VHS. When we got home, we discovered the VHS player happened to have a copy of The First Wives Club that had been playing on the display TVs in the store. It was queer fate! The universe wanted to help me unleash my queerness! 

90’s Lea DeLaria trying to seduce Goldie Hawn’s character was the first time I learned what a “butch” was. Another character in the gay bar scene told Bette Midler her husband looked “butch”, and based off Lea DeLaria’s was able to put a definition with the aesthetic. I hadn’t even known it was possible for two people of the same gender to get together until I saw the movie. I have since become a huge fan of Lea DeLaria since the film and her subsequent appearances in shows like Orange Is the New Black.

I was delighted to see DeLaris in The New York Times article “Butches and Studs, in Their Own Words” along with Roxanne Gay, whom I’m also a fan of. “Butch has long been the name we’ve given a certain kind - that kind - of lesbian. The old adage applies: You know her when you see her.” I can say that is definitely an accurate experience for me when I saw Lea DeLaria in The First Wives Club at seven years old. In the article, Alison Bechdel said something that really resonated with me, thought I am not a queer woman or a butch: “It’s a lovely word, ‘butch’: I’ll take it, if you give it to me. But I’m afraid I”m not butch enough to really claim it.” Her words reflect a similar anxiety I’ve had around my queerness my whole life.

The NYT article, Roxanne Gay mentioned that “Black women often get read as butch whether they are butch or not. Black women in general are not seen, so black butchness tends to be doubly invisible. Except for studs: They’re very visible.” Gay’s quote reminded me of the second lesbian character I ever saw on screen: Queen Latifah in “Set It Off” (Clip below).

I was also obsessed with Queen Latifah growing up because of Living Single, and have followed her career trajectory ever since. Amid her major career breakthrough in the early 2000s I loved seeing Latifah not only play another “butch” character, but get her first Oscar nomination in the process: Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago (clip below).

Latifah’s sexuality has been relentlessly speculated about since she first burst on the scene, and has continued abound. Though she has never publicly identified as queer, she finally acknowledged her longtime partner in a speech during Pride Month this past summer (link below). 

https://www.thecut.com/2021/06/queen-latifah-thanked-her-love-eboni-at-the-bet-awards.html

Watching The Watermelon Women made me think of how much I’d love to see a Living Single style show about a variety of Queer Women of Color starring Latifah. What I love about “The Watermelon Woman” is that it touches on the spectrum of Queer Women of Color and the issues they face while avoiding melodrama and having a great comedic tone. There’s still such a lack of representation when it comes to Queer WOC, and I would love to see the Queen lead the charge. Maybe she can produce a queer reboot of Living Single where her character finally comes out later in life and it follows her modern day adventures as a queer single woman in New York City! I’m starting a petition of change.org to get this made!

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WEEK 3: MORE NOTES ON CAMP

When I was promoting my first digital series The Safety Plan (in the trailer above), I had it linked to my website through all the hook up apps (Grindr, Scruff, etc) in a shameless attempt at promoting my work to the gays. 

One guy I had been talking to finally asked to see a clip of my work. I directed him to my website. He took a while to respond before he gave a dispassionate: “Looks camp.” This was not the feedback I longed to hear about my project that I poured my heart and soul to. I intended for it to be a dark comedy/social satire, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. 

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with camp my entire life. I think when camp feels organic, spontaneous, & unintentional, it’s a lot of fun. I think when people over analyze it to death, it’s excruciatingly boring. However, I do feel like there is quite a bit of camp overload in queer content. Gay culture is practically synonymous with camp, which can often be weaponized against us by heteronormative communities. Growing up in conservative North Carolina, it felt like homophobia was often justified because everything in the LGBTQIA community seemed frivolous to them. Because, in their mind, queers are sodomites who don’t have a respect for life. I’ve always wanted to dispel this myth for homophobic critics, but I also want to be like Greg Araki and not care if heterosexuals watch my films. 

One thing that did intrigue me about Bruce LaBruce’s “Notes on Camp/Anti-Camp”, despite not agreeing with all of his article, was his categorization of camp - particularly “conservative camp”. I had never considered Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and the other nazi clowns of their kind to be camp, but they do meet the criteria according to Susan Sontag’s “Notes on Camp”; “In ... Camp, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails.” Trump, Palin, and those other assholes can all be defined by seriousness that fails.  Instead of subjecting anyone to the horrific tragedy of conservative camp, I’ll post about one of my all time favorite pieces of a great intersection between conservative camp and classic camp: RuPaul’s guest appearance on “Walker, Texas Ranger���.

At this stage, I think it’s safe to say that mama Ru is classic camp, and anyone who argues otherwise has another thing coming to them. I was introduced to RuPaul as a child via The Brady Bunch Movie. In the film, RuPaul plays Jan Brady’s guidance counselor. Being a middle child with SEVERE middle child syndrome with an old gay brother, I deeply identified with RuPaul’s words to Jan. Check it out below.

After Ru’s appearance in The Brady Bunch Movie, Ru made guest appearances in almost every show in the 90s that I watched: Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Clueless, etc. But it was Ru’s appearance on both Walker, Texas Ranger & Nash Bridges where my worlds finally collided. My hyper masculine dad and little brother both loved Walker, Texas Ranger. After vehemently disapproving almost everything I was interested in from the Spice Girls to Sister Act, we finally had something to watch together as a family! Check out RuPaul’s segment on Walker below. I think the car chase at 1:28 is more raw, authentic camp than almost all seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race combined.

My love/hate relationship with camp is forever changing. Another RuPaul appearance that I’ve come to appreciate, and has come up in the news recently, is the film Because I’m a Cheerleader.

I was always really intrigued by But I’m A Cheerleader as a kid, but when I finally saw it as a closeted gay teenager I was a little disappointed by the majority of it being intentional camp. I thought it would have been so much more effective as a dark comedy or social satire. One person who definitely feels differently about the film is actor Elliott Page.

After transitioning recently, Page said that But I’m A Cheerleader helped him overcome “shame and self-hatred”.

According the NBC News article, Page said: “At 15, when you are flipping through the channels and you stumble on ‘But I’m a Cheerleader’ and the dialogue in that film, and scenes in that film just transform your life,” he continued. “I almost think we don’t talk enough about how important representation is and enough about how many lives it saves and how many futures it allows for.” Re-watching The Living End this week made me reconsider my views on camp, and how powerful it can be in conveying messages about oppression when executed well. 

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Justice for Elijah McClain 🌺 @black_womenlead x @laughfactoryhw #justiceforelijahmcclain #justiceforbreonnataylor #blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice (at The Laugh Factory) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCEfi5NBhxy/?igshid=1j55jx0utrbn3

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Happy PRIDE from @black_womenlead and the phenomenal @lgteamgenius 🏳️‍🌈#allblacklivesmatter #blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB_S9O8B-wP/?igshid=gh13tsrctqk8

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Happy Pride! @safetyplantv screens at @nfmla for their LGBTQIA filmmakers spotlight tomorrow, June 28th! Tix on sale now! 🏳️‍🌈 (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8tyZ9h-mB/?igshid=458meytlstkk

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Happy #pride weekend, LA! 🏳️‍🌈 Celebrate by joining @black_womenlead at @panpacificparkla and amplify black voices! ⚡️#blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #blackwomenlead #defundthepolice (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB8qlTvhsbh/?igshid=1jgyhevzzm2la

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@black_womenlead is about to go H.A.A.M at @panpacificparkla this Saturday! Don’t miss it! 💥#blackwomenlead #blacklivesmatter #blacktranslivesmatter #defundthepolice (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB6MX9SBnxd/?igshid=tuewy4d9qzze

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Grab a drink and watch @safetyplantv at @nfmla this Sunday, June 28th! Tix on sale now! 🍸 #safetyplantv #nfmla #newfilmmakersla (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB6I2H9hGlt/?igshid=1fr32wmjppxmz

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@pup_paddington is ready to go H.A.A.M for @black_womenlead this Saturday at @panpacificparkla 🐶 #blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #blackwomenlead #defundthepolice (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB3tmn2B7lE/?igshid=53cdurp6wjxi

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@safetyplantv screens at @nfmla this Sunday, June 28th! Tix on sale now! ⚡️#safetyplantv #nfmla #newfilmmakersla (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB3nHGxBjTf/?igshid=sva2y51f5630

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That’s a wrap on @seriesfest 🥳Thanks so much for screening the world premiere of @safetyplantv 🥂You watch #safetyplantv until midnight tonight! #festdifferently #seriesfest (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB097JXh5X8/?igshid=8xoz3h3sisik

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Join @black_womenlead at their latest event this Saturday at @panpacificparkla ⚡️#blackwomenlead #blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice (at West Hollywood, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBzEJYShhJ9/?igshid=k8bbx10f35uh

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Catch my @seriesfest interview for @safetyplantv until the 24th! ⚡️#festdifferently #seriesfest #seriesfestseason6 #safetyplantv (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBygDFKhqzK/?igshid=102dek6hnphb0

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Voter suppression is REAL! We’re watching you! ⚡️#alleyesonkentucky #defundthepolice #blacktranslivesmatter #blacklivesmatter #votethemout (at Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CByYdMuBgwX/?igshid=1tvzqbebwlsmd