A passingly intelligent but disjointed critical examination of the
gay "underground" cinema movement of the 1960s. Drawing mainly on
the work of Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Warhol, Suarez
(English/Universidad de Murcia, Spain) attempts to frame a slightly
new conception of the historical relationship between the
avant-garde and mass culture. Instead of a merely oppositional
relationship, he sees, especially in these gay underground movies,
a dialectical (love-hate, to the layperson) dynamic, as the
filmmakers simultaneously embrace pop culture and critique it. For
example, in Scorpio Rising, Anger both celebrates motorcycles,
movie stars, and doo-wop songs and critiques them as emblems of
mass culture's violent, fascistic potential. Suarez also details
how gay filmmakers have expropriated images from the straight world
and given them a gay reading, with drag queens being the classic
example. But before Suarez can get to these ideas, he feels
compelled to labor us with a 50-page history of the European
avant-garde, freighted with enough stale Parisian jargon to fuel
the entire Yale English department. Then there is an extended,
discursive history of the American underground. In fact, the
individual filmmakers, although the ostensible subject of the book,
are treated almost perfunctorily. Suarez has too many other agendas
to satisfy. Like the films it sometimes analyzes, flashes of
brilliance amidst high and low pretentions, pastiche, and pother.
(Kirkus Reviews)
"This comprehensive, insightful study demonstrates that 1960s
NewYork underground film fused 'artistic innovation and the
exploration of everydaylife' and distinctively interacted with mass
culture.'" --Choice
..". thoroughly researched [and] engaging text..." -- Library
Journal
"This is a very timely and welcomebook.... intervenes very
effectively to to rewrite the history of the 1960s
Americanunderground cinema." -- UTS Review
At the confluence ofexperimental art and the gay subculture of
early 1960s New York, Juan Su rezdiscovers a postmodern,
gay-influenced aesthetic that "recycles" popularculture. Filmmakers
Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and Andy Warhol epitomize
thissensibility, combining the influences of European avant-garde
movements, comicbooks, rock 'n' roll, camp, film cults, drag
performances, fashion, and urban streetcultures.
General
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