In his readings of film favourites, Alexander Doty takes the reader to the queer side of criticism, offering fresh and controversial views of the stars, the plots, and the directors of our best loved and most iconic films. Arguing against the assumption that only explicitly gay films are subject to gay readings, he looks at six classics and reads them for their queer potential. With both affection and scholarly rigor, he teases out the lesbian fantasy inherent in "The Wizard of Oz", the gay nightmare narrative of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", the bisexual erotics of "Gentleman Prefer Blondes", the queerness of Norman Bates, and even makes a compelling argument about Citizen Kane's dying word, "Rosebud".

Flaming Classics turns the heat up on the movies we love best. In his wicked readings of film favourites, Alexander Doty takes us to the queer side of criticism, offering fresh and controversial views of the stars, the plots, and the directors of our best loved and most iconic films. Arguing against the assumption that only explicitly gay films are subject to gay readings, he looks at six classics and reads them for their queer potential. With both affection and scholarly rigor, he teases out the lesbian fantasy inherent in The Wizard of Oz, the gay nightmare narrative of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, the bisexual erotics of Gentleman Prefer Blondes, the queerness of Norman Bates, and even makes a compelling argument about Citizen Kane's dying word, 'Rosebud'.

As a concept, "queerness" describes a cultural common ground between gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and other non-straights, but it also suggests a diverse and often uncategorizable cultural space that is everywhere in mass culture. Whether recognized or denied, queerness is an approach to mass culture that is shared by people with every kind of sexual self-definition. In "Making Things Perfectly Queer", Alexander Doty argues that films, television, and other forms of mass culture consistently elicit a wide range of queer responses, and suggests a framework for interpreting mass culture that stands as a corrective for many standard cultural approaches. Doty demonstrates how queer readings can be - and are - performed by examining star images like "Jack Benny" and "Pee-wee Herman", women-centered sitcoms like "Laverne and Shirley" and "Designing Women", film directors like George Cukor and Dorothy Arzner, and genres like the musical. In developing these readings, he suggests that queerness, not straightness, just might be the most pervasive sexual dynamic at work in mass culture production and reception.

Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, William Powell and Myrna Loy, Jean Harlow, and Gary Cooper-"Glamour in a Golden Age" presents original essays from eminent film scholars that analyze movie stars of the 1930s against the background of contemporary American cultural history.
Stardom is approached as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and industrial contexts that enabled these actors and actresses to be discovered, featured in films, publicized, and to become recognized and admired-sometimes even notorious-parts of the cultural landscape. Using archival and popular material, including fan and mass market magazines, other promotional and publicity material, and of course films themselves, contributors also discuss other artists who were incredibly popular at the time, among them Ann Harding, Ruth Chatterton, Nancy Carroll, Kay Francis, and Constance Bennett.

Out in Culture charts some of the ways in which lesbians, gays, and queers have understood and negotiated the pleasures and affirmations, as well as the disappointments, of mass culture. The essays collected here, combining critical and theoretical works from a cross-section of academics, journalists, and artists, demonstrate a rich variety of gay and lesbian approaches to film, television, popular music, and fashion. This wide-ranging anthology is the first to juxtapose pioneering work in gay and lesbian media criticism with recent essays in contemporary queer cultural studies.
Uniquely accessible, Out in Culture presents such popular writers as B. Ruby Rich, Essex Hemphill, and Michael Musto as well as influential critics such as Richard Dyer, Chris Straayer, and Julia Lesage, on topics ranging from the queer careers of Agnes Moorehead and Pee Wee Herman to the cultural politics of gay drag, lesbian style, the visualization of AIDS, and the black snap queen experience. Of particular interest are two dossiers, the first linking essays on the queer content of Alfred Hitchcock's films, and the second on the production and reception of popular music within gay and lesbian communities. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography--the most comprehensive currently available--of sources in gay, lesbian, and queer media criticism.
Out in Culture explores the distinctive and original ways in which gays, lesbians, and queers have experienced, appropriated, and resisted the images and artifacts of popular culture. This eclectic anthology will be of interest to a broad audience of general readers and scholars interested in gay and lesbian issues; students of film, media, gender, and cultural studies; and those interested in the emerging field of queer theory.Contributors. Sabrina Barton, Edith Becker, Rhona J. Berenstein, Nayland Blake, Michelle Citron, Danae Clark, Corey K. Creekmur, Alexander Doty, Richard Dyer, Heather Findlay, Jan Zita Grover, Essex Hemphill, John Hepworth, Jeffrey Hilbert, Lucretia Knapp, Bruce La Bruce, Al LaValley, Julia Lesage, Michael Moon, Michael Musto, B. Ruby Rich, Marlon Riggs, Arlene Stein, Chris Straayer, Anthony Thomas, Mark Thompson, Valerie Traub, Thomas Waugh, Patricia White, Robin Wood