By Laney Justice
A collection of books available in Hunter Library (physical and eBook) about queer representation in American cinema, both behind the scenes and onscreen. Hunter Library has a large collection of books dealing with gay themes and issues, including on other countries’ queer cinema, but this is limited to American cinema. This selection will be of interest to anyone producing a project about the subject, or to anyone who simply finds themselves interested. The majority of these books were published before 2016, so keep that in mind re: potential for dated terms/relevance/recency, but they each provide excellent insight.
Bad Object-Choices, ed. 1991. How Do I Look?: Queer Film and Video. Seattle: Bay Press. A collection of essays about “queer film and video theory”. Ranges from topics such as the reclamation of the pink triangle used to denote homosexuals in the Holocaust to a symbol of pride and resistance during the AIDS crisis, lesbianism in 30s cinema, the political art of Robert Mapplethorpe, and Asian representation in erotic film. Intended by the authors as a companion to Vito Russo’s Celluloid Closet. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Barrios, Richard. 2002. Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall. Routledge. Screened Out is a comprehensive biography chronicling gay representation in the film industry and onscreen from the pre-Code era to the beginning of the New Hollywood movement. Also discussed is the presence of queer people behind the scenes as actors, directors, writers, and choreographers, how the Hays Code stifled representation and influenced how audiences viewed queerness (villainous, frivolous, a death sentence, laughable, etc), and the trends among gay moviegoers during the 40s, 50s, and 60s. From Marlene Dietrich in a top hat and tails in Morocco (1930), Cary Grant in a negligee in Bringing Up Baby (1938), the queering of the Hollywood musical, and much more, Richard Barrios shows readers that gay representation on screen isn’t a 21st century invention, and this book is a wonderful tool for anyone researching queerness in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Benshoff, Harry M, and Sean Griffin. 2005. Queer Images: A History of Gay and Lesbian Film in America. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Pub. According to publisher Rowen & Littlefield: “Queer Images surveys a wide variety of films, individuals, and subcultures, including the work of discreetly homosexual filmmakers during Hollywood’s Golden Age; classical Hollywood’s (failed) attempt to purge “sex perversion” from films; the development of gay male camp in Hollywood cinema; queer exploitation films and gay physique films; the queerness of 1960s Underground Film practice; independent lesbian documentaries and experimental films; cinematic responses to the AIDS crisis; the rise and impact of New Queer Cinema; the growth of LGBT film festivals; and how [early 2000s] Hollywood deals with queer issues.” Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Demory, Pamela, and Christopher Pullen. 2013. Queer Love in Film and Television: Critical Essays. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Focusing on film and television, Pamela and Pullen use this book to ask how these mediums “play with, imitate, subvert, mock, critique, and queer the romantic narrative conventions so common in Western culture”. Essay topics range from New Queer Cinema classics such as Gregg Araki’s comedy-drama The Living End (1992), long-running British soap opera Eastenders (1985–), and queerness (coded and overt) in children’s animation. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Dyer, Richard, and Julianne Pidduck. 2003. Now You See It: Studies in Lesbian and Gay Film. London: Routledge. Developments in queer cinema (and queer readings of any cinema) from the beginning of the art form to the 1990s. Available as eBook through ProQuest in Hunter Library.
Horak, Laura. 2016. Girls Will Be Boys: Cross-Dressed Women, Lesbians, and American Cinema, 1908-1934. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. A culmination of a decade scouring film archives, this book provides an analysis on lesbian gender, sexuality, and identity in American cinema through the over 400 portrayals of crossdressing women portraying “sentimental boyhood to rugged virility to gentlemanly refinement”. Available through JSTOR in Hunter Library.
Powell, Ryan. 2019. Coming Together: The Cinematic Elaboration of Gay Male Life, 1945-1979. University of Chicago Press. Explores the post-World War II world of gay liberation through the lens of film, focusing on gay men. Explores the queer subcultures of truckers, sailors, bikers/leathermen, and lumberjacks. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Russo, Vito. 1981. Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies. New York: Harper & Row Publ. Regarded as the grandfather of all books on gay representation in film, Vito Russo’s Celluloid Closet explores both overt portrayals and the practice of queercoding before, during, and after the Hays Code. Both a history and a political call to action, Celluloid Closet is the first book on gay representation in film written by a gay author. Although it is considered quite dated and contains flaws, the book is still a useful tool for film historians and movie lovers. Adapted into a 1995 documentary film of the same name directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman starring Lily Tomlin, Farley Granger, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Curtis, and more. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
Tyler, Parker. 1972. Screening the Sexes: Homosexuality in the Movies. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. A noted film critic, Tyler writes about homoeroticism, sex and gender roles, and sexuality in his contemporary Hollywood (pre-1974) with wit and camp. Physical copy in Hunter Library.
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