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8. New queer cinema and lesbian films

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New Queer Cinema
This chapter is in the book New Queer Cinema
8. NEW QUEER CINEMAAND LESBIAN FILMSAnat PickIntroduction: `Q' for CuriousTheimmediateaimofthischapteristoprovideacriticaloverviewoftheplaceof lesbian films within New Queer Cinema. The task is not an easy one in afieldwhichisascontentiousasitisbroad.Themaindifficultyseemstobehowbesttoapproacharangeofdefinitions,from`new'to`queer'to`lesbian',sincewith every one of them, we risk biting off more than we can chew. As oftenhappens with formal titles, so with the New Queer Cinema, its lifespan(`officially'1992±2000)nowseemstohavebeenagreatdealshorterthanthatof the movies that first gave it its name. The same goes for its filmic legacies,which have outlived it. What, then, is New Queer Cinema? Is there, corre-spondingly, a Ne wLesbian Cinema? And if so, ho wdoes lesbian film fit intothe Ne wQueer frame work? I hope to be able to offer some helpful complica-tions, if not positive replies to these questions.It was critic B. Ruby Rich who pin-pointed an influx of films made by andabout gays that were redefining queer filmmaking in pre-Millennial, AIDS-affectedAmerica.Thesefilms,forexampleToddHaynes'Poison(1991),TomKalin'sSwoon(1991), Christopher MuÈnch'sThe Hours and Times(1991),MarlonRiggs'Tongues Untied(1991),GreggAraki'sThe Living End(1992),or Jennie Livingston'sParis is Burning(1990), were all low budget andformally inventive films, temperamentally confrontational, and deliciouslytransgressive.1Rich dubbed this sensibility `Homo Pomo': homosexual (sig-nificantly male, and, we might add predominantly American and white), andpostmodern. By the year 2000, however, Rich declared that New QueerCinema did not constitute a `movement' but, as it turns out, a `moment'.2103
© 2022, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

8. NEW QUEER CINEMAAND LESBIAN FILMSAnat PickIntroduction: `Q' for CuriousTheimmediateaimofthischapteristoprovideacriticaloverviewoftheplaceof lesbian films within New Queer Cinema. The task is not an easy one in afieldwhichisascontentiousasitisbroad.Themaindifficultyseemstobehowbesttoapproacharangeofdefinitions,from`new'to`queer'to`lesbian',sincewith every one of them, we risk biting off more than we can chew. As oftenhappens with formal titles, so with the New Queer Cinema, its lifespan(`officially'1992±2000)nowseemstohavebeenagreatdealshorterthanthatof the movies that first gave it its name. The same goes for its filmic legacies,which have outlived it. What, then, is New Queer Cinema? Is there, corre-spondingly, a Ne wLesbian Cinema? And if so, ho wdoes lesbian film fit intothe Ne wQueer frame work? I hope to be able to offer some helpful complica-tions, if not positive replies to these questions.It was critic B. Ruby Rich who pin-pointed an influx of films made by andabout gays that were redefining queer filmmaking in pre-Millennial, AIDS-affectedAmerica.Thesefilms,forexampleToddHaynes'Poison(1991),TomKalin'sSwoon(1991), Christopher MuÈnch'sThe Hours and Times(1991),MarlonRiggs'Tongues Untied(1991),GreggAraki'sThe Living End(1992),or Jennie Livingston'sParis is Burning(1990), were all low budget andformally inventive films, temperamentally confrontational, and deliciouslytransgressive.1Rich dubbed this sensibility `Homo Pomo': homosexual (sig-nificantly male, and, we might add predominantly American and white), andpostmodern. By the year 2000, however, Rich declared that New QueerCinema did not constitute a `movement' but, as it turns out, a `moment'.2103
© 2022, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. List of illustrations ix
  5. Notes on the contributors xi
  6. Part I New Queer cinema in context
  7. 1. New queer cinema: an introduction 3
  8. 2. New queer cinema 15
  9. 3. Aids and new queer cinema 23
  10. Part II New queer filmmaking
  11. Overview 39
  12. 4. The characteristics of new queer filmmaking: case study-Todd Haynes 41
  13. 5. Camp and queer and the new queer director: case study-Gregg Araki 53
  14. 6. Art cinema and murderous lesbians 68
  15. 7. New queer cinema and experimental video 80
  16. Part III Locating new queer cinema
  17. Overview 101
  18. 8. New queer cinema and lesbian films 103
  19. 9. New queer cinema: Spectacle, race, utopia 119
  20. 10. New black queer cinema 128
  21. 11. Nationality and new queer cinema: Australian film 144
  22. 12. New Queer cinema and third cinema 155
  23. Part IV Watching new queer cinema
  24. Overview 171
  25. 13. Reception of a queer mainstream film 172
  26. 14. The new queer spectator 187
  27. Index 201
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474463768-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Acknowledgments vii
  4. List of illustrations ix
  5. Notes on the contributors xi
  6. Part I New Queer cinema in context
  7. 1. New queer cinema: an introduction 3
  8. 2. New queer cinema 15
  9. 3. Aids and new queer cinema 23
  10. Part II New queer filmmaking
  11. Overview 39
  12. 4. The characteristics of new queer filmmaking: case study-Todd Haynes 41
  13. 5. Camp and queer and the new queer director: case study-Gregg Araki 53
  14. 6. Art cinema and murderous lesbians 68
  15. 7. New queer cinema and experimental video 80
  16. Part III Locating new queer cinema
  17. Overview 101
  18. 8. New queer cinema and lesbian films 103
  19. 9. New queer cinema: Spectacle, race, utopia 119
  20. 10. New black queer cinema 128
  21. 11. Nationality and new queer cinema: Australian film 144
  22. 12. New Queer cinema and third cinema 155
  23. Part IV Watching new queer cinema
  24. Overview 171
  25. 13. Reception of a queer mainstream film 172
  26. 14. The new queer spectator 187
  27. Index 201
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