Carol

Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin, in their book Queer Cinema: the film reader, elaborate three general criteria for identifying cultural products as queer.  What are they?

Auteurs, form and reception. 

What are "queer aesthetics"?  Summarise Benshoff and Griffin's definitions in your own words.

Queer aesthetics typically challenge conventional ideas of what is thought to be universally true. While it is impossible to completely define “queer aesthetics” there are certain styles and modes that are more often employed in queer art. 

For instance, “camp” is considered a queer aesthetic because of its traditional use in many queer cultural products.

What reasons do the authors give for queer audiences to identify with mainstream texts?

Other cultural texts are particularly popular within queer communities because of ambiguous sexuality such as Xena: Warrior Princess, Batman, or High School Musical (particularly the character of Ryan Evans). Sometimes characters (as is the case with Evans) are coded as queer (using verbal and visual markers to connote queerness without explicitly stating it. This includes elements such as body language, vocabulary, dress, vocal inflection, and various other aspects that are peripheral to sexual orientation), other times the subtext is unintentional.

What does Vito Russo argue about the portrayal of gays and lesbians in Hollywood films?

Russo argues that Hollywood’s portrayal of lesbians and gay men has often been cruel and homophobic. During that period, gay and lesbian characters were defined by their sexual orientation and lacked any complex character development.

In Hollywood’s early years, from the 1890s to the 1930s, homosexuality was often presented as an object of ridicule and laughter. The archetype of “the sissy” – foppish and feminine males, often of delicate sensibilities – was popular at this time, and Russo asserts that such a character was a source of amusement and reassurance for the audience. The sissy was not a threatening representation of homosexuality because he occupied a middle ground between masculinity and femininity.

What is an archetype?

The first ever stereotype. Such as Marilyn Monroe being a dumb blonde. 

What is the Hayes code?

A system of self-censorship that, among other things, affected the portrayal of homosexuality.

Why did some people in the gay community dislike the film "Brokeback Mountain"? 

In 2005, Brokeback Mountain grossed over $178 million proving that movies portraying queer people could be lucrative for large studios. That said, the film has received mixed reactions from within queer communities on the grounds that a movie about “straight-acting” gay men who barely have sex and who cannot even accept their own desires is hardly a gay movie at all.

What was the intention of New Queer Cinema?

New Queer Cinema challenged established notions that queer legitimacy could only come through assimilation into mainstream heterosexual society. Filmmakers such as Gregg Araki, Alexis Arquette, Todd Haynes, Jennie Livingston, Cheryl Dunye, Gus Van Sant, John Waters and John Cameron Mitchell achieved this through the use of heavy irony and an antagonism towards the naturalistic style that dominated cinema at that time.