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New Queer Cinema: A Critical Reader
Coined in the early 1990s to describe a burgeoning film movement, "New Queer Cinema" has turned the attention of film theorists, students, and audiences, to the proliferation of intelligent, stylish, and daring work by lesbian and gay filmmakers within independent cinema and to the proliferation of "queer" images and themes within the mainstream. Why did this transition take place? Was it political gains, cultural momentum, or market forces that energized the evolution and transformation of this cinematic genre?
The volume is divided into four sections: defining "new queer cinema," assessing its filmmakers, examining geographic and national differences, and theorizing spectatorship. Chapters address the pivotal directors (Todd Haynes and Gregg Araki) and salient films (Paris is Burning, Boys Don't Cry), as well as nonmainstream and non-Anglo-American work (experimental filmmaking and third world cinema).
With a critical eye to its uneasy relationship to the mainstream, New Queer Cinema explores the aesthetic, sociocultural, political, and, necessarily, commercial investments of the movement. Although there are certainly other books on gay and lesbian issues in film, this is the first full-length study of recent developments in queer cinema, combining indispensable discussions of central issues with exciting new work by key writers.
The volume is divided into four sections: defining "new queer cinema," assessing its filmmakers, examining geographic and national differences, and theorizing spectatorship. Chapters address the pivotal directors (Todd Haynes and Gregg Araki) and salient films (Paris is Burning, Boys Don't Cry), as well as nonmainstream and non-Anglo-American work (experimental filmmaking and third world cinema).
With a critical eye to its uneasy relationship to the mainstream, New Queer Cinema explores the aesthetic, sociocultural, political, and, necessarily, commercial investments of the movement. Although there are certainly other books on gay and lesbian issues in film, this is the first full-length study of recent developments in queer cinema, combining indispensable discussions of central issues with exciting new work by key writers.
204 pages, Paperback
First published January 15, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 2, 2014
Of course I loved this book. How could I not?
In all honesty, I probably could have appreciated it more if I hadn't needed to read it so quickly (I'm writing about it for class). But it's a really excellent primer on the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s. It opens with B. Ruby Rich's essay "New Queer Cinema," which sets the stage and the players well, and then the rest of the essays are variations on that theme/responses to Rich's work. It's a device that may not have been intentional, but it works well.
I borrowed this book from the NYU library, but I hope to purchase it because it is a book I will probably refer to often throughout my graduate and professional career. It's an excellent introductory book to read if you have any interest in this subject.
In all honesty, I probably could have appreciated it more if I hadn't needed to read it so quickly (I'm writing about it for class). But it's a really excellent primer on the New Queer Cinema movement of the 1990s. It opens with B. Ruby Rich's essay "New Queer Cinema," which sets the stage and the players well, and then the rest of the essays are variations on that theme/responses to Rich's work. It's a device that may not have been intentional, but it works well.
I borrowed this book from the NYU library, but I hope to purchase it because it is a book I will probably refer to often throughout my graduate and professional career. It's an excellent introductory book to read if you have any interest in this subject.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews