QCinema

CSUN Queer 304 CInema Class

[joseluzer]

I rarely hear music that vividly transports me to film scenes like this. Sufjan Stevens has two songs on this soundtrack that take me right back to the water scenes. I can actually feel what its like to sleep on someone else's couch through his songs (Futile Devices). I think its time to listen to Sufjan in reverse chronological order. Take me back to Illinoise.

[joseluzer]

Bell Hooks is a force to be reckoned with. Her ability to exhibit strength in her use of language, the radical love she shares with everyone, and her oppositional beliefs to the patriarchy make today such a sad day. We lost such a powerful literary voice, a powerful black voice, a powerful feminist voice, and a voice for the many. Here she is with Melissa Harris Perry in a clip from one of my favorite interviews from The New School.

[joseluzer]

Billy Porter is so fabulous. He is fabulous on stage, in TV, and in film. He is a force to be reckoned with and wears his queer pride on him like a loose garment, literally. I envy his activism and his positivity.

[joseluzer]

I just see some images that do not necessarily mean queer to me. Music notes, people as instruments, people made of music, nature that looks musical, and stage make-up. I think of these concepts when I think of a musical on stage and sometimes in film. When I see music I don't see gender. I think musicals can very much exaggerate the gender roles we fall into. Some of the best ones romanticize heteronormative historical narrative. But other ones do a great job of leaving out gender. I think there is something queer about that. Or at least where you blur the lines a bit. It is the one space where men wear vast amounts of make-up and are validated for it. Other than drag its a space to explore it unabashedly.

[joseluzer]

Rizzo from Grease the movie musical made this gay man a puppy when I was younger. I wasn't gay at the time. I remember thinking that her toughness and cavalier attitude was such a turn on. Plus that short hairdo was so sexy. It was so obvious that I would be a gay man. Iconic women with power drive us men who just want to be like our mothers. I thought she was so butch and sexy at the time. I thought she was the bad girl in the movie but now I realize she was the real woman of the film. Oh how time changes our views. Where Sandra Dee was the innocence of femininity, Rizzo represented the power of the femme fatale. She was a queering of the musical for me.

[joseluzer]

Movie and visual media can alter the way we perceive story. Take for example the "musical". In its early iteration it was only through Broadway that we experienced a stage play narrative told through song and dance. Stage design, voice, dance, choreography, and story were told through a single take and never prerecorded. A snapshot in time forever lost. And only retold via weeks of reenactment and touring on the part of the troupe. Today movie musicals can have a glossy finish. Many musicals are concerned with aesthetic, camera work, and closeups. I used to love hearing "Video killed the radio star". Once I really understood what the song was about, I would always take notice of moments where a new medium can render an older one almost obsolete. Does the movie musical render the live musical the same?

Side note: Pomplamoose made this video using video projectors and surfaces. Ironic of course.

[joseluzer]

I've picked a comparison between two musical biopics created closely in time and about similarly famous queer men known for their contribution to music and pop culture. They perfectly exemplify this idea of non-neutered cinema and neutered cinema. Throughout both films there are queer themes of the AIDS crisis, alcoholism, and fame. But both do not handle the themes the same. In Rocketman Elton John is realistically portrayed as a struggling addict who navigates stardom and his sexuality rather explicitly. And in Bohemian Rhapsody it seems that there is a distance from Freddie Mercury's sexuality, almost an apology of sorts. While Rocketman revels in Elton John's sexuality, as if it is his superpower, Bohemian Rhapsody apologized for his queerness with a censored admittance of his HIV status. In this scene as Rami Malek's character is told about his status, the director muffles what his diagnosis really looks like. As if the audience cannot handle the reality of living with AIDS really is. The audience is allowed to feel bad but not allowed to hear what it is really like. Both movies make different assumptions about what the audience can handle. Rocketman's audience is open, curious, and accepting, and definitely queer. Bohemian Rhapsody's audience is frightened, scared, and worried for the dying artist. Censoring our sexuality and the way in which we express it silences parts of our identity that make us who we are. Why have we neutered the audience and society?

Are we afraid that patrons might come out gay?

[joseluzer]

I love Lil Nas X. He gives no fucks about social pressures to conform. He has forged his own path through the rap industry. His persona and music videos push the liberal gay agenda to places it doesn't dare even want to go. He has never shied away from the public realm and wears his sexuality on his sleave. Like other rap artists who have half naked women on stage making out with them, he has done the same with men. He has allowed himself to be objectified and objectifies others.

As I sit in this starbux putting together this tumblr story I am scared about people around me seeing the images, gifs, and videos of Lil Nas X. He queers even this gay man. I find myself embarrassed that strangers around me might know that I am gay. is my public persona-neutered by social pressure. Do I as a gay man emasculate others? Have I emasculated myself? The costs could pigeon-hole Lil Nas X into a space where he is only known for his sexually explicit music videos. Does he then become like the actors who once they've come out as gay, get stuck with only gay roles. Are we the sum of our parts or is that the only part of our identity that matters?

[joseluzer]

White weddings can wash out the extremities of the political powerhouse that is liberal gay/lesbian rights movement. The neutering of public personas happens to most figures. But for queer figures to pivot to the more heteronormative ideals requires work on their part and also a washing by the external powers that be. Pete Buttigieg is a perfect example of how the gay rights movement has come so far to have a gay man who is married, be a frontrunner for the most powerful position in the United States, if not the world. In order to maintain that position of power requires accomodation to the institutions of power. Rather than break down the walls of capitalism and the patriarchy, it seems easier to climb in and fit in.

"a bathhouse scene was filmed but ended up on the cutting room floor. I have no idea whether this was Van Sant's call or the studio's, but with that cut Mr Milk was to all intents and purposes emasculated."

Gus Van Sant neutered Sean Penn's character, whether by choice or by force. Milk was known to be a pretty sex-positive character in the Castro. But for all intents and purposes his character solely focused on the political biopic. Queer cinema was neutered for a political triumph!

"In order to try and persuade an unconvinced American public to support gay marriage under the rubric of equality, gay male relationships are being presented, rather disingenuously, as "just the same" as male-female ones."

-Mark Simpson

-https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2009/jan/28/milk-gus-van-sant-sean-penn

I also chose this photo of two women getting married and choosing to participate in the heteronormative ideal of marriage. The gendered roles we inhabit is an example of being neutered of choice. Our gender is removed from us and then superimposed by an ideal that we've grown to accept.

[joseluzer]

Instead of labels of queer, gay, straight, non-binary, or male, or female, can it be okay to just state that "I exist"? Sometimes we forget to recognize that we are real animate objects that exist in the real world and not just in the marketable social media world. Its work to express ones gender or sexuality. Heterosexuals never make that statement out loud. They don't have to make facebook posts about straight-pride (although they are more than welcome to) or that "I stand with you...."(although they can). Alternative identities that sit outside the binary and outside of the heteronormative walls expend so much energy on a daily basis trying to fight to get within those walls or just not pushed over the edge. Saying "I exist", in whatever capacity I am existing as, not requiring a label, is okay too. The letter "I" is really a word that contains so much context. This context is solicited in surveys, census, applications, websites, friends, family, restroom signs, and people who fear. I am this. I am that. I am different by this much. I am not going to hurt you. I will not rape your children. I will not miseducate the masses. I will not damn your God. I am tired. Just let me exist for a moment without having to explain my existence. I. Just. Want. To. Exist.

“This film is not ‘gay,'” he said. “It’s life.” Dolan continued: “We never talk about heterosexual films. ‘Oh, I saw this great heterosexual love story!’ For me, it’s not a story of homosexuality or gay love. Ultimately, I don’t think that the two protagonists are aware that it is gay love. It’s love.” -Filmaker Xavier Dolan from Queerty article, "Filmmaker rejects 'gay film' label..."

[joseluzer]

"Take care of what's left of me..." Tag:"Non-binary meat".

This idea that very little of us is left after society's agency over what is commodifiable for gendered assignment. Do our shoulders have a gender? How much of our body do we lose to the roles we play? Where does non-binary exist on you?

"Heterosexuality is a regime of power and discipline that affects people's lives."

-Rosemary Hennesy

-Queer Visibility in Commodity Culture

[joseluzer]

The beauty of deafness. Chellaman through this wonderful narrative explains that deaf loss should be looked at as a deaf gain. The way in which we use language matters. Deficit-thinking damages our hearts and minds, deficit-language has a similar power. Ablest language is easily missed. We can be better and do better by recognizing how our deficit-spoken language can harm. Turn it around and call them "gains" or "wins".

[joseluzer]

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A post shared by Chella Man (@chellaman)

A censor here, a censor there. Gender dissapears. What defines sexual labels? Is it what is on the outside or anatomically on the inside? Is it more important to look at what is on the insides of the soul. How WE define ourselves identifies to others how one can be seen. Ask first, assume later.

"Loving our bodies for their abilities and disabilities. Loving our bodies despite the binaries and stigma thrown our way. Loving our body’s capacity to adapt. And, loving each other through it all."

-Chellaman

[nyledimarco]

For Pride month Chella Man and I decided to teach QUEER sign language! Thank you them. For more —> bit.ly/2J2SIuZ

Follow me: instagram.com/nyledimarco

[joseluzer]

Here two influencers have commodified queer education to include american sign language to educate the community and allies how to properly sign and refer to those within the queer umbrella. We are all at an intersection of multiple identities. Representation exists everywhere and within. We just need strength and pride.

"...Gender identity is either without limits, or that its boundaries are constantly shifting, a quality it shares with other identities, such as those based on race, class, and age. These various identities all interconnect because we are, after all, “humanimals” inextricably bound up with one another in the business of existence."

-Our Monstrous Humanimality in Lucía Puenzo's XXY and The Fish Child.

[alexenglish]

Nyle DiMarco & Chella Man Teach Us Queer Sign Language  [see captions for sign descriptions]

[joseluzer]

Here we have two queer influencer icons. Chellaman is a trans male chinese jewish and deaf actor/artist who collaborates with other queer influencers/model Nyle DiMarco who is also deaf. They've decided to use their platform to expand on this notion of queer education to include ASL in a mainstream fashion. It is in line with teaching queer and allies how to properly understand different identities within the queer umbrella but commodified for sign-language users.

[joseluzer]

[joseluzer]

Swoon

Vintage original Swoon movie poster | Thousands of extraordinary vintage original film posters. Online and in Los Angeles

This vintage original poster contains two color palettes. A black and white half for Leopold, that contain phrenological descriptions of queer and Jew. The other half is a red hue of Ben that has murderer. Can be a commentary on how traditionally homosexuality was both diagnosed as a mental disorder and was criminalized.