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Representation in Music

Queer representation in the music industry while minimal is ever growing and very prominent.

Current figures who are taking queer culture and giving it a wider platform are performers like Lil Nas X and Troye Sivan. Lil Nas and Sivan have done a lot to progress and normalize queer culture, releasing music that doesn’t shy away from who they are. These current performers are also incredibly good at utilizing popular media platforms to connect with their audiences, having millions of followers across apps like instagram and tiktok. This way of forming an almost personal connection with their fans allows queer culture and ideas to become more widely accepted as it’s ingrained into popular media. In the article Flaming the Fans- Shame and the Aesthetics of Queer Fandom in Todd Haynes Velvet Goldmine by Chad Bennet, Bennet writes, “If the term ‘queer,’... can be taken to refer primarily to ‘those whose sense of identity is for some reason tuned most durably to the note of shame . . . developing from this originally affect their particular structures of expression, creativity, pleasure, and struggle,’ then perhaps there is something queer about fandom in general...” (19, Bennet). Referencing the shame surrounding fandom and David Bowie, this quote also demonstrates the upsurge in shame and fandom surrounding new queer artists.

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Representation in Film

Queer male representation in film is somewhat rare, but the few good movies are powerful enough to make up for that.

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Maurice is a period piece on homosexual relationships in the 1900s and accurately demonstrates the inner turmoil and politics that comes with being attracted to a person of the same gender. By the end of the film one of the characters, Scudder, has to leave his whole life behind just to be with the person he loves. But we never find out if it works out because during that time it’s very possible that it all ended in tragedy. The movie just ends though and we’re left to make our own conclusions about what happens next. In the article Theses on a Philosophy of Queer History, it’s stated that “...Velvet Goldmine charges without promising an affirming conclusion.” (211, Theses on a Philosophy of Queer History). Although two different movies, these films both represent queer work as it is, on going and never finished.

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The 2019 film Rocketman tells the early life of singer/songwriter Elton John and his extravagantly beautiful story. Elton John’s life is a perfect capture of the power that iconic queer men can hold over a generation. Rocketman as a movie is very similar to the film Velvet Goldmine in the way that it represents the life of an iconic queer figure and the struggles that come with being openly and proudly queer. In the article The Invention of a People - Velvet Goldmine and the Unburying of Queer Desire by Nick Davis, Davis writes “This image of same-sex pleasure is conceived only with difficulty by a gay man living in a homophobic, post AIDs, economically gentrified culture… like the ‘Committee for Cultural Renewal’ and ‘the Committee to Prosper’.” (97, Davis). This quote can also apply to Rocketman in how both films chronicle the life of how difficult it was to be an openly gay man during a time when society was widely against homosexuality.

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Representation in Television

Many parts of television work hard to represent queer men and their power/impact. Although the media can have its flaws, the amount of good representation is only getting larger.

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