In the past, representations of alternative lifestyles on film were, even in their most explicit forms, faint and ambiguous, and the television industry was even more conservative. But in more recent years, thanks in part to the success of such films as Philadelphia, The Birdcage, To Wong Fu and In & Out, and television programs such as Will & Grace, a collective effort is underway to construct a positive new public image for gays and lesbians. This work studies recent cinematic and television depictions of gays and lesbians. It examines the gay male conversion fantasy in Get Real, Beautiful Thing, I Think I Do, and Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, the metaphor of the aging artist as a teacher to young gay men in Love and Death on Long Island and Gods and Monsters, gay violence in Shakespeare and The Talented Mr. Ripley, unacknowledged homophobia and theories of traditional masculinity in Gladiator, the ethical complexities of the human genome project and genetic screening for the gene associated with homosexuality in Twilight of the Golds, profanity and protest masculinity in The Usual Suspects, the controversy arising when the cast of Will & Grace urged Californians to vote against the Knight Initiative refusing recognition to same-sex marriages, male egotism in Flawless, gay parenting and other family issues in The Birdcage, The Object of My Affection, and The Next Best Thing, and rehabilitating homophobia in American Beauty, Urbania, Oz, Kiss Me Guido, Chuck & Buck, and Billy Elliot.

Film and television scholars as well as readers interested in pop culture and queer studies will enjoy the insights of Reading the Bromance.

This collection addresses the politics of queer representation in multiple contexts. Articles cover the rise of the queer cowboy, the emergence of lesbian chic, and the expansion of representations of blackness alongside work on queer, Taiwanese, online communities; a transgender Israeli pop star; and film mimicry in Kerala, India.

A collection of funny and insightful essays on recent and unusual gay films and television shows, these reviews provide a hilarious and unique perspective on gay culture on the big and small screens. Singling out a number of obvious and subtle gay perspectives, the author provides interesting commentary on the gay notions behind the movie counter. All films and television presentations are available through streaming download, on cable, and through popular movie rental companies. See what you may have missed--and what you should avoid.

This two-volume Handbook provides a major thematic overview of global sexualities, spanning each of the continents, and its study, which is both reflective and prospective, and includes traditional approaches and emerging themes. The Handbook offers a robust theoretical underpinning and critical outlook on current global, glocal, and ‘new’ sexualities and practices, whilst offering an extensive reflection on current challenges and future directions of the field. The broad coverage of topics engages with a range of theories, and maintains a multi-disciplinary framework. PART ONE: Understanding Sexuality: Epistemologies/Conceptual and Methodological Challenges PART TWO: Enforcing and Challenging Sexual Norms PART THREE: Interrogating/Undoing Sexual Categories PART FOUR: Enhancement Practices and Sexual Markets/Industries PART FIVE: Sexual Rights and Citizenship (And the Governance of Sexuality) PART SIX: Sexuality and Social Movements PART SEVEN: Language and Cultural Representation

In this ground-breaking study, Hongwei Bao analyses queer theatre and performance in contemporary China. This book documents various forms of queer performance – including music, film, theatre, and political activism – in the first two decades of the twenty first century. In doing so, Bao argues for the importance of performance for queer identity and community formation. This trailblazing work uses queer performance as an analytical lens to challenge heteronormative modes of social relations and hegemonic narratives of historiography. It will be of great interest to students and scholars of theatre and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies and Asian studies.

So, the film or television lesbian character dies. It seems to happen frequently. But does it really? If so, is it something new? Surveying the fates of numerous characters over decades, this study shows that killing off the lesbian is not a new trend. It is a form of symbolic annihilation and it has had an impact in real life. When more women are working behind the scenes, what appears on-screen also becomes more diverse--yet unhappily the story lines don't necessarily change. From the Xenaverse to GLAAD to the Lexa Pledge, fans have demanded better. As fan fiction migrates from the computer screen to the printed page, authors reanimate the dead and insist on happy endings.