Queer Theory Films - suggestions requested

Cafe Society
#1

My roommate, as some of you know, is an instructor at an institute of higher learning here in California.

She’s going to be teaching a course in Film Theory next semester, and is looking for a good film for the week she teaches Queer Theory. She’s loosely focusing on Noir or Neo-Noir films (for example, she’s using “Blade Runner” for genre, “Brazil” for Semiotics, “Thelma and Louise” for Feminism, and “Memento” for Narrative theory).

Right now, she’s thinking about “Bound.”

I said I’d ask the Dopers what they thought.

So? Any suggestions?

#2

May I suggest ‘Rope’ or ‘Swoon’? I believe they were loosely based on the Leopold-Loeb murders.

#3

The Celluloid Closet.

#4

The Maltese Falcon. The homosexual subtext in the John Huston version is quite clear (especially if you realize that “gunsel” did not mean “gunman”). Gutman, Wilmer, and Cairo are all supposed to be gay, and you might speculate about Spade’s orientation, too.

#5

Go Fish by Rose Troche.

#6

There is an excellent guide for GLBT film called Images in the Dark. It is an extremely comprehensive guide and one I used extensively while researching a full term thesis study on the history of gay and lesbian film.

I have a lot of other info, so feel free to e-mail me.

#7

Night is Falling and/or Butterfly Kiss

#8

(Excuse the bumpage)

How about Jean Cocteau’s film Orphée? It is more fantasy than noir but they are certainly noir elements (guns, leather jackets, femme fatale etc) and it certainly is a Queer film.

#9

Well, she’s looking for something a bit more modern, but thanks for the suggestions.

Roomie’s complaint about film theory films: they were all shot in the 50’s (according to her) and therefore her students won’t connect with them.

#10

I think Bound is a fine choice (and if there are any Matrix-loving students I bet they’ll be pleased). I’m sure she’s read through Foster Hirsch’s Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo Noir; maybe there’s something helpful there.

#11

Gregg Araki’s The Living End. Or how about Fight Club?

#12

Fight Club as Queer theory? This I gotta hear! Details, Otto?