Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture - Current Issue

In Queer Milton, Volume 10 (2014) of Early Modern Culture, and the subsequent Palgrave collection, queer studies and gender studies scholars argue that intersections of knowledge and power trouble cultural assumptions about sex and gender and, in fact, make a strong case for queering readings of Milton’s poem. Building on this critical thread, we trace the queer pop culture adaptation of Paradise Lost. A narrative of queer desire develops, we argue, culminating in contemporary examples such as Lil Nas X’s video for ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, and the Netflix shows Lucifer and Sandman. While these examples focus on Satan as the embodiment of queer identification, the centre of our analysis shifts this queer identification to Christ. 2013’s animated movie My Little Pony: Equestria Girls uses Paradise Lost as queer source material for a story about forgiveness and love.

Remy’s character arc in Ratatouille follows his journey from rural secrecy to a celebrated urban openness, a narrative that I propose intrinsically parallels that of many queer adolescents. Through Remy’s alternative masculinity, and queer narrative tropes such as the ‘closet’, ‘coming out’ and an alternative gaze, Ratatouille codifies Remy’s otherness firmly within the realms of queerness. Given The Walt Disney Company’s recent fluctuant response to Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, it is worth engaging with the comparison between Remy’s culinary otherness and contemporary cultural understandings of the queer male, so as to understand how Disney has recently managed to balance the tightrope between LGBT representation and conservatism. Through a deployment of studies on queer otherness, literary connotations of rats, and ‘food porn’, this article explores the ways in which a mass media conglomerate like Disney has subconsciously mobilized alternative sexuality and the stories of non-normative identities in recent history. In doing so, we see that Remy’s otherness is abundantly delineated as queer, though rid of its sociopolitical subtext in order to appeal to the largest possible audience.

Since the US Supreme Court recognized the fundamental right to same-sex marriage, the wedding industry has expanded to a new slate of consumers. The Walt Disney Company has been no different, marketing towards same-sex Disney fans hoping to have their own ‘fairy tale wedding’. However, due to Disney’s ‘family-friendly’ brand identity and their complex relationship to the queer community, this process has been highly fraught. This is evidenced in Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings (DFTW), an infotainment series following the planning and execution of elaborate, Disney-themed marriages, engagements and anniversaries that both promotes Disney’s catalogue of economic holdings such as parks, cruises and expeditions, as well as reinforces a unique Disney brand of romance. Through a content and political economic analysis of DFTW, I argue the show exemplifies the reabsorption of counter-hegemonic ideologies into a dominant framework, wherein ‘non-traditional’ marriages help consolidate pre-existing systems of power and reinforce oppressive economic regimes.

This article examines recent popular discourse around LGBTQ+ media representation and argues that the discourse’s attitudes and assumptions reflect both an expanded understanding of gender and sexual diversity and a narrowed understanding of how media representation functions. First, a sample of recent popular journalism from three online publications targeted at LGBTQ+ readers (Attitude, Out and Têtu) is analysed. Findings show how the publications assume representation should be measured according to a progress narrative and quantitatively, among other reductive attitudes. Second, the article contextualizes these findings by outlining sociotechnical and economic conditions of the current media landscape, dominated by mega-franchises, streaming platforms and social media platforms, and argues that together these media forms are guided by twin imperatives – the proliferation of minor variations and the promise of consumer empowerment – which in turn help to condition viewers’ expectations for LGBTQ+ representation.

Review of: Normporn: Queer Audiences and the TV that Soothes Us, Karen Tongson (2023)

New York: New York University Press, 211 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-47984-399-2, e-book, $19.95

ISBN 978-1-47984-651-1, p/bk, $19.95

ISBN 978-1-47984-192-9, h/bk, $89.00