Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Hetero Media Gaze
- Chapter 2 Queer Gazes and Identifications
- Chapter 3 Film and Commodity
- Chapter 4 Television and Domesticity
- Chapter 5 Documentary and Performance
- Chapter 6 Youth, Realism and Form
- Conclusion
- Select Filmography
- References
- Index
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Hetero Media Gaze
- Chapter 2 Queer Gazes and Identifications
- Chapter 3 Film and Commodity
- Chapter 4 Television and Domesticity
- Chapter 5 Documentary and Performance
- Chapter 6 Youth, Realism and Form
- Conclusion
- Select Filmography
- References
- Index
Summary
The representation of the straight girl and the queer guy within film and television is a complex source of identification. This book has offered a glimpse into this subject area, foregrounding the notion of the hetero media gaze, which may be considered as the dominant viewing processes of western media production worlds that address, and try to represent, heterosexual audiences. This may be coded as both post-feminist and neoliberal (see Introduction), for its focus on dominant identity forms relating use and exchange, as much as a potential for transgression. As part of this, and subject to, the hetero media gaze, the ‘unlikely coupling’ of the straight girl and the queer guy is contiguous of everyday male and female coupling, seeming like a coding of ‘normality’.
However, there is a bias of representation that foregrounds not only heterosexuality as the dominant coupling form but also male identity as the ultimate force. For the representation of the straight girl and the queer guy, a sense of instability is apparent, in that both the straight girl and the queer guy are independently and separately coded as the ‘superior’ identity form. The female being heterosexual may be connected to the everyday, and especially within the medium of television may be considered as the focus of attention, and also the subject that domestic media address (see Chapter 4). While the queer guy does not have the privilege of heterosexuality, nevertheless, as male he bears the cultural and social capital of masculine order, and consequently can exert a sense of power.
Hence, there is a bifurcated potential within the union of the straight girl and the queer guy, which reveals both characters as vying for attention, even if they are seemingly in collaboration. However, generally the straight girl is represented as the dominant identity, and hence, in many representations within this book, the focus is upon her life chances, potentially limited (but in some cases enriched) through her coupling with the queer guy. This is not so surprising, as mainstream media do address dominant audiences, and there is an expectation of mirroring, or at least respect for them.
- Type
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- Information
- Straight Girls and Queer GuysThe Hetero Media Gaze in Film and Television, pp. 169 - 171Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2016