If queer theory talks about redefining genres or questioning its nature, masculinity in Anger’s film is put on trial. As masculine as these actors are, the bikers preparing their leather clothes and going out on motorcycles are just as masculine. From Marlon Brando to James Dean, the queer aesthetic drinks from over-masculinized symbols. Different masculine icons surround this gang of gay men. The real importance of the film lives in the way Anger configures queer aesthetics. From Nazi symbols to Christian figures, the bikers don’t seem to have a clear ideology as the film doesn’t seem to have a clear speech. Without a major plot to follow, Kenneth Anger mixes different provocative elements in the film. “Scorpio Rising” presents a gang of bikers preparing their clothes and partying. From underground auteurs to mainstream films, queer films are still one of the most discussed issues in film theory.įor many historians, the experimental short cuts by Kenneth Anger represent a milestone for queer cinematography. The social construction of gender is questioned in the films, and how these questions are seen by the audience tells us about the evolution of sexual notions according to context.
One of the most interesting points about queer cinema is how critical reception is as important as the film. This list focuses on what was called “New Queer Cinema” in the early 90s, but also expands a bit on both sides, showing some key predecessors important to understand what came next, and more recent examples on the issue.
The same goes for gender exploration in film. But if the theory is quite recent, the exploration of these themes on philosophy and social studies is much older. Queer theory proposed a wider and more complex way of reading sexuality, trying to go beyond classical LGBT labeling.ĭealing mostly with gay themes, “New Queer Cinema” explored different sexual “mismatches”, and any sexual attitude that was defiant of heteronormativity. This theory explored every deviant category of sexuality. What some critics called “New Queer Cinema” developed almost in pair with what theorists called “Queer theory”.