Book Review: LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media, edited by Christopher Pullen

Abstract

LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media. Christopher Pullen, ed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 313 pp. $95 hbk.Christopher Pullen, senior lecturer in studies at Bournemouth University, is also author or editor of Documenting Gay Men; Gay Identity, New Storytelling and the Media; and LGBT Identity and New Media, and thus no stranger to topics in his LGBT Transnational Identity and the Media. Indeed this book's chapters are about LGBT identity and also about although mostly about only documentary film.After Pullen's introductory chapter on themes and terms, the book presents chap- ters on gender/sexual minorities in Middle Eastern TV and film; Iranian transsexuals; HIV/AIDS educational films in South Africa; Cape Town's (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and [LGBTQ]) Pride Parade; Argentina's same-sex marriage movement; Malaysian transsexuals; an Egyptian novel, The Yacoubian Building; early (meaning 1960s) gay narratives on BBC; a gay, Asian, Muslim character on Britain's long-running EastEnders soap opera; two chapters on Indian LGBTQ docu- mentaries, Khush (covered in both) and Happy Hookers; Latin American gay pornog- raphy as queer historiography; gay characters in U.S. Latino film; two chapters on Turkish drag queens; George Takei (Sulu from the original Star Trek cast) coming out; and camp in recent Hong Kong and mainland Chinese films.The chapters seem like a mishmash, and they are, the only common ground being something about LGBTQ identity in each one and a lot of language and concepts drawn from cultural studies, critical theory, and literary criticism. In an attempt to fend off complaints that the book is not cohesive, Pullen cheekily asserts that the book's diversity is what makes it cohesive. Note that not even the entire book is about media, as the term media usually would not include a novel, a gay pride parade, or a same- sex marriage movement not connected to media.One wonders why one chapter incorrectly asserts that in India, gay sex was illegal when this book was published. (It is again, because India's Supreme Court in late 2013 reversed a July 2009 Delhi High Court decision.) That chapter also asserts that penal- ties may include execution, which is and has never been true. Confusingly, the very next chapter correctly states that at publication, gay sex in India was legal. (The same- sex partners carved in ancient Indian temples will be relieved.)But the book's two most substantial problems as an academic work are the term transnational and the nature of each chapter's substance. On the latter point, every chapter in this book is long on theories and conclusions and extremely short on facts/ evidence. …