First Contact: Queer Theory, Sexual Identity, and “Mainstream” Film

Abstract

This paper begins by raising questions about the role of queer theory in media critique, centering on a discussion of four recent “mainstream” mass-circulation films with significant lesbian and/or gay content. It is asserted that these films operate within accepted discourses on sexuality that require both the notions of public self-disclosure and of the “truth” of the hetero/homo binary. The methods used by media productions to disseminate that discourse from a lesbian/gay point of view are discussed in terms of the implications of such mass-circulation films being for many persons a “first contact” point with that discourse.