Critical Queer Studies

by Casey Charles

Critical Queer Studies examines contemporary films and documentaries that dramatize the intersection of law and queer life, analyzing the effects of legal doctrines-jury selection, unwanted sexual advance, negligence, hate crimes, and gay marriage-on the production and reception of queer film and fiction. Exploring the interaction of these discourses by discussing internationally-known American films, the book demonstrates how the law maintains its hold over the queer subject through promoting certain ideological fictions and conversely how film and literature draw upon the material realities of queer legal status to dramatize conflicts between law and the marginalized subject. Critical Queer Studies synthesizes queer studies, law and literature, and film studies, engaging these fields to show how the struggle for gay and lesbian rights has influenced the production of film and fiction.

202 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2012

About the author

Casey Charles teaches English at the University of Montana in Missoula, offering courses in Shakespeare and queer studies. His first book, The Sharon Kowalski Case: Lesbian and Gay Rights on Trial, was nominated for a Publishing Triangle Award in nonfiction.

Reviews

[Mills College Library]

346.73013 C4753 2012