Yaari, men in drag, and gays: tracing the changing dynamics of queer male sexuality in popular Hindi cinema
Sreya Mitra, University of Wisconsin, Madison — April 24th, 2008|
Male homoeroticism in yaari (colloquial Hindi for buddy) films; masquerade of often hypermasculine actors in drag; transvestites, effeminate men, and masculine women – these are all familiar queer tropes in popular Hindi cinema. However, contemporary Hindi cinema seems to be witnessing a gradual but crucial shift in representations of queer sexuality, particularly queer male sexuality – from the earlier tropes of homoeroticism and effeminate men to more distinct gay characters. Though mostly [...]
|
 |
Television’s New Publics and Privates: From Mobile Privatization to Trans-Spatial Publicity?
Hollis Griffin, Northwestern University — April 23rd, 2008|
Ads for emerging technologies often trade in utopian rhetorics when reaching out to audiences. Consumers are courted via fantasies of space; ads for a variety of products proffer notions of “gadget-enabled mobility” that promise the merging of spaces for the purposes of publicness. I unpack one example here in order to nuance recent scholarship on television in the age of digital.
Raymond Williams coined the term “mobile privatization” to describe the paradox of modernity in which he [...]
|
 |
“Where Does a Girl Have to Go to Find a Pool Table: Gender Performance, Leisure, and The L Word in Second Life”
Kelly Kessler, Rutgers University — April 22nd, 2008|
In 2004 Showtime launched The L Word. Viewers simultaneously hailed the show as groundbreaking and critiqued the sudsy dyke drama for its narrow presentation of lesbian life: white, femme, and upwardly mobile. Jumping to her own defense, creator Ilene Chaiken described the show as a representation of her own specific Los Angeles lesbian community. Over the past few years, the promotion machine of The L Word has sought to draw in existing fans and increase its fan base by delving into online a [...]
|
 |
“Jumping Your Bones Was Extremely Atypical For Me”: Brothers and Sisters, Queer Hollywood Labor, and Textual Possibilities in a Post-Network Era
Ben Aslinger, University of Wisconsin, Madison — April 21st, 2008|
Many of the cast members for Brothers and Sisters said they agreed to come onboard because playwright and series creator Jon Robin Baitz was attached to the project. Baitz made a name for himself as an out gay playwright who was able to tackle thorny political issues in plays such as The Substance of Fire. This month Out magazine placed Brothers and Sisters producer Greg Berlanti (of Dawson’s Creek fame) on the cover as one of the most powerful people in Hollywood.
In film and media s [...]
|
 |
Hmong Bollywood
Jigna Desai, University of Minnesota — April 18th, 2008|
Is it possible to be a diaspora without a “homeland” cinema or media? What happens when there is not a homeland media to produce and narrate belonging? In the case of Hmong refugees, a cinema had to be made where one did not exist prior to exile. Hmong Americans are an ethnic group who have migrated primarily from Laos under the conditions of political exile due to their covert assistance to US CIA as guerrillas in the secret war SE Asia. Fleeing Laos primarily to Thai refugee camps, Hmon [...]
|
 |
No place for cultural taboo in Cyberspace
Ola Ogunyemi, Lincoln School of Journalism, University of Lincoln, UK — April 17th, 2008|
The images of Darfur remind us of the scourge of war in Sudan. But implicitly, they tell the story of the emancipation of the victims of war from the burden of cultural taboos in African communities. The militants might have used rape as a form of torture precisely because it is a taboo among Africans that is rarely mentioned in conversation. However, what is usually kept secret and within the family is now a subject of discourse with millions of online audiences around the world. Evidence of th [...]
|
 |
Britz: Muslims and Postmodern Media after 9/11
Ashwani Sharma, University of East London — April 16th, 2008|
The clip is the trailer for the television drama Britz which was shown on Channel 4 in the UK at the end of 2007. It was a well publicised drama with the burning of the Union Jack flag and the refrain 'Whose side are you on?' splashed across public billboards, as well as regularly aired on television prior to broadcast. Britz effectively brings together the two main modes of (liberal) representation of Muslims in the west post 9/11 - one as a social realist documentary-style drama about Muslim l [...]
|
 |
British Bhangra Album Sleeves as Artwork
Rajinder Dudrah, University of Manchester, UK — April 16th, 2008|
This is a clip from BBC 2's Desi DNA programme originally telecast on 5 March 2008 in the UK. The show itself is a magazine format aimed at second, third and fourth generation Brit-Asians and wider culture vultures. In its earlier series Desi DNA was aired at an accessible 7-8pm slot in the evening. Its latest series, of which this report is a part of, was shown around 11pm – a kind of ghetto slot one wonders?
To watch the current series again after its original transmission on the Beeb ( [...]
|
 |
Africa is mine, the diaspora is mine
Robert Tynes, University at Albany — April 15th, 2008|
In February 2008, President Bush went on a five country tour of Africa. The six-day trip/media event was reproduced as a home-style, slide show, assembled and narrated by the president himself. President Bush spoke to members of the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation while flipping through the visuals of his experience. The Sullivan Foundation works with the African diaspora, friends of Africa, and international corporations to empower Africa.
Bush’s slide show has a personal, “I’m-just-tellin [...]
|
 |
“I don’t think anyone has an obligation to do anything”: The pop politics of coming out
Craig O. Stewart, Old Dominion University — April 25th, 2008