Queer Looks: Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video

Johanne M. Pelletier is an archivist and Ph.D. candidate in the history
and philosophy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education.

This is a very provocative collection of articles on the theory and
practice influencing lesbian and gay film and video work. The
development of a queer “language,” the vagaries of sexual
representation, censorship, critical theory, geography representation,
and the contextual influence of homophobia are among the subjects
covered in this collection. Its contributors include Yvonne Rainer,
Pratibha Parmar, Barbara Hammer, Marusia Bociurkiw, Sara Diamond, Thomas
Waugh, Douglas Crimp, John Greyson, and Richard Fung, among others.

The accumulation of articles by a variety of film and video artists,
activists, critics, and theorists for this collection was driven in part
by a dissatisfaction with the dearth of critical theory regarding
independent lesbian and gay media productions. The articles deflect from
the path taken by queer critics in this area before—there is only
peripheral reflection on the Hollywood and mainstream cultural
production; the focus instead is on independent production.

While the theoretical framework favored by the authors aims at
cross-disciplinary debate, deconstructing race and gender and thoroughly
interrogating the old guard of critical film theory, the articles are
accessible to newcomers to the field. Photographic stills of the video
and film productions discussed provide some visual relief for those not
accustomed to the language of film and video theoretical/critical
writing. Queer Looks is an entertaining introduction to lesbian/gay
media.