Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom

DeAngelis Michael DeAngelis

Description

Why and how does the appeal of certain male Hollywood stars cross over from straight to gay audiences? Do stars lose their cachet with straight audiences when they cross over? In Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom Michael DeAngelis responds to these questions with a provocative analysis of three famous actors-James Dean, Mel Gibson, and Keanu Reeves. In the process, he traces a fifty-year history of audience reception that moves gay male fandom far beyond the realm of "camp" to places where culturally unauthorized fantasies are nurtured, developed, and shared.DeAngelis examines a variety of cultural documents, including studio publicity and promotional campaigns, star biographies, scandal magazines, and film reviews, as well as gay political and fan literature that ranges from the closeted pages of One and Mattachine Review in the 1950s to the very "out" dish columns, listserv postings, and on-line star fantasy narratives of the past decade. At the heart of this close historical study are treatments of particular film narratives, including East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause, The Road Warrior, Lethal Weapon, My Own Private Idaho, and Speed. Using theories of fantasy and melodrama, Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom demonstrates how studios, agents, and even stars themselves often actively facilitate an audience's strategic blurring of the already tenuous distinction between the heterosexual mainstream and the gay margins of American popular culture.In addition to fans of James Dean, Mel Gibson, and Keanu Reeves, those interested in film history, cultural studies, popular culture, queer theory, gender studies, sociology, psychoanalytic theory, melodrama, fantasy, and fandom will enjoy this book.

Sujets

• Sociologie, société et politique
• Popular culture
• Media studies
• Film

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 15 août 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822380207
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Gay Fandom and Crossover Stardom

Gay Fandom and

Duke University Press Durham & London 

Crossover Stardom

James Dean, Mel Gibson, and Keanu Reeves

M I C H A E L DA N G E L I S

©  Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper  Typeset in Janson by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging- in-Publication Data appear on the last printed page of this book.

        

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

   James Dean and the Fantasy of Rebellion

   Stories without Endings: The Emergence of the ‘‘Authentic’’ James Dean

     Identity Transformations: Mel Gibson’s Sexuality

    Keanu Reeves and the Fantasy of Pansexuality

Afterword

Notes

Bibliography

Index

ix

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Acknowledgments

riting the history of the reception practices of a subcul- ture that remained largely invisible until recent decades is th W e documents that appear in gay publications remain unindexed. I a challenging assignment, especially considering that most of am therefore grateful for the services and cooperation of outstanding research facilities at the University of Texas at Austin and Northwest- ern University. The knowledgeable archivists at The Margaret Her- rick Library and the Warner Bros. Archives made my all too brief re- search visit to Los Angeles enormously productive. The librarians at the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives in Toronto and Chicago’s Gerber Hart Library were welcoming, accommodating, and support- ive. I also thank the Fairmount Historical Society, whose proprietors were kind enough to open the doors of its museum on a snowy Decem- ber morning. Portions of chapter  have appeared in an antholog y on youth cul- ture published by Toronto’s Media Studies Working Group and edited by Murray Pomerance. In addition to being a discerning editor and accomplished scholar, Murray has also become a good friend whose enthusiasm has carried me through many difficult times. Several friends and colleagues devoted considerable time in read-