After reading this blog, I have to admit there were terms that I have never heard of before and had to research to understand. I never heard of LGBT in literature, but now understand it means lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders. I agree that Halloween is a good evening for people to feel free about their sexual choices because a costume lets someone have the freedom to be someone without being judged in the same manner as they would on a regular day. Their identity is hidden behind a costume.
Today, I think less people feel like they would need Halloween to come out of the closet. Lesbians and gays or "queers" as they were called in this blog are more accepted in today's society, so their relationships are found more often in both children and adult literature. I cannot think of a specific story that I read as a kid that actually was about a lesbian or gay relationship, but I would think science fiction, fantasy and maybe even comic books would be genres with more LGBT (see I am using the new term) because there is more freedom and creativity in the plots.
I have seen some articles that questioned whether or not Batman and Robin were gay. There were some comments made that I think were stereotyping them because they had tights on, but I just thought of the fact that they were in costumes, which is just like what was mentioned in this blog about Halloween. So, they were in costumes too!
I am also a "Harry Potter" fan and had not given much thought to Dumbledore being gay and a teacher. Unfortunately, there have been many gay teachers in the media that have had inappropriate relationships with their students, so it makes gay teachers look bad. I know of a gay foreign language teacher at my high school, and we all thought he was a great guy, and there were no issues. So, I think it is the media that makes homosexual teachers look bad.
Lastly, I think that today's television shows have really been open to gay relationships. I love the show "Two and A Half Men" and Alan's wife divorced him because she thought she was a lesbian. Judith then decides she isn't, and gets married again, but it was talked about on the show. Also, on "Grey's Anatomy" Callie has had relationships with women and talks about being a lesbian. She is now in a relationship with Arizona. Talk hosts like Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O'Donnell not only make a ton of money, but they are honest and open about being lesbians.
In today's world, Halloween is not necessary for people to be open about their sexuality. In fact, it would not be unusual to see a lesbian or gay couple trick-or-treating together or maybe even taking their child out to trick-or-treat.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
Queering Halloween
-Jack, Will and Grace
Artifact for Discussion (YouTube link): "Anything Can Happen on Halloween"
The above link connects to a brief clip from The Worst Witch, a 1986 made-for-tv movie based on a children's book series of the same name. Though the movie is aimed at the 3-9 year old demographic, as an adult it is impossible to ignore the overtly queer implications of nearly every element of this scene. The term "queer" seems appropriate here (rather than "gay," for example) because this performance alludes to a variety of forms of non-heterosexual culture, including (but not limited to) drag performances, gender transgression, and homoeroticism. In this post, I want to draw out three of the elements of this scene that create its meaning as a queer text, and use these features as a starting place to think more broadly about how queerness emerges in children's media in general and in the genre of Halloween films specifically.
1.) Subtext: First of all, this clip is full of subtext that, to a viewer "in the know" with regard to LGBTQ subculture, signals its queerness. Not only is Tim Curry's performance evocative of a drag number (for example Harvey Fierstein's Torch Trilogy or Hedwig and the Angry Inch) but also--it's Tim Curry. When The Worst Witch premiered, Curry had recently become famous from his performance as Dr. Frank-n-Furter, the "sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania," in Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975). So, basically, this is a scene in which a well known gay icon swirls his oversized pink cape around like a ballgown as he announces "It's great to be here with you young witches on this fabulous night." Fabulous, indeed. Fabulous and queer.
2.) The theme of transformation: Secondly, the lyrics and video of "Anything Can Happen on Halloween" are all about transformation. Halloween is a day for transformation--dressing up in costumes and pretending to be someone else--but this takes on a special resonance for certain viewers: for example, the transgender boy or the closeted lesbian who feel they must put on a costume and pretend to be someone else every day to fit in. The line "I wouldn't change places with anyone tonight" portrays Halloween as liberating night, in which every person is free to be who they secretly want to be all year round--or free to experiment with a new identity. This message is most explicit in the line "your dentist could turn into a queen," again a reference subtle enough to avoid censorship but still an undeniably present subtext for the viewer in the know.
3.) The All-Girls' School: Finally, this film takes place at an all-girls' school for witches. Both witchcraft (e.g. Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and all-girls' schools (e.g. Madchen in Uniform) have a history of being associated with lesbianism. By making the one major male character a queer figure, the film preserves the all girls' school as a space which privileges women's relationships, one of the few places in society in which romance between women is overlooked or even allowed to flourish. Furthermore, if Tim Curry's character were masculine and heterosexual, his song to the girls could come across as "creepy"--he might seem kind of like a pedophile. By making him queer, the film avoids raising this anxiety.
At first I thought it was unusual that a children's film would contain so many queer elements--but, then again, children's media certainly doesn't shy away from heterosexuality. In fact, most children's media, from fairy tales to commercials, contains an explicitly heterosexual, gender-normative message. So it's no weirder for queer messages to emerge as well. The following questions attempt to use this analysis of The Worst Witch to look for the ways queerness tends to appear in these texts.
Discussion Questions:
1.) In the 1993 film Hocus Pocus, Bette Midler does a performance of "I Put a Spell on You" which, like Tim Curry's performance of "Anything Can Happen on Halloween," is both campy and seductive, and essentially amounts to a coded drag performance. Can you think of any other instances in which such performances occur in Halloween movies--both in those intended for children and in Halloween movies in general? Can we trace a genealogy of such performances? Do you think it is more common for queer characters to play villains (as in HP) or heros (as in TWW) in children's movies? Is it significant that HP is an American movie produced by Disney while TWW is a British movie produced by the BBC? Is the gender of the protagonist (a boy in HP and a girl in TWW) significant?
2.) Why do you think Halloween is frequently taken up as a site through which queerness can be explored and/or expressed? Can we trace a history or genealogy of the relationship between Halloween and queerness? What is the significance of the fact that The Worst Witch came out during the post-Stonewall era in which queer subculture became significantly more public? Does queer representation on Halloween emerge differently today now that LGBTQ rights are becoming so much more accepted?
3.) Where else have you encountered queer characters and/or a queer sensibility in children's media? In what genres besides Halloween stories does queerness tend to occur? How would you compare this clip to stories intended to teach children acceptance, such as Heather Has Two Mommies. What about stories that are not "about" sexuality but contain explicitly gay characters, such as Dumbledore in Harry Potter?
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