Cruisin' for a Brusin': Hollywood's Deadly (Lesbian) Dolls

Holmlund, Chris

doi:10.2307/1225654

Cited by 7 publications

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“…Chris Holmlund, for example, detailed the fi gure of the "deadly doll" in mainstream fi lms of the 1980s and early 1990s, stating, "Hollywood and its audiences are both fascinated but yet uncomfortable with violent women." 12 Moving then to a discussion of lesbian tropes as context for Basic Instinct and Fried Green Tomatoes, Holmlund asserted that "as in most deadly doll fi lms, in both these fi lms a murmured fear of lesbianism lurks beneath the general discomfort with violent women." 13 Other theorists noting this fear include Camilla Griggers, who posited in 1995 that "the new movie genre coined by Mirabella's June [19]92 issue as 'psychofemme' fi lms-a genre which includes Thelma and Louise, Single White Female, and Basic Instinct among many others-increasingly depicts a failure of the heterosexual economy to regulate and contain homoerotic exchanges between women."…”

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confidence: 99%

The Kids Are All Right But the Lesbians Aren't: The Illusion of Progress in Popular Film

Eaklor¹

2012

Historical Reflections/Reflexions Historiques

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The fi lm The Kids Are All Right, centered on a lesbian couple and their two teenage children, was released in 2010 following a media blitz selling it as a groundbreaking fi lm. Many queer viewers (like this author) eagerly awaited this supposed step forward in lesbian representation, only to be disappointed once again by mainstream stereotypes and tropes. This article takes a close look at the fi lm against the backdrop of lesbian images and themes in "Hollywood" fi lms, particularly in the last twenty years, and argues that continuities, while sometimes more subtle, override the illusion of progress in portraying lesbians. Finally, there is speculation about why genuine change in mainstream fi lm may be impossible under current societal and economic systems.

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confidence: 99%