Hollywood and the Rhetoric of Panic: The Popular Genres of Action and Fantasy in the Wake of the 9/11 Attacks

Everyone has a secret: Closeting and secrecy from Smallville to The Flash, and from shame to algorithmic risk

“…When Smallville premiered in 2001, consensual same-sex sexual acts were still illegal in many American states, a record number of LGBTQ military personnel were dishonorably discharged from the military under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy (Correales, 2007; Damiano, 1998), the marriage-equality fight was in its infancy, and it remained legal in most states to openly discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in almost all aspects of life, from housing to employment to adoption. In addition, the 9/11 attacks occurred only a month before Smallville ’s premiere, which meant that the series developed alongside the War on Terror and an increasing cultural obsession with hidden internal threats and duplicity (Sánchez-Escalonilla, 2010). Thus, Smallville ’s metaphors of closeting and secrecy were produced within a culture of hostility toward LGBTQ lifestyles, and a more general culture of suspicion for deviation from social norms.…”