Gods and Monsters: A Queer Film Classic

173 Pages·2009·7.542 MB·English

by  Noah Tsika

GODS & MONSTERS
Arsenal Pulp Press | Vancouver
GODS &
MONSTERS
A QuEER FilM ClASSiC
Noah Tsika
GODS & MONSTERS: A Queer Film Classic
Copyright © 2009 by Noah Tsika
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any part or used by any
means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical—without the prior written permission of
the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may use a brief excerpt in a review, or in the
case of photocopying in Canada, a license from Access Copyright.
ARSENAL PULP PRESS
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Vancouver, BC V6B 1B8 Canada
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Queer Film Classics series editors: Matthew Hays and Thomas Waugh
Cover and text design by Shyla Seller
Edited for the press by Susan Safyan
All film stills (except where indicated) © Lions Gate Films Inc.
Printed and bound in Canada
CANADIAN CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Tsika, Noah, 1983-
Gods and monsters / Noah Tsika.
(Queer film classics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-55152-263-0
1.Gods and monsters (Motion picture). I. Title.
II.Series: Queer film classics
PN1997.2.G64T84 2009 791.43’72 C2009-905374-8
For Michael Bronski

CONTENTS
8 | Acknowledgments
12 | Synopsis
14 | Credits
16 | One: Condon’s Hollywood: Gay, Hunk-Colonized
… and White
46 | Two: Biopic Politics
102 | Three: Finding Frankenstein
137 | Four: Lynn
159 | References
163 | Index
Acknowledgments
This book is the result of years of study, and I would like to
acknowledge the generous support of the following orga-
nizations, institutions, and individuals: Dartmouth College
provided me with need-based scholarships throughout my
undergraduate years, and I owe an enormous, luckily figura-
tive, debt to those who make such enhanced financial aid
programs possible. Dartmouth’s Department of Film & Me-
dia Studies further nourished me, and I would like to thank
Amy Lawrence and Mary Desjardins for their tutelage,
friendship, and inspiration. Amy and Brenda Silver both
devoted time and passion to my independent projects, and
Carolynne Krusi guided me outside of the classroom.
My interest in biopics began at Brown University. I would
like to thank Brown’s Office of Summer Studies for support-
ing me, as well as the Departments of Sociology and Eng-
lish, where I first tested some of the ideas that appear in this
book. I was fortunate to spend two years studying at Cornell
University, where Sabine Haenni helped me to refine my
film criticism. I would like to thank Cornell’s Department of
Theatre, Film, and Dance, the staff of Cornell Cinema, and,
in particular, Mary Fessenden.
While at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, I re-
ceived a Rackham Travel Grant that enabled me to conduct
research in Los Angeles. Also at Michigan, Catherine Be-
namou, Bambi Haggins, and David Halperin mentored me
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Gods and Monsters
with aplomb. Thanks to the Spectrum Center and to Gabe
Javier. Thanks to the staff of Student Legal Services.
I owe a special, somewhat unusual debt to the Department
of Cinema Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of
the Arts, where I am supported by a Corrigan Fellowship:
thanks to Ken Sweeney, to Department Chair Richard Al-
len, and especially to Antonia Lant, Anna McCarthy, Dana
Polan, Chris Straayer, and Jonathan Kahana. Robert Sklar
has long guided me, and I am deeply grateful for his gener-
osity. For the past four years, my colleagues Nate Brennan
and Michelle Kelley have been key interlocutors and, more
importantly, precious friends. During the early stages of this
project, Dana C. Gravesen gave me much-needed advice
and encouragement.
I would like to thank the many friends whose spirited in-
sights have made going to the movies a gregarious activity:
Moya Luckett, Caspar Lant, Kevin Arnold, David Harvey,
Marta Hafner, Edward Hibbert, Kristy Rawson, Tristan
Jackson, Dylan Jackson, Jonathan Kron, Marjorie Sen, Zach
Udko, Beau Brinker, Daniel Solon, Stephen Ackerman,
Kristen Noonan, Megan Histen, Wes Webb, and Tarik
Cherkaoui. Christopher Bram’s books and his friendship
have helped me to better understand the worlds of Broad-
way and Hollywood, and I thank Chris for his generosity
with interview time; those Bram quotes that don’t come
from Father of Frankenstein come from my conversations
with the author.
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