This thesis attempts to provide a critical framework for discussion of English language films featuring non-white homosexual characters and contribute to the on-going debate concerning the cinematic representation of racial and sexual minorities. It does not attempt to offer an exhaustive account of the field. Emphasis is placed on why there have previously been few films containing non-white homosexual characters and why there are now more such films, as well as identifying the way in which these characters are depicted. The study begins by examining the intimate relationship between Western construction of racial and sexual discourses. Through analysing several contemporary films and reviewing critical literature from the fields of post-colonial and “race” criticism, lesbian, gay and gender studies, I argue that (white) homosexuals and non-white people have often been depicted as analogous, although not identical, in sexual “perversity”. I further suggest that they are depicted as similarly deviant because of the reproductive threat that they pose to the white heterosexual norm. The homosexual actions of nonwhites, (who have historically been stereotyped as “naturally” sexually deviant), are usually interpreted as an example of their loose morality, rather than as an indication of non-heterosexual identity. By contrast, white subjects who engage in homosexual practises are usually accorded a lesbian or gay identity. I argue that the recent increase in the number of films containing non-white homosexual characters reflects the influence of “politically correct” discourses and theories of “hybridity”. I further suggest that the crossover success of a number of these films indicate that traditional stereotypes of race and sexuality are now called into question.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:297983 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Chua, Ling-Yen |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/108332/ |
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