CFP: Queer Television (9/15/05; NEMLA, 3/2/06-3/5/06)

Queer Eyes: Reading the “Must See” Queer Television Phenomenon

In recent years, the queer image has appeared in a variety of major forms on network and cable television: as main characters with fully-developed relationships on network sitcoms (Will & Grace); as hosts of reality television series (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy / Girl); as family members with problems that impact the entire family (Six Feet Under) and as the movers and shakers of their own continuing dramas (The “L” Word; Queer as Folk). It appears that it is no longer permissible to simply relegate queer characters to the sidelines; television seems ready to show that the issues of the queer community are issues that can affect any prospective television viewer. Or, is this a position that the mainstream media wants us to believe?

This roundtable seeks papers that read with a critical queer eye the phenomenon of the queer image on television: Why is Queer as Folk a favorite of straight women? Do the antics of the “Fab Four” promote gay stereotypes rather than break them down? Are the continuing sagas of The “L” Word lesbians simply a queered version of Desperate Housewives? Are the family dynamics of Six Feet Under really representative of the LGBT community? Is Will & Grace revolutionary, or a creative remake of I Love Lucy? Papers that examine these issues and others are welcome from all critical perspectives.

Send proposals as Word attachments to Scott F. Stoddart at stoddarts_at_mville.edu by
15 September 2005.

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Scott F. Stoddart, Ph. D.
Dean of Undergraduate Academics
Manhattanville College
2900 Purchase Street
Purchase, NY  10577
914-323-5339
<stoddarts_at_mville.edu>
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