The Queer Intimacies Shorts Program provided different narratives about what it looks like to have romantic, queer relationships. It analyzed problems that are consistent in heterosexual relationships and queer relationships while looking into the dynamics within the relationships and the different facets that come with being queer. The films were entertaining but lacked in intersectional, specifically racial and ethnic representation. The films explored romantic dynamics in queer and heterosexual relationships, the binary and non-binary aspects of these relationships, and the diverse spectrum of sexuality.

The first short film in this series, The Tragic Fall of Valerie Mallory Finkerstein, was about what society considers to be queer. The leading woman could not be present at the moment or listen to her friends when they tried to provide her with advice. It was clear to the audience that Valerie was desperate for her best friend to love her, which is an interesting approach to lesbian relationships. I liked that there was an emphasis on Valerie being unsure of herself, but knowing that she wanted her friend, Ava, to love her. This film expands on the point of being unsure about yourself, and unsure about what we desire sexually and romantically, but having a good idea of who we want. Valerie knows she loves Ava and also requires social abundance and distractions. Her character was very interesting, and I enjoyed how fixed she was on displaying her affection to Ava at her birthday party. The images in the film were beautiful; the setting in the park was magnificent. I enjoyed the plot too, and the narrative of complex sexual feelings, especially when it comes to your friends. I think the situation between Valerie and Ava happens more often than we think, and this film displayed the narrative so openly that it helped to connect to the characters. The film had a narrative that we see very often in movies – an individual falling in love with their best friend, and having all of the clichés and heteronormative ideas of love. However, this narrative is portrayed frequently through a heteronormative lens, so it was refreshing to see this storyline in the eyes of Valerie.

The second film, Lost Cat, was about Nathalie, who had just gone through a huge conflict, trying to find her self again. She’s fired from her job, and her fiancée was unfaithful and broke her heart. Soon after, she finds a lost cat in her backyard and takes care of it. I think that the cat was a symbol of Nathalie needing to find herself to get through this rough patch. She needed to be reminded of who she was. She is also coming to peace with how hard it is for her to make connections with others and with herself. I think that the cat idea narrative of finding yourself and understanding yourself after something traumatic happens is important to understand. She is going through something that many people go through, regardless of their orientation. She was cheated on, and through this cat, she finds peace with herself. This film is not focused on her being queer but was about the struggles in her life. Her relationship was displayed subtly but was a big part of her narrative. The film explored Nathalie’s entire life at that moment, and how everything interconnects to create her situation.

A significant criticism that I have for all of the films is the lack of racial, religious, and ethnic representation within them. The film festival was supposed to be diverse and representative, and it was not. All of the leads, except one, were white. In Lost Cat, a black woman was playing the woman who cheated on Nathalie, which is racialization because it imposed a specific negative identity of her indirectly onto the audience. The few times that the films represent a person of colour, they are used for tokenism (including a person of colour to ensure that the cast is not all white) or portrayed with a negative narrative. Media has been used in the past to promote racial supremacy, so it is important to represent diverse groups in media today in order to promote equality and to destruct the ideas of racial supremacy. As discussed in Races, Racism, and Popular Culture, “Racism is connected integrally to the history of modernity and modern technologies have provided a key means in the establishment of racial supremacy” (Back and Solomos 255).

Additionally, there was little to no representation of a variety of intersectionality. There was no transgender representation or racial representation. I think an important part of the movies was for the authors to ask themselves this question that Peter Kaufman proposes in an article he wrote in 2007; “how do my race, gender, class, and other social positions enable my actions in some instances and constrain them in others” (Kaufman). Portraying the diverse social “intersections” that are not recognized often can only benefit everyone involved by educating them, being inclusive, and resonating with a greater amount of people and affecting them in stronger ways.

The fourth film, Things That Happen in the Bathroom, exploresthe ideas of yearning for love, desperation, and pain through a homonormative lens. It explores the intimacies shared between a young man and an older man within a sexual relationship. It is clear that the younger man wants more than sex; he is interested in being intimate in other ways. He asks to have sleepovers and is persistent in other ways to have other forms of intimacy. The movie explores this dynamic, which I appreciate because it is very common, but we do not see it portrayed in popular culture and the media very often. The dynamic between these two was uncomfortable at some times, but that challenged me, and I enjoyed it. I was forced to confront the things that happen to a young gay man in one of the most intimate, private spots: the bathroom. This film was not only about being intimate with someone else; it was about being intimate with yourself. One term addressed in the film subtly is “binary,” defined in the course glossary as “a binary model of categorizing people into two distinct groups of gender based on the sex they were assigned at birth.  Gender and sex almost overlap in this essentialist model. Gender expression and sexual orientation are expected to be in congruence, and certain gender roles, usually in contrast to each other, are ascribed.” This film explored the young man not following binary roles associated with his gender. He wears makeup and expresses himself contrary to the social norms of the male identity.

Word Count: 1,101

References

Back, Les and John Solomos. “Race and Racialization: Essential Readings.” Races, Racism, and Popular Culture. Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 2007. 255.

Kaufman, Peter. Intersectionality for Beginners. 23 April 2018. <https://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2018/04/intersectionality-for-beginners.html#more&gt;.