The worlds of queer cinema: from aesthetics to activism

Abstract

Why think about queer cinema and world politics together? The scenario is familiar to those who follow LGBT politics: global queer cultures clash with local or regional politics. Violence at pride marches in India, Serbia, and South Africa raises questions about the compatibility of liberalism and cultural relativism, global citizenship and human rights, sexual identity and national sovereignty. At the same time, there has been a burgeoning of queer cinemas around the world, with film production and consumption a significant way that sexual and gender dissidence makes itself visible in various cultures. In this article, we do not merely count new queer cinemas as part of a globalized LGBT culture, but consider how queer cinema makes new worlds. Queer cinema creates different accounts of the world, offering alternatives to capitalist aesthetics and social life. This article takes examples of queer film as style and activism to propose new theories of what it means to be queer in the world.

keywords: queer; world cinema; activism.