Straight Girls and Queer Guys

'Friendships between straight girls and queer guys have a rich, complex place in popular culture that is rarely given sustained scholarly attention. In this sharp, original, and wide-ranging book, Christopher Pullen shows us how representations of this "unlikely coupling" work - and how they matter.' Joshua Gamson, University of San Francisco Exploring the archetypal representation of the straight girl with the queer guy in film and television culture from 1948 to the present day, Straight Girls and Queer Guys considers the process of the 'hetero media gaze' and the way it contextualises sexual diversity and gender identity. Offering both a historical foundation and a rigorous conceptual framework, Christopher Pullen draws on a range of case studies, including the films of Doris Day and Rock Hudson, the performances of Kenneth Williams, television shows such as Glee, Sex and the City and Will and Grace, the work of Derek Jarman, and the role of the gay best friend in Hollywood film. Critiquing the representation of the straight girl and the queer guy for its relation to both power and otherness, this is a provocative study that frames a theoretical model which can be applied across diverse media forms. Christopher Pullen is Senior Lecturer in Media Theory at the Faculty of Media and Communications, Bournemouth University. Cover image: Publicity Photo from The North Star, 1943, Dir. Lewis Milestone (c) The Samuel Goldwyn Company/reproduced in Movie Story magazine 1943 Cover design: Richard Budd [EUP logo] www.euppublishing.com