If you ever read The Celluloid Closet or seen the documentary, that was the '80s and that was one of the first big, important texts that Vito Russo wrote that is very much like an angry screed against the way that gays had been represented in Hollywood. I guess since the '90s there's been a lot of gay film studies. It's kind of been cobbled together out of both of those and how they speak to each other. So it's kind of a mix of queer theory and media studies. It was called gay and lesbian studies, and then queer became a theoretical idea in the '90s, partly coming off of Queer Nation and the AIDS era. How new is that specialization?īryan: So queer studies has been part of the academy since the early '90s. Tell us a little bit about what it's like to specialize in the queer branch of a cultural field of study. So if you go on Netflix and look at the gay and lesbian-I guess it's LGBT now-LGBT category, a lot of the content there will have been put out by these distributors, and they were part of helping LGBT become a category of media the same way we think of genres like horror and sci-fi and whatever else.ĭrew: That's crazy to think about. So I look at queer media pretty generally, but my dissertation specifically was about LGBT-niche distribution companies. So Bryan, tell us a little bit about your field of study.īryan: Yeah. Glen: Mine is the Smithers wink, wink, nudge, nudge.ĭrew: This is the first explicitly gay episode of The Simpsons. I just finished my PhD at UCLA in cinema and media studies, and my expertise is queer media.ĭrew: Which is why you're here right now because this is the first and gayest and best episode of The Simpsons.īryan: Is this the first one with any gay content? Before we get into it, I'm going to introduce our guest, Dr. I have definitely spent more time with The Simpsons than my actual physical family. There's maybe no other entity I know more about or have invested more time in-ĭrew: Absolutely true. I'm so excited to talk about The Simpsons on a podcast. I'm Drew Mackie.ĭrew: And in case that intro didn't tip you off, today we are talking about The Simpsons. This is a nightmare! You're all sick!ĭrew: You are listening to Gayest Episode Ever, the podcast that looks at LGBT-themed episodes of classic sitcoms, which is to say very special episodes that also happen to be very gay episodes. Shirtless Worker: Hot stuff coming through!īart: Dad, why did you bring me to a gay steel mentally ill? Worker 1: Stand still! There's a spark in your hair!
I want all of yous to say hello to the Simpsons.
The transcript was provided by Sarah Neal, whose skills we recommend wholeheartedly. This is the transcript for the installment of the show in which we discuss the Simpsons episode “Homer’s Phobia.” If you’d rather listen to Glen and Drew than read what they say, click here.