queercontent

[queercontent]

Another zine I want to work on is for Billy Elliot's 25th anniversary next year. I wouldn't say this was my gay awakening, but it's certainly remained a great love given my teen obsession with Jamie Bell and how often it appeared on free-to-air television. It sits alongside But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) and Beautiful Thing (1996) as films that made me feel privileged to have grown up gay when I did.

If you've got something nerdy to say about this film, DM me with it (or add comments to a reblog) the second you finish reading.

The zine would talk about Billy Elliot's 'controversy': the debates about whether it counted as queer, and grooming allegations against Daldry for his sheer proximity to a young actor. It would also include how my crush on Jamie Bell developed over the last twenty-five years. But tbh that's all just filler. What I really want to talk about is how its big, nerdy intertextual references make it media created for us rather than a cishet audience.

First reference is from history, because why choose the 1984 miner's strike as your setting if your film had nothing to say about their contributions to Gay Liberation? Perhaps a little headcanon, but no less important to highlight this largely forgotten change in Labour's policy-making both in the UK and here in Australia.

And because we don't have a world of time, and because it was a helpful reminder when it came out, we lean on the 2014 docudrama PRIDE. This one follows Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), who crossed prejudices to show their solidarity during the 1984 strike — going as far as holding a club fundraiser featuring Bronski Beats as their headliner.

LGSM's contributions were ultimately refused by the Miner's Union, and yet they left a lasting impression on mining communities and labour unions. LGSM were subsequently joined by hundreds of miners during Gay Pride 1985 who had by then voted to include gay and lesbian rights in their party portfolio. It was the first time a major political party in the West had committed to supporting queer rights.

Next we slide hard into Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, which premiered in 1995. This modern re-queerification of the classic ballet by gay composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky has the prince assume part of the princess's role as he pursues a mysterious Stranger (the swan). Here Bourne goes as far as to replace the entire cast of traditionally female swans with sweaty, bare-chested lads.

The 2012 capture watchable [ here ] stars homosexual hearthrob Dominic North as the forlorn prince.

Now, in Billy Elliot, Mrs Wilkinson recounts the classic tale to Billy as they listen to Swan Lake on the ferry. It's a wonderful scene where Wilkinson begins with reverence and dramatics, but ends with her usual boredom, leaving young Billy both confused and unsatisfied with the plot. To me this echoes the desire among 90s content producers to change how we told queer stories.

In Billy Elliot's closing scene, however, we see a 25yo Billy leap onto the stage as Bourne's Stranger rather than the classic princess (even nerdier than that, we see Bourne's original Stranger, Adam Cooper, playing a 25yo Billy Elliot). You realise in future screenings that the opening scene is also an homage to Bourne's Swan Lake: much as the young prince begins his story in bed, dreaming a swan hottie will save him from becoming a man; Billy begins jumping on his bed, flapping his arms, dreaming of something beyond the life he's expected to grow into.

Quick tangent via The Eagle (2011), starring Channing Tatum as Roman legionnaire Marcus and Jamie Bell as his British slave Esca. Now, do we condone slavery? Absolutely not. But we do enjoy watching Tatum and Bell get super clingy as they traip across the countryside in what has to be the most romantic bro film of all time.

Relevance to Billy Elliot? Vague. But hear me out.

The film's based on Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth (1954), which ends with Marcus settling down as a farmer with Esca and a Briton wife named Cottia who doesn't appear in the film. Subsequent novels follow the father's ring as it's passed down Marcus's bloodline, meaning they shagged down to produce an heir but implying literally nothing else.

But imagine removing Marcus's wife from the equation altogether (all women, actually), adding 'submission' to the male bonding elements of your film, reprimanding disaster bisexual Channing Tatum for suggesting it's a romance, and then expecting a professional homosexual like me to believe this doesn't count as another gay Jamie Bell movie. That's all I'm saying.

Lastly, I want to talk about Elton John co-writing the musical, and Tom Holland as the most famous Billy. I want to talk about Spanish Billies Pau Gimeno and Cristian López acting together in Paraiso (2021-22). I want to talk about Kate Mara (married to Bell) as Patty Bowes in the first season of POSE (2018-21), and her sister Rooney as Therese Belivet in Carol (2015). I want to talk about so many things.

What would YOU want to write about this film?

[queercontent]

My pigeon griffin is my latest arrival at the Jonathon Bancroft-Snell Gallery for their “Life after Beal” Bealart (my high school art program) alumni show!

Currently available for $600cad.

Feel free to check out the link and drop them an email for inquiries! International shipping available.

If you're local stop on by when you have a chance and see if anything available for purchase catches your eye :)

[queercontent]

Easton and Ezra, where it all began.

[queercontent]

Popping on here after how many years (?) because I am unliving for the rise of gay ghost characters right now. Going to be working on a fun lil zine project covering undead queers in popular culture: DM me for details and/or contributions.

[queercontent]

CXC 2022: Keynote: Queer banned books roundtable, with MariNaomi, Trung Le Nguyen (Trungles) and Maia Kobabe

Over the past year, nearly 1,145 books have been the target of bans from schools, libraries, and bookshops across the U.S, an unprecedented number. And with their ability to tells stories through text and image, comics are right at the center with bans against graphic memoirs like Art Spiegelman’s Maus and Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer making national headlines. Often, books that tell stories about queerness, race, gender, and history are the target of bans, as is the case for Trung Le Nguyen’s The Magic Fish and MariNaomi’s Life on Earth series. As Kobabe pointed out, book banning often hurts the very groups who are the subject of these works. As e wrote in The Washington Post, “Removing or restricting queer books in libraries and schools is like cutting a lifeline for queer youth.” In this essential panel, Kobabe, Nguyen, and MariNaomi come together to discuss the impact of book banning and why comics are at the center of the discussion yet again. Together, they address cultivating creativity and community through comics during this divisive moment in history.

Guests Courtesy of Columbus College of Art & Design Recorded at Columbus College of Art & Design Video production by Nicolettecinemagraphics: https://www.nicolettecinemagraphics.com/ Part of Cartoon Crossroads Columbus - October 6-9, 202

[queercontent]

Regular and Recurring LGBTQIA+ Characters in series on TV & Streaming Video

These are characters who have first appeared or been revealed as LGBTQIA+ during the 2020/21 season, or whom I’ve recently learned about or whom I hadn’t mentioned in previous posts of this type (that is, on my old blog). Needless to say, this list is also highly arbitrary and incomplete.

AMC

Dispatches from Elsewhere

Simone (portrayed by Eve Lindley)

Soulmates

Mateo (portrayed by Bill Skarsgård)

Jonah (portrayed by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett)

The Walking Dead: World Beyond

Felix Carlucci (portrayed by Nico Tortorella)

Will Campbell (portrayed by Jelani Alladin)

Apple TV+

Little America

Rafiq (portrayed by Haaz Sleiman)

Zain (portrayed by Adam Ali)

Continuing the tradition from my old blog (which has been unceremoniously deleted by tumblr without much of an explanation why) I’m doing daily posts during June to celebrate LGBTQIA+ pride by showcasing openly LGBTQIA+ celebrities and various content about or created by LGBTQIA+ people such as music videos, characters on TV shows, movie trailers, ...

[queercontent]

“It’s okay. People laugh at my name.”

“No, no,” I said. “See, it’s just that my name’s Aristotle.”

[queercontent]

Ritchie Tozer - It’s a Sin

[queercontent]

aitchalberto - #arianddantemovie news coming in august.

[queercontent]

“He was kind, and strong, and vulnerable, and… beautiful”

[queercontent]

DAZED, MAR 2022 | #PUSSYVERSE EXHIB. HOLLY SILIUS x KOBE WAGSTAFF // “PHANTOM FEEL”

[queercontent]

Check out our Blackwater Discord!

Please check out our patreon for our second graphic novel project, Laid Out In Lavender!

Ren: Twitter / Tumblr / Instagram  || Jeannette: Twitter / Tumblr/ Instagram

[queercontent]

Phyllis Akua Opoku-Gyimah: cofounder and director of UK Black Pride, Europe's largest LGBTQI+ celebration for people of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Caribbean heritage.

[queercontent]

The Tenth Annual Mama Alto Christmas Special Presented by Mama Alto and the Australian Digital Concert Hall December 8, 8.30pm Online live stream & Live studio audience Jazz singer and cabaret artiste Mama Alto is delighted to present the Tenth Annual Mama Alto Christmas Special with Melbourne Digital Concert Hall. A beloved tradition, this Yuletide soiree of vintage holiday song fosters togetherness at a time when many can feel isolated - a silly season balm for the soul. Tickets to the live studio audience at the Athenaeum Theatre’s studio room: https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=823774 Tickets to the live stream: https://australiandigitalconcerthall.com/#/item/78988 We acknowledge this always was, always is and always will be Aboriginal land - this presentation takes place on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nations

[queercontent]

I created this pin design for Banned Books Box, a new subscription box which will be shipping banned books every month. “Gender Queer” will be one of two books featured in the December box. The box will also include one of my signed bookplate stickers, this enamel pin, information on the challenges against the books and one additional themed item. The deadline to sign up to get the December box is 12/12/2021. Find out more information at bannedbooksbox.com or @/bannedbooksbox in instagram. 

instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

[queercontent]

[queercontent]

May we all find an amazing love like Angel and Papi’s😭♥️