Queer Bedfellows: Cocteau, Genet, Fassbinder, and the Art of Camp

Date

2021-05

Authors

Vickers, Justin

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Abstract

This article considers camp and the ways it manifests in the films of Jean Cocteau, Jean Genet, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. It focuses on the use of camp as one form of queer expression in film. The article argues that the camp that arises in these films orients a new reading of them through a queer lens and expresses the personal, social, and political views of the directors who created them. It uncovers that Cocteau’s camp manifests as visual love letters to his starring actor as well as a commentary upon the state of the homosexual in society; that Genet’s camp considers homoeroticism and its place within same-sex romance; and Fassbinder’s camp embraces the idea of angst and melancholy as an essential part of queer existence. Ultimately, this article attempts to establish a new definition of camp that focuses upon the purposes it can serve as a form of queer expression.

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camp, queer studies, film studies, Cocteau, Jean, Genet, Jean, Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, French film, German film, LGBT film, Honors College

Citation

Vickers, J. (2021). Queer bedfellows: Cocteau, Genet, Fassbinder, and the art of camp (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

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