1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«[T]his thesis seeks to explore the presence of kinship in queer urban [american] communities in the period from the 1970s to the 1990s.» (p. iii)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«In order to demonstrate the diversity of the queer “family,” this study engages with three major filmic case studies –The Boys in the Band (dir. William Friedkin, 1970), Parting Glances (dir. Bill Sherwood, 1986) and Paris Is Burning (dir. Jennie Livingston, 1990).» (p. iii)

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

«The queer “family,” in its state of in-betweenness, is a productive space of empowerment where the American Dream and the American reality are negotiated. As I have demonstrated, it is marked by such processes as parrhesia, caregiving and transference of one mode of living and thinking onto another. In this space, members of the “family” engage in caregiving, resentment, physical and emotional intimacy, and competition. Most importantly, “family” is a site where trauma is negotiated through reenactment and fantasy, engaging with cultural master narratives and situating itself within these parameters through appropriation, pastiche and parody. As the legal and social status of queer people changed, so has the conception of family. The dynamics of the “family,” fluid and prone to change due to its members’ location on the margins of society, began to normalize as the margin inched toward the center.» (p. 66)