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Book Chapter

"Go be gay for that poor, dead intern": Conversion Fantasies and Gay Anxieties in Supernatural

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Citation

Elliott-Smith D (2011) "Go be gay for that poor, dead intern": Conversion Fantasies and Gay Anxieties in Supernatural. In: TV Goes to Hell: An Unofficial Road Map of Supernatural, Abbott, Stacey and Lavery, David (Eds). Canada: ECW Press, pp. 105-118. https://ecwpress.com/products/tv-goes-to-hell?_pos=1&_sid=45e317005&_ss=r

Abstract
Academic writing about Supernatural¡¯s appeal to queer spectators has largely dwelled on the cult series¡¯ Gothic milieu and mise-en-scene. Further still, its knowing treatments of the homoerotic relationship between its two attractive males leads, the demon-hunting Winchester brothers Sam and Dean, clearly offers up their fraternal love for queer appropriation and fantasy. Most critical analyses of Supernatural¡¯s ¡®queerness¡¯ seem to focus on Sam and Dean in particularand the scenes in which their traditional heterosexual masculinity is questioned, queered and marginalizes. A more informed understanding of the show¡¯s appear for gay male spectators might be served by studying the show¡¯s representation of explicity gay male characters. I argue in this chapter, via a study of two episodes (The Real Ghostbusters, and Ghostfacers) that the shows appeal for gay men particularly lies in a disidentification with the show¡¯s hypermasculine protagonists, revealing a simultaneouls desire to be with (to bed) and eventually to be like Sam or Dean in a collapse of identification and desire.

Keywords
TV Studies, Cult TV, Horror TV, LGBTQ Studies, Queer Horror, Genre Studies, Film Studies

StatusPublished
FundersUniversity of Hertfordshire
Publication date31/12/2011
Publication date online31/10/2011
URL
PublisherECW Press
Publisher URL
Place of publicationCanada
ISBN9781770410206

People (1)

Dr Darren Elliott-Smith

Dr Darren Elliott-Smith

Senior Lecturer in Film & Gender Studies, Communications, Media and Culture

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