Arts :: Movies And Tv
Post-Queer Theory by Scott Kearnan
Arts EditorThursday Mar 12, 2009post • queer post-kweer adjective 1. Pertaining to attitudes or beliefs that issues of sexuality and gender expression are, or should, no longer be a source of controversy, scandal, or you know, major drama. 2. A term used by the creative team behind Is that Yours? to describe their original comedy series making its debut at Club Café on Saturday, March 14 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. 3. Like, what?
If you missed the above definition in your Queer Theory 101 textbook, you’re forgiven.
"We’re kind of coining the phrase," says Anne Continelli, "I can’t wait until it’s on Wikipedia!"
Okay, Continelli may not have invented the term - it floats around academically, if not with the same vigor as hyphenated phenomena like "post-feminism" - but she and business partner Deb Malone are inventing a comedy series (Is That Yours?) that the two filmmakers hope will bring big laughs all the way to LOGO. And if it introduces a new term to your vernacular, all the better.
"One of the issues I have with gay and lesbian representation in film and television is that all of it is still ’the angst filled coming out story,’" says Continelli, contrasting those weepers to the "post-queer" approach of Is That Yours? "That makes sense when you consider ... that gays and lesbians have struggled so long for acceptance and their art is going to reflect that. But we have decided to change society through life imitating art, and create a series that includes queer, straight, tranny ... and there are no explanations."
In other words, don’t expect Very Special Episodes of Is That Yours? As the series follows the always hilarious, (often inebriated) misadventures of a quartet of women, there will be plenty of LGBT representation and humor: two of the lead characters are a lesbian couple, and another will do a little experimenting. But in the show’s reality, issues of sexual identity are presented with a blasé nonchalance that avoids overshadowing the universal humor (laughs in the vein of Ab Fab and Seinfeld) and speaks to a generation raised outside the closet. In other words, being LGBT is no big deal in Is That Yours?, a marked departure from other examples of gay entertainment like The L Word and Queer as Folk, television shows where being gay was largely the point.
"I think if you ask most people who they have in their circle of friends, it’s inclusive," says Continelli. "They have gay friends, straight friends... and everyone gets along."
Continelli and Malone, who together run their own independent film company 20 American Dollars, certainly reflect that integrationist spirit in their own lives: Continelli identifies as queer, Malone as straight, and their work generally incorporates LGBT characters and queer sensibilities. As self-described "theater geeks," they say that they have always felt "more at ease in the gay community than anywhere else," according to Malone.
"For me it goes back to when I was six years old," recalls Malone of her affinity toward the LGBT community. "My dad loves P-Town and we used to go every summer. I was standing outside Governor Bradford’s, and I [saw a drag queen] and said, ’Daddy, that’s a man. ... He’s pretty!’"
"I think if you ask most people who they have in their circle of friends, it’s inclusive," says Continelli. "They have gay friends, straight friends... and everyone gets along." "Today, when my dad tells me, ’All the men in your life are gay!’ I say, ’It’s your fault, you took me to P-Town.’"
Continelli and Malone have their own gender war to wage, too: establishing female comedy writers in a male dominated industry.
"It’s time for someone besides Tina Fey, as much as we love her," says Malone. She and Continelli say they have confronted numerous glass ceilings in trying to secure funding for their work, and not just from the cinematic patriarchy.
"Even when we were trying to get grants from women’s groups ... nobody wanted anything to do with us," says Malone.
"If we were doing a piece on female genital mutilation, we would get funding," adds Continelli. "But we wanted to do comedy. We’re still women filmmakers, writers and directors, but there was no funding for us. ... There’s still a pervasive attitude that women can’t write good comedy."
Is That Yours? emerged as a submission to The 48 Hour Film Project in 2008, where it won an Audience Choice Award and made the festival’s Best of Boston DVD. The success inspired its team to write several more installments of the series, four of which will screen during its Club Café premiere party. The screening will also be videotaped, surveys will be distributed, and a Q&A session will follow - all of which will help Continelli and Malone pitch the show to the LOGO network.
"The media hasn’t yet caught up," says Continelli of how LGBT characters continue to be presented as a novelty, sometimes even on gay networks. She and Malone believe that sometimes too much attention to gay issues can be counterproductive and, even if unintentionally, highlight people’s differences rather than their commonalities.
"On some level, I think it does send a message to society, still, that gays are different, and it’s all not normal," says Continelli.
20 American Dollars will screen the four-episode premiere of Is That Yours? on Saturday, Mar. 14 at Club Café (209 Columbus Ave., Boston). Shows at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Free admission, plus drink ticket and hors d’oeuvres. For more info or to preview the pilot episode, visit isthatyours.com. For more on Anne Continelli and Deb Malone, visit 20americandollars.com.
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