Gay Zombies: Consuming Masculinity and Community in La Bruce's Otto; or Up With Dead People and LA Zombie

Citation

Elliott-Smith D (2014) Gay Zombies: Consuming Masculinity and Community in La Bruce's Otto; or Up With Dead People and LA Zombie. In: McGlotten S & Jones S (eds.) Zombies and Sexuality: Essays on Desire and the Living Dead. Contributions to Zombie Studies. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland and Co Press, pp. 140-158. https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/zombies-and-sexuality/

Abstract
This chapter offers an analysis of La Bruce's genre-rotting/defying queer zombie films, and their protagonists as allegories for the 'lived' embodiment of queer isolation within supposedly egalitarian marginalised subcultures. If one doesn't fit in with the sub-culture, where does one find one's own identity? The zombie here becomes the metaphor for sub-cultural alienation and a satirical comment on the 'dead-ness' of some gay subcultures. It also extends to an elegiac treatise on the impact of isolation vs. 'fitting in' on the mental health of LGBTQ+ subjects.

Keywords
Queer; Horror; Horror Film; LGBTQ+ studies; Queer Studies; Zombie Studies

People

Dr Darren Elliott-Smith

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