Hello!

Welcome to my Queer Literature website, I’ve attempted to dedicate this space to three different
artistic formats at analyzing Queer theory/Queer History. Personally, as I identify as a straight,
white, cis-male, a huge focus of mine is to be open minded and create a safe community of
acceptance. I think as a person that has been given a cultural privilege of my identity, that it is
very important to use that privilege to advocate and be an ally to any oppressed identities. With
that being said, a large focus of each of these projects is Intersectionality. Viewing and
identifying the numerous aspects of a persons identity rather than just one single aspect of
themselves. The three project you will find on this site are the following: A short film regarding
the life and career of Harvey Milk, A mulit-modal essay regarding the film Moonlight and a
Queer zine that focuses on queerness and anxiety. I would also like to share a little bit about each
project in the following paragraphs.
Short Film: This short was one that my good friend Ben Bolton and myself came together to
collaborate on. With being assigned to create a timeline, I had an inspiration on how to create a
filmed one, after having just recently watch the film 1917. In that film, the director and
cinematographer use clever filming techniques to make the entire film seem as if it was one
continuous shot. I thought to myself, that if I could potentially replicate that, I could use that
strategy to film four or five separate instances or moments in Milk’s life and make it seem like it
is all happening in one solid motion. I felt the one-take idea fit the concept of life and how there
are no stops to it, so Ben and I got together and used small traffic cones and measured distances
to make sure our shots were precise. The content itself of the short filmed, aimed to capture the
intersectionality of Milk as being a gay man but also as a passionate politician. With the first few
shots focusing on his identity and then the rest on how he incorporated that identity into his
policies and goals in office.
Multi-Modal Essay: The essay on Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight is a conventual method of analysis
that focuses on how Jenkins shows intersectionality through narrative and cinematography. The
multi-modal aspect is crucial as Jenkins has a wide pallet of calm and vibrant colors to challenge
the sense of masculinity that is argued in the film’s narrative. Each photo in the essay shows
either a capture of the actor’s emotions or a significant moment in the film overall. I felt that just
writing an essay about the films cinematography would be an injustice to the film. As the
beautiful images would be way less effective if I just attempted to describe them to an audience
instead of just showing them. Also like this artwork in the film, each image can be up to the
viewers interpretation of how to feel about it, often there is shown an emotional person with a
contrasting beautiful backdrop, could have different effects on different people.
Zine: With the Zine, after having some issue creating my original vision for it, I came to a
conclusion on how to present the work. The narrative of the zine is inspired by an experience I
had in which a close friend of mine was admitting he had feelings for me, and I became really
flustered in how to respond, simply because of my anxiety. At the time, I felt that whatever I
would say would come off as bigoted or slandering, and it was something that really took a lot of
thought on how to approach. The text message images are to reflect the situation itself and some
of the hypotheticals I could’ve said, then the pieces of paper are meant to reflect the anxiety I felt
at the time. So as the zine progresses the pages become more and more crumbled and torn, as I
felt more and more anxious about not knowing what to say. I also tried to have this piece reflect
being an ally, because the main concern for all the stress is a fear of coming off as rude or
unsupportive to a queer person’s identity.
What all of these projects made me realize is that having a queer identity is a very open term.
Queer is used as an umbrella term and these projects made me realize just how broad their
identities can be. From Milk’s life as a gay man and politician in a very homophobic time to
Jenkin’s visual metaphors of masculinity in queer, black men and then the complexities of
queerness and mental health. I truly hope these project reflect my personal values of being an
ally, and I hope they provide an interesting presentation on the topic they’re discussing.
Thank you, and I hope you enjoy!