LGBT 599: Queer Stars and Celebrities
Spring 2016
Wed 3:30-6:10pm
Lapham 253
Instructor: Bridget Kies
Email: bkies@uwm.edu
Phone: 773-344-5140
Course Description
What is the significance of the celebrity in culture? Celebrities often serve as tastemakers and
role models, adopting certain codes of dress and behaviors before the general public; they are
granted a position above or outside the rest of the population, but often the general population
follows their lead. For this reason, it has been written that the study of the celebrity is an
“illuminating lens through which to view the most significant cultural shifts” (The Hedgehog
Review 2005). Elsewhere, it has been written that the celebrity presents “the active construction
of identity in the social world” (Marshall 1997) – a claim not unlike claims about the constructed
nature of gender and sexuality taken up by queer theory and gender studies.
The case of the queer celebrity is particularly revealing of ideological shifts and changes to the
construction of identity. This course uses examples of queer celebrities from 1900-present as
models for understanding how the performance and embodiment of sexualities and gender
identities have been accepted, vilified, or transformed over the twentieth century. We will begin
our survey with Oscar Wilde, whose life brought attention to dandyism and whose death in 1900
marked the new century as one in which the visibility and punishment of queer identities was
changing. We conclude in the era of social media, which has changed celebrity’s relationship to
the public and, in turn, has changed celebrity performances of sexualities and identities.
In order to make sense of our example celebrities, we will take an interdisciplinary approach.
We will draw upon critical writings in various disciplines, such as media studies, celebrity
studies, Marxist theory, queer theory, and gender studies. We will also look at those films and
books that made certain celebrities popular in the first place. Class activities may also include
listening to music, watching music videos and interviews, and reviewing social media profiles.
Some questions we will consider:
 How do queer celebrities become famous? What tensions are there between the
performance of their queerness and their public reception?
 How do other celebrities become understood as queer? What is it about their work, their
public images, or their exposed private lives that leads us to interpret queerness?
 What is the difference between public persona and private person? How does society aid
or impede the expression of sexuality and gender for the public persona?
 To what extent has celebrity adoration resulted in changes to popular conventions for
sexuality and gender, especially queerness? What about celebrity bashing?
 How do we understand our interactions with celebrities, before and during the era of
social media?
Course Texts
Most readings will be posted to D2L as PDFs. You will be asked to obtain copies of the
following two texts, which we will read in their entirety:
Kaufman, Moises. Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde (Acting Edition). New
York: Dramatists Play Service, 1999. ISBN-13: 978-0822216490.
Kaufman, Moises. The Laramie Project (Acting Edition). New York: Dramatists Play Service,
2001. ISBN-13: 978-0822217800.
Course Schedule
Each week, we will study a different star or celebrity as we move through the twentieth century.
We will study Oscar Wilde, Langston Hughes and jazz divas of the 1920s, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Judy Garland, Andy Warhol,
David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, Adam Lambert, Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris, and Lady
Gaga.
The list of readings and celebrities may vary as the syllabus is finalized or as class interest
warrants.