.
"The thing that’s been a huge influence — probably somebody has done a dissertation — is the impact photographers like Bruce Weber had on our culture and on gay culture. The Living End [is] so Bruce Weber-y, in terms of male objectification. I don’t think about it when I’m writing, but that icon of the hunky straight guy, the kind of Abercrombie guy, is just part of my consciousness. That’s one thing about the show, we can subvert it or play with that stereotype. And that’s why I love the Beau character so much — I actually wrote that part with Beau in mind — because he’s so that icon but so not that icon. He’s this rugged, corn-fed all-American guy, but inside, his character is basically a needy girl. He’s the emotional one. He cries a lot. It was so fun with that character, to be able to play around with the trope of all-American masculinity.
It was very important to me to have a lot of people of color in the show and that whole Bruce Weber-y aesthetic, which is a huge influence on me, but also to be able to react to it. And so, the objectification of that symbol. But at the same time, all of the guys of color are equally objectified. The idea of questioning the whole notion of objectification, particularly queer objectification."
-- Vulture is killing it this week with their interviews, chatting with Gregg Araki today while yesterday it was Catherine O'Hara -- I had to check and see if it was Gay Pride Month or something because I feel catered to. Anyway the above is Araki talking specifically about his wonderful new show Now Apocalypse (y'all are watching, right?) but the chat goes all over his career touching on a lot of his early stuff and its spot in the New Queer Cinema movement of the time and what it was like being a young person in the 80s and 90s opposite the AIDS crisis -- s'good, go read it. (thx Mac)
.