Turning the Page

Storytelling as Activism in Queer Film and Media

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by David R. Coon

Type: Studies
Subject: Technique > Scriptwriting
Keywords: scriptwriting, queer
Publishing date: 2018
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 224 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-0-8135-9369-2

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Book Presentation:
First runner-up for the 2019 John Leo and Dana Heller Award from the Popular Culture Association

Surprisingly, Hollywood is still clumsily grappling with its representation of sexual minorities, and LGBTQ filmmakers struggle to find a place in the mainstream movie industry. However, organizations outside the mainstream are making a difference, helping to produce and distribute authentic stories that are both by and for LGBTQ people.

Turning the Page introduces readers to three nonprofit organizations that, in very different ways, have each positively transformed the queer media landscape. David R. Coon takes readers inside In the Life Media, whose groundbreaking documentaries on the LGBTQ experience aired for over twenty years on public television stations nationwide. Coon reveals the successes of POWER UP, a nonprofit production company dedicated to mentoring filmmakers who can turn queer stories into fully realized features and short films. Finally, he turns to Three Dollar Bill Cinema, an organization whose film festivals help queer media find an audience and whose filmmaking camps for LGBTQ youth are nurturing the next generation of queer cinema.

Combining a close analysis of specific films and video programs with extensive interviews of industry professionals, Turning the Page demonstrates how queer storytelling in visual media has the potential to empower individuals, strengthen communities, and motivate social justice activism.

About the Author:
DAVID R. COON is an associate professor of media studies at the University of Washington Tacoma. He is the author of Look Closer: Suburban Narratives and American Values in Film and Television (Rutgers University Press).

Press Reviews:
"Coon offers well-developed, insightful analyses of specific media texts that have received little if no critical attention by queer scholars. In writing Turning the Page, Coon blazes a new trail in queer media studies."
— Stephen Tropiano

"Pg. 99: David R. Coon's 'Turning the Page'" feature reposted on Campaign for the American Reader by Marshal Zeringue

— Campaign for the American Reader

"David R. Coon's 'Turning the Page' Page 99 Test," by Marshal Zeringue
— The 99 Page Test

"An impressive work of original and seminal scholarship...Turning the Page is unreservedly recommended for community and academic library LGBTQ Studies, Film/Media Studies, and Gender Studies collections."
— Midwest Book Review

"What Are Writers Reading" spotlight with David R. Coon by Marshal Zeringue
— Writers Read

"Coon is a fine companion to Between the Sheets, In the Streets: Queer, Lesbian, Gay Documentary."
— Choice

"In the Life collection of the UCLA Film and Television Archive essay from Turning the Page," by David R. Coon
https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/inthelife/history/life-and-archive-20-years-facts-and-feelings
— In the Life - UCLA Film and Television Archive

"Coon compels readers to consider the radical, democratizing potentialities of film, television, and other forms of visual media in representing queer experiences and perspectives."
— JHistory (H-Net)

"Turning the Page offers readers a concise exploration of film and television as sites for LGBTQ advocacy and activism. He exposes them to a wide array of theoretical debates and methodological frameworks in the fields of queer history and media studies. He demonstrates how they are increasingly formative to the queer experience as sites of community building and knowledge production."
— H-Net