film

theoretical positioning of the film

Milwaukee has a deep history of redlining, a term that emerged in the 1930s that describes discriminatory practices within loan and housing opportunities for minority populations (Foltman & Jones, 2019). Historic redlining has caused immense inequities within Milwaukee, and these echoes are still seen today. While not an explicit focus in this film, the historical context of the deep segregation of Milwaukee is important in the storytelling.

Decolonization and queer theory provide the theoretical framework of this film. Queer theory works to deconstruct compulsory heterosexuality (Butler, 1990; Segwick, 1994). It emerged in the early 1990s from earlier works of Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, and Eve Sedgewick, whose work deals with sexuality and gender. Stewart (2017) says, “Queer theory and politics necessarily celebrate transgression in the form of visible difference from norms. These 'Norms' are then exposed to be norms, not natures or inevitabilities. Gender and sexual identities are seen, in much of this work, to be demonstrably defiant definitions and configurations” (p. 62). To be queer inherently is to be a direct departure from the dominate culture of heterosexuality and heteronormative thought.

Queer theory, rather than theories explicitly involving “homosexual,” “gay,” or “lesbian” thought, which are defined by particular identities that can be analyzed sociologically, is defined in relation to mental models that have meaning only in their shared contrast to dominant ideology (Stewart, 2017). Rather than being limited by the binary thinking of heterosexuality/homosexuality, Sedgewick (1994) says, “‘Queer’ can refer to: the open mesh of possibilities, gaps, overlaps, dissonances and resonances, lapses and excesses of meaning when the constituent elements of anyone’s gender, or anyone’s sexuality aren’t made (or can’t be made) to signify monolithically” (p. 8). Queer theory challenges the homo/heterosexual binary that stabilizes and naturalizes heterosexuality. Queer scholars find the cracks in existing systems and expose new sites of resistance and ways of being. It is within these meshes of possibilities that creative expression often lives, and is thus the main theoretical anchor within this film.

Decolonization helps expand queer theory and offers interesting and exciting connections to the physical space of Milwaukee. Decolonization and post-colonial studies call to move beyond sexuality to an intersectional lens of race, gender, class, ability, nation, and the sex/body – e.g. merging postcolonial and queer studies (Asante & Hanchey, 2021). Decolonization, at its core, is the undoing of colonialism, which is the exertion of power from an imperial nation onto another nation to form colonies (Betts, 2012). Decolonization scholars explore decoloniality through analyses of power and knowledge (Tuhiwai Smith, 2013). Decolonization critiques Western worldviews that promote systems of individualism and capitalism. With a focus on community-centric creative projects, this film utilizes decolonization and post-colonial framing.