Hiding homoeroticism in plain view: the Fight Club DVD as digital closet
Authors:
Robert Alan Brookey a;
Robert Westerfelhaus b
| Affiliations: | a Hugh Downs School of Human at Arizona State University. |
| b Department of Arts and Humanities at the University of Houston-Downtown. |
DOI:
10.1080/07393180216555
Publication Frequency:
5 issues per year
Published in:
Critical Studies in Media Communication,
Volume
19,
Issue
1
March
2002
, pages 21
- 43
Subjects:
Critical Thinking;
Mass Media & Communication;
Formats available:
PDF
(English)
Previously published as:
Critical Studies in Mass Communication
(0739-3180)
until 1999
View Article:
View Article (PDF)
Abstract
The DVD format has emerged as the dominant digital means of repackaging films for home consumption. In this essay, we theorize this new viewing experience and identify some of the challenges it poses for the media critic. We argue that the additional material DVDs typically offer, coupled with the format's interactivity, constitute a rhetorically powerful means of directing the consumer's viewing experience and protecting the commercial viability of the product. To illustrate, we offer a critical analysis of the DVD release of the controversial film Fight Club . Our analysis suggests that Fight Club 's DVD "extra text" dissuades the viewer from acknowledging the film's homoerotic elements as representing homosexual experience.
|
| view citations (5) |

Download Citation
CiteULike
Del.icio.us
BibSonomy
Connotea