Harry Benshoff

Harry M. Benshoff is an associate professor of TV, film and radio at the University of North Texas (UNT).[1]

He is the author of Monsters in the Closet, which deals with the portrayal of gay men in American horror and science fiction films, with the creation of what Benshoff calls the "monster queer" identity, which Benshoff posits as a counter-hegemonic identity to the heterosexual status quo.[2][3][4][5] In this work, he argues that the films of Val Lewton in the 1940s, such as Cat People, reflected "a growing awareness of homosexuality, homosexual communities, and the dynamics of homosexual oppression as it was played out in society and the military" during that era, which led to a more nuanced depiction of monsters in films of that era.[6] In 2022, he was interviewed for Queer for Fear, a 2022 documentary on LGBTQ representation in horror films.[7]

He has also written books about the blaxploitation and the presentation of race in American horror films.[1]

  1. ^ a b Goldberg, Stephanie (28 March 2012). "'Hunger Games' and Hollywood's racial casting issue". CNN.
  2. ^ Brownlee, Peter (1999). "Review of The Panorama: History of a Mass Medium". American Studies International. 37 (2): 116–118. ISSN 0883-105X.
  3. ^ Tipton, Nathan (1998). "Harry M. Benshoff's MONSTERS IN THE CLOSET: HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE HORROR FILM". Cultural Logic: A Journal of Marxist Theory & Practice. 3. doi:10.14288/clogic.v3i0.192695. ISSN 1097-3087.
  4. ^ Latham, Rob (1998). "Phallic Mothers and Monster Queers". Science Fiction Studies. 25 (1): 87–101. ISSN 0091-7729.
  5. ^ Scales, Adam Christopher (2015). "Logging into Horror's Closet: Gay Fans, the Horror Film and Online Culture" (PDF). School of Art, Media and American Studies. University of East Anglia.
  6. ^ Benshoff 1997, p. 88. Quoted in Crucchiola, Jordan (26 June 2018). "55 Essential Queer Horror Films". Vulture. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  7. ^ Nahmod, David-Elijah (October 25, 2022). "'Queer for Fear' - new docuseries tells the history of LGBT horror films". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 30 December 2023.