Queering Teen Culture: All-American Boys and Same-Sex Desire in Film and Television

Is the overwhelming boy-meets-girl content of popular teen movies, music, books, and TV just a cover for an undercurrent of same-sex desire? From the 1950s to the present, popular culture has involved teenage boys falling for, longing over, dreaming about, singing to, and fighting over, teenage girls. "Queering Teen Culture" analyses more than 200 movies and TV shows to uncover who Frankie Avalon's character was really in love with in those beach movies, and why Leif Garrett became a teen idol in the 1970s. In top 40 songs, teen magazines, movies, TV soap operas and sitcoms, teenagers are defined by their pubescent "discovery" of the opposite sex, universally and without exception. "Queering Teen Culture" looks beyond the litany to find out when adults became so insistent about teenage sexual desire - and why - and finds evidence of same-sex desire, romantic interactions, and identities that, according to the dominant ideology, do not and cannot exist. This provocative book examines the careers of male performers whose teenage roles made them famous (including Ricky Nelson, Pat Boone, Fabian, and James Darren) and discusses examples of lesbian desire (including "I Love Lucy" and "Lavern and Shirley"). "Queering Teen Culture" is an essential read for academics working in cultural and gay studies, and for anyone else with an interest in popular culture.