title: A queer anxiety: assimilation politics and cinematic hedonics in Relax . . . It's Just Sex.
abstract: This essay explores the commodification of queer identities in independent cinema, offering particular attention to P. J. Castellaneta's 1998 film, Relax . . . It's Just Sex. Like many contemporary queer independent productions, Relax is ensnared in a representational cinematic hedonics, aspiring to sustain a traditional gay and lesbian politics and simultaneously produce pleasure for multiple audiences. While Relax attempts to position itself as a queer film that resists normative conceptions of sexuality, the feature inadvertently appropriates more essentialized understandings of identity closely aligned to liberation rhetoric.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication, 1040 One Park Place, georgia State University, Atlanta, GA 30302, USA. jefabenn@alumni.indiana.edu
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bennett
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality; D018452:Homosexuality, Female; D018451:Homosexuality, Male; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009040:Motion Pictures; D011057:Politics