Part of the important work of Queer and Women’s Studies departments is unearthing and reclaiming the queer content, characters and themes of works of art and artists from the boring, un-fabulous relics of straightness. Some of these artists/works have included Virginia Woolf, Oscar Wilde, Julius Caesar, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, King James I, Ernest Hemingway, Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, and pretty much every book and movie about vampires in existence. But the most revered and queered of all is my second favorite bisexual celebrity, William Shakespeare, coming in just behind Tila Tequila. Never has an artist’s work undergone so many costume changes as Shakespeare’s. Indeed, his work has been re-appropriated by countless generations for hundreds of years to suit their own image and cultural relevance.
The most recent example of this remodeling imagines what would’ve happened to Shakespeare’s heroines if only they had had a sassy gay friend around to counsel them.
I love this. Especially the, “Bitch, you took a roofie from a priest!” line.
And while we’re on this theme, watch the That’s Gay video on figure skater Johnny Weir. Just for fun. Happy Humpday, bitchez!