Now You See It

"Now You See It", Richard Dyer's study of films by and about lesbians and gay men, has been revised for a second edition, and features an introduction by Juliane Pidduck outlining developments in lesbian and gay cinema since 1990. "Now You See It" examines familiar titles such as "Girls in Uniform", "Un Chant D'Amour" and "Word Is Out" in their lesbian/gay context as well as bringing to light many other forgotten but remarkable films. Each film is examined in detail in relation to both film type and tradition and the sexual subculture in which it was made. "Now You See It" is also a case study in the dynamics of lesbian/gay cultural production. These films were formed from the filmic and sub-cultural images, assumptions and styles available to lesbians and gay men which both made the films possible and delimited the forms they could take and what they could say. Such processes of formation and deformation characterize all cultural production, but they carry a special charge for lesbians and gay men seeking both to break free from and be heard in the languages of a homophobic society.