Images for a Generation Doomed

Over the past two decades, independent director Gregg Araki has emerged as one of the most intriguing auteurs of contemporary U.S. cinema. A leading figure of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early 1990s, Araki is known for his innovative, eye-opening, and at-times-controversial films aimed primarily at queer audiences. Images for a Generation Doomed: The Films and Career of Gregg Araki explores the films and career trajectory to date of this New Queer Cinema pioneer. Offering in-depth analyses of films such as The Living End, Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, Nowhere, and Splendor, Kylo-Patrick R. Hart demonstrates how, over the course of the 1990s, the director's cinematic offerings became increasingly devoid of their early subversive potential. Hart goes on to argue that as the 1990s progressed, Araki's films were largely irrelevant to the cultural project of providing groundbreaking on-screen representations of non-heterosexual individuals living in the age of AIDS. However, Hart sees Mysterious Skin as evidence of Araki's successful attempt at reestablishing his cinematic and cultural relevancy in relation to the approaches and subject matter of contemporary queer cinema in the new millennium.

Provides a succint overview of the controversial so-called new queer director....Well-documented study....Helpful reading for any film course.... Recommended., Kylo-Patrick Hart’s impassioned and insightful exploration of controversial auteur Gregg Araki is another laudatory achievement for this award-winning scholar. By combining his years of teaching auteur studies with an immense knowledge of Araki’s work, Hart raises thought provoking questions about the director’s career trajectory and places him within the context of the New Queer Cinema. The author’s unique approach to his subject is what makes this treatise unique. His integrative study of Araki's film grammar, unique storytelling devices, problematic sexual politics, and fan reception are arranged within the chronological arch of the director’s oeuvre. Images for a Generation Doomed will be a welcome addition both to film libraries and to college and graduate courses in media and cultural studies. It truly is an unforgettable book about an unforgettable director.

Kylo-Patrick R. Hart is associate professor and chair of the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media at Texas Christian University.