About the Book:

"Surrender Dorthy'' read the Wicked Witch's jet exhaust, leaving the startled Munchkins to wonder what the message meant. So you think you know all about film classics? Guess again.

Flaming Classics turns the heat up on the movies we love best. In his wicked readings of film favourites, Alexander Doty takes us to the queer side of criticism, offering fresh and controversial views of the stars, the plots, and the directors of our best loved and most iconic films. Arguing against the assumptions that only explicitly gay films are subject to gay readings, he revisits six classic "mainstream" films and reads them for their queer potential. With both affection and scholarly rigour, he shows us the lesbian rite-of-passage fantasy inherent in The Wizard of Oz in which Dorothy explores non-heteronormative possibilities of identity and being, the gay nightmare narrative of The Cabinet of Dr. Calagari, the bisexual erotics of Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, the queerness of Norman Bates, and even makes the argument about Citizen Kane's dying word, Rosebud (Who knew?).

A seasoned cultural critic with a personal voice, Alexander Doty writes with both scholars and fans in mind. This lively, opinionated, and playful look at the movies is a must-read for film buffs, and for anyone interested in gender, sexuality, and popular culture.

One thing's for sure. After reading Flaming Classics you'll know you're definitely not in Kansas anymore.

What people say:

"...peeks into new spaces with a sharp, funny eye to the tornado that continues to rage between marginalized queer cultures and mainstream cinema. What makes Flaming Classics so refreshing is not so much its innovative angle as its conversational edge. Instead of the autoerotic jargon that all too often excites film critics while leaving their audiences unsatisfied, Doty's intelligent, accessible analyses convert his discourse into a pleasurable intercourse between writers and readers of both academic and pop-culture texts." — Rain Taxi

"Flaming Classics by Alexander Doty turns up the temperature on gay currents in cinema from Caligari to Psycho." — Flaunt

"This year's many books that probe the sexual nature of film, film stars and filmmakers could stock a mini-library. Part of the entertaining group is Flaming Classics by Alexander Doty, who argues that 'The Wizard of Oz' is a lesbian fantasy – a notion that many 'friends of Dorothy' might passionately debate." — Publishers Weekly

"...Doty often takes a fresh approach to overexamined works." — Library Journal

About the Author:

Alexander Doty (1954-2012) was a pioneering queer film theorist. The Chair of the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University and a Professor in this Department and in the Department of Gender Studies, he taught film and mass culture and wrote on queer film theory and gay culture, including Hollywood stars and queer representation in film, television, and other popular entertainment media.