Pride month is here, and summer is close behind! Such a blessed collaboration deserves its own watchlist. As burned out as I am, I have a feeling it’s going to take a lot of media consumption to recover from this quarter. If you’re looking for suggestions on how to distract your frontal lobe while it recharges post-finals, you’re in the right place! Here are some of my recent favorites in queer media, ft. summer vibes.
Movies
6. I Care A Lot (2020, Netflix) – first of all, don’t watch this one if you have elderly loved ones in hospice. It’s a dark comedy (and a provocative thriller) that truly characterizes the Morally Gray ‘Good For Her’ Cinematic Universe. The ‘her’ in question is Rosamund Pike’s Marla, a top with politician energy and the largest vape I’ve ever seen. Anyway. She has a Bonnie/Clyde thing with her girlfriend Fran (Eiza Gonzalez) and together they scam old folks and get involved with some dodgy people.
5. Mulholland Drive (2001, Prime) – David Lynch’s magnum opus, in my fanatic opinion. A dreamy Los Angeles adventure that begins and ends with Naomi Watts’s gay hubris. I can’t say much about this movie because it’s both easy to spoil and incredibly abstract, but Rita and Betty’s hypnotic tension is perfect for a mysterious summer night.
4. Alex Strangelove (2018, Netflix) – this movie did what Love, Simon was supposed to do and it doesn’t get enough attention for that. Another high school identity crisis comedy, but the characters are more lovable and the execution is more creative: Alex and his long-term girlfriend have long-standing plans to take each other’s virginity, but he’s reluctant. Then he meets a guy, and it explains a lot.
3. Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019, Hulu) – token lesbian period drama. Something about standing at the edge of a sea-cliff in a crinoline dress screams feral girl summer to me. A curious artist and her troubled muse ignite a soulful romance in eighteenth century France; the cinematography is beautiful and profound and will make you forget that you failed your accounting final. Do all lovers feel like they’re inventing something? Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!
2. But I’m A Cheerleader (1999, YouTube) – a feel-good cult classic that brings new meaning to conversion camp. This movie puts a queer twist on the y2k romcom genre with a smirk and a wink, delivering teen lesbians, a killer soundtrack, and genuine laughs.
1. Call Me By Your Name (2018, Prime) – If you haven’t seen this one yet, drop whatever you’re doing. A teenage boy (Timotheé Chalamet) and his anthropologist dad’s summer intern (Armie Hammer…) have big fat crushes on each other. Set in Italy in the 80s, but homophobia is a peripheral factor; it’s really just a fluttery depiction of two gorgeous people with agonizingly poignant chemistry. This movie is like a live-action Ghibli film (but much less family-friendly) and it belongs in a museum.
Shows
4. Feel Good (2020-2021, Netflix) – Mae Martin’s semi-autobiographical adventures as an ex-cokehead comedian. This one is so bingeable – Mae’s whirlwind romance with their girlfriend George will have you yelling at the screen. It’s fast-paced and clever, exploring gender dysphoria as a masterful sub-plot.
3. Gentleman Jack (2019-present, HBO) – Suranne Jones stars as Regency-era British lesbian Anne Lister. She’s seductive and relentless and she narrates like Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Fleabag. She’s so iconic that BBC is actually making a documentary called Gentleman Jack Changed My Life. Part of the show’s genius is its attention to detail; if you think the only thing missing from Bridgerton was queer representation, Gentleman Jack will definitely change your life.
2. The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020, Netflix) – a Mike Flanagan horror miniseries with a queer love story at its chilling center. Dani and Jamie are painfully soft. The setting is luxurious: a centuries-old estate in the British countryside during the 80s. Cottagecore lesbians and ghosts…what more can I say…
1. Our Flag Means Death (2022-present, HBO) – produced by the legendary Taika Waititi, who plays Blackbeard. This show is bursting with representation, including a nonbinary BAMF and multiple sets of gay pirates. You have to push through the first few episodes, but after that it’s hyperfixation mode. And it just got renewed for a second season!
Honorable Mentions
ALBUM: Preacher’s Daughter (2022) – Trans dreampop musician Hayden Anhedönia’s witchy alterego Ethel Cain tells a hypnotic story about the dark side of the American Dream in thirteen sexy, spooky songs. She shapes an addictive and genre-bending aesthetic out of the religious trauma from her Southern fundamentalist background. I already have plans with my hometown girlfriends to drive out to the woods off the freeway in the middle of the night, because that’s the kind of backdrop this album deserves.
BOOK: The Song of Achilles (2011) – Madeline Miller’s debut novel reframes Homer’s Iliad from the evocative perspective of Patroclus, Achilles’s slow-burn soulmate. This book shatters me; the writing is magically immersive and the author somehow manages to surprise you even while following the plot of an ancient classic. I’ll read it every summer until I die.
Wishing everyone a summer of fresh air and authenticity.