Gods and Monsters (A Queer Film Classic)

“This series will be a significant, valuable contribution to the history and literature of gay cinema. Each of these works will be valuable additions for academic and popular students of film and gay culture.”—Library Journal

Gods and Monsters, one of three inaugural titles in Arsenal Pulp Press' new film book series Queer Film Classics, deals with the acclaimed 1998 film about openly gay film director James Whale, best known for the Frankenstein films of the 1930s.

Written and directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls), Gods and Monsters stars Ian McKellen as Whale in the final days of his life during the 1950s. Moving from the slums of Britain in the early twentieth century to the new era of "talkies" in Hollywood and beyond, Gods and Monsters trains a gay eye on the historical events that helped shape Whale and his films. The result was widely acclaimed, winning an Oscar for Condon's screenplay and nominations for both McKellen and costar Lynn Redgrave.

This book examines Gods and Monsters from a variety of perspectives, highlighting the complexity and significance of its achievements, including its fusion of fantasy and biography. It also delves into a history of gay Hollywood during this era, including both its homophobic surface and its queer underpinnings.

Noah Tsika is a PhD candidate in Cinema Studies at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, and he is the author of numerous essays on film, television, and new media.

The Queer Film Classics series, starting this fall, consists of critical yet populist monographs on classic films of interest to LGBT audiences written by esteemed film scholars and critics.