(Homo)normativity's romance: happiness and indigestion in Andrew Haigh's Weekend

^1. Following Puar (Citation2007), Berlant (Citation2011) and Massumi (Citation2002) (amongst others), I use ‘affect’ and ‘emotion’ as separate, though interrelated, concepts: whereas ‘affect’ is bodily and not necessarily cognitive, ‘emotion’ indexes feelings, emotional states held by the self. This is not, however, to posit a form of mind/body dualism but rather to highlight the particularities of different experiences: a sinking stomach, for instance, relates to but is different from understanding that I am nervous.

^2. Duggan has influenced scholarship in a range of fields, from history to psychology and social work. See, in addition to the texts I discuss in the article's body, Cervulle (Citation2008), King (Citation2009), Oswin (Citation2007), Stryker (Citation2008), Van Eeden-Moorefield et al. (Citation2011) and Rosenfeld (Citation2009).

^3. Puar (Citation2006, 69) makes a similar point, finding homonormativity and homo-nationalism in not explicitly political discourse. She looks at the gay and lesbian tourist industry and the television show South Park to demonstrate the prevalence of homo-nationalism.

^4. I write ‘not explicitly political realm’ carefully. This is because I am attentive both to feminist arguments that the personal is political and to scholars who demonstrate that neoliberalism expands the private arena through government policies making distinctions between the private and the public difficult to maintain. I am not arguing that ‘the social’ or everyday life is not political. I am, rather, claiming that these entities are not explicitly political. They do not announce themselves as politics. See, for instance, Hanisch's (Citation1970) classic, ‘The Personal is Political’, as well as Duggan's own discussion of how, with neoliberalism, the ‘rhetoric of public and private […] become quite complex’ (Citation2002, 178).

^5. I use the term ‘gay public’ without scare quotes to refer to a public (or group of people) who congregate around the term ‘gay’ and consume what they consider to be ‘gay culture’. This is not, then, a form of essentialism or a false homogenization – that is, I am in no way suggesting that a ‘gay public’ exists prior to such culture, in the simple fact of there being gay people (whatever that might mean). The point, instead, is that a public forms around particular cultural entities through their consumption.

^6. While Haigh describes the film as a reflection of what he considers to be gay feelings, at the same time, he tried to make the film appeal beyond a gay public. For instance, it was important to Haigh that the film premier at a festival that was not specifically targeted to gay audiences. Haigh therefore chose the Austin festival, SXSW – even if ‘SXSW can feel very male, very straight and very white’, Haigh claims (Shoard Citation2011). I will discuss Haigh's marketing strategies for the film later on in the text.

^7. I am borrowing here from Berlant's (Citation2011) understanding of optimism.

^8. The film portrays this group of friends as a post-racist community, colour-blind. Haigh includes a black man amongst Jamie's friends. This man is new to the group – he is the only person Russell has not yet met. Therefore, the group has recently come to include a black man. But this group, Haigh suggests, does not include the gay white man. In this political imaginary, concerns about racism are no longer necessary, unlike concerns about heteronormativity. Eng's argument about how queer liberalism posits the fantasy that the USA is a colour-blind society applies here, albeit in the UK.

^9. One may wonder what happens to this fantasy following marriage; perhaps, it lies with children.

^10. Puar (Citation2006) is drawing on Derek Gregory's reading of Edward Said.

^11. It is especially ironic that this organization should call itself ‘Stonewall’ given that, as it claims on its website, it works ‘for equality and justice for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals’. Stonewall does not advocate for people who are transgender, notwithstanding the fact that drag queens were an important part of the New York City demonstrations and gender nonconformity was a central issue. See Duberman (Citation1994) and http://www.stonewall.org.uk.

^12. Glen in effect fits in amongst the characters that inhabit the gay, white, male archive Leo Bersani focuses on and José Esteban Muñoz and Judith Halberstam critique. See Caserio et al. (Citation2006).

^13. I draw this term ‘autological’ from Povinelli (Citation2006). ‘By the autological subject’, she writes, ‘I am referring to discourses, practices, and fantasies about self-making, self-sovereignty, and the value of individual freedom associated with the Enlightenment project of contractual constitutional democracy and capitalism’ (4).

^14. Hereafter, referred to as Saturday Night.

^15. In Britain, the politics of sexuality are posited similarly. For instance, over and again in documents published by Stonewall, Britain's largest gay rights organization, comparisons are made between protections of sexual minorities and racial minorities – as well as both women and those with disabilities. One publication about homophobia in schools claims that homophobia is not ‘treated like racism’. Whereas racism is not tolerated, teachers allow students to make homophobic comments (Hunt and Jensen Citation2007, 13). A second publication includes text by the organization's president, Ben Summerskill: ‘There is not yet a duty on public bodies requiring them to promote equality of service for gay people in the way that already exists for gender, ethnicity and disability’ (Hunt and Dick Citation2007, 1). In such documents, Stonewall attempts to posit reforms that would draw on existing laws and policies to include sexual minorities. In this way, sexual politics, as framed by Stonewall, become an amendment to the politics of race, ethnicity, gender and disability.

^16. Cobb (Citation2007), drawing on Kipnis (Citation2003), contends that within contemporary Anglo-American public culture, ‘you're not allowed to be without love; you're not allowed to be merely single’ (451). Weekend seems to agree: Glen is not just single; he is single because he has been hurt. Russell too is not merely single; he longs for couple-hood.

^17. This resonates with Foucault's statement that ‘the homosexual imagination is for the most part concerned with reminiscing about the act rather than anticipating it’ (Citation2000, 150). The best moment is ‘when the act is over the guy […] is gone […] one begin[s] to dream about the warmth his body, the quality of his smile, the tone of his voice’ (150).

^18. I am thinking of Love's (Citation2007) Feeling Backwards.

^19. See BBC News, ‘Nottingham Council Homes Demolition Plans Revealed’, August 11, 2011. Accessed May 4, 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-14502468