‘It was the summer when everything changed …’: Coming of age queer in Australian cinema

Abstract

There has been a dramatic increase in the release of queer Australian feature films since 2006, more than half of which have drawn on the conventions of the coming-of-age film. This chapter focuses on Tan Lines (2006), Newcastle (2009), Monster Pies (2013) and 52 Tuesdays (2013) to explore how these films enunciate the genre and negotiate questions of gender and sexuality in a genre often organised around the exploration of heterosexual romance. Ultimately, this chapter argues that these films negotiate a place for the representation of queer youth in Australian film culture, in addition to broadening and complicating a popular and enduring genre of the Australian film canon.