Undead White

This essay contends that José Esteban Muñoz's article "Dead White," published in 1998 in GLQ, holds enduring significance for critically assessing representations of race in queer cinema. Following Muñoz's lead to focus on the visual currency of the queer Latino body, it illustrates how whiteness is regularly affirmed as common sense in contrast to racial otherness. The essay additionally insists on examining films defying the customary aesthetic expectations of film critics in order to investigate the evocative representations they proffer.