Renee Middlemost Renee Middlemost i(16393355 works by)
Gender: Female
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 Competing Desires, Competing Interests : Opening the Dialogue between Wentworth, Fans and Industry Renee Middlemost , Stayci Taylor , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: TV Transformations and Transgressive Women : From Prisoner : Cell Block H to Wentworth 2022;
1 ‘"Australian TV’s Golden Girl" : Asher Keddie, Offspring, and the Celebrity Motherhood Narrative’ Renee Middlemost , 2022 single work criticism
— Appears in: Gender and Australian Celebrity Culture 2022;
1 Babashook : The Babadook, Gay Iconography and Internet Cultures Renee Middlemost , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture , vol. 8 no. 1 2019; (p. 7-26)

'Upon its 2014 release, Australian film The Babadook (Kent, 2014), gained critical acclaim worldwide. While the film gathered high praise, its domestic release was impeded by a lack of marketing support and ongoing debate about the quality of Australian horror films. By 2015, The Babadook was available to stream on Netflix in the United States, and one would imagine, to gradually fade from view. Yet a seemingly innocent categorization error on Netflix in 2016, which listed The Babadook as an LGBT interest film, resulted in a revival of the film’s popularity as a cult film and the emergence of the Babadook as ‘a frightening, fabulous new gay icon’. This article will trace the production history of The Babadook from its theatrical release through to its Netflix premiere and the evolution of the Babadook as a gay icon. Using Jenkins et al.’s work on spreadable media, the influence and spread of Internet content will be highlighted against the backdrop of contemporary political movements. In turn I will propose a number of categories essential to gay iconography, and explore how Internet cultures continually refine and expand these categories for widespread dissemination. The case study of the Babadook’s representation at American Pride Month in June 2017 will be used to illustrate the ability of Internet cultures to appropriate popular culture for political impact in marginalized communities.'  (Publication abstract)

X