Random Musing: Queer Theory in Film Studies

Studying film at Vanderbilt, I have the choice of courses spanning a pretty broad range of topics and interests, including modern Italian cinema, Nazi cinema, America on film, and even feminism in film. On the other hand, there is one important area of film studies that is missing from this group: queer theory. Since the youngest years of Hollywood, directors such as Hitchcock have used undertones of homosexuality in some of their films. Why? That's what I intend to find out.
Having visited my local McKay's the other day in search of a copy of "The Celluloid Closet," a notable book on queer theory written in the 1980's, I instead found a book called "The Lavender Screen," a book that promised to explore the introduction of homoeroticism into film and why subtexts of homosexuality suggest traits of a film itself. I intend to digest this film guide by the end of the summer and discern reasons for the subtext of homosexuality in cinema over the course of the last century, especially the films that precede the queer cinema of today. Throughout the course of the summer, I hope to update everyone with my readings and conclusions. Ready, everyone? Let's study.