Critical Review of Halberstam

Jack Halberstam’s book, The Queer Art of Failure, is unlike many other books on queer theory in that he glorifies the use of low theory, and insists everything can be explained in simple popular culture animation and goofy films. This book not only dumbs down complex queer theory, as complicated by such renowned authors as Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, but it goes so far as to create a middle ground for queer theory in failure. Learning more from this book than the more complex theory, this book is a must read for those attempting to delve into queer theory.

A particularly interested chapter was “Dude, Where’s My Phallus,” a delightfully queer reading of the ridiculously goofy film Dude, Where’s My Car. While the author uses these popular culture examples, he also goes to great lengths to fully explain the scenes he is examining as not to limit the readers that have not had the foresight to see the film. Like with many of the shows and movies Halberstam reviews in this book, he takes an insanely close queer lens to pick apart the obvious male-centered, white privileged, and ultimately queer quirks in the film. From transsexual characters to blatant male on male kissing, Halberstam is able to point out every piece to this queer puzzle of a film, many that the average viewer easily overlooked.

Accessibility seems to be the author’s number one goal, and while some may argue theory should only be dumbed down for profits sake, Halberstam seems to truly have a passion for making theory relatable to popular culture. Whether it is Finding Nemo, Spongebob, or 50 First Dates, Halberstam was able to take a quirky story and bring out the ever-present queer themes of failure.