Trash

A Queer Film Classic

by Jon Davies, series edited by Thomas Waugh & Matthew Hays

tagged: history & criticism, gay studies

Description

Trash, one of three inaugural titles in Arsenal's film book series Queer Film Classics, delves into the legendary 1970 film that was arguably the greatest collaboration between director Paul Morrissey and producer Andy Warhol.

The film Trash is a down-and-out domestic melodrama about a decidedly eccentric couple: Joe, an impotent junkie (played by Warhol film regular Joe Dallesandro), and Holly (played by trans Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn), Joe's feisty and sexually frustrated girlfriend. Joe is the hunky yet passive center around whom proud Holly orbits; while Morrissey intended to show that "there's no difference between a person using drugs and a piece of refuse," Woodlawn's incredible turn reverses his logic: she makes trash as precious as human beings.

Author Jon Davies argues that Trash, so comical yet so heartrending, is an allegory for the experiences of Dallesandro, Woodlawn, their co-stars, and countless other human "leftovers," whose self-fashioning for Warhol and Morrissey's gaze transformed them---if only fleetingly---from nobodies into somebodies.

The Queer Film Classics series consists of critical yet populist monographs on classic films of interest to LGBT audiences written by esteemed film scholars and critics. The series is edited by authors Thomas Waugh (Out/Lines, Lust Unearthed) and Matthew Hays (The View from Here).

About the Authors

Jon Davies

Thomas Waugh is a writer, programmer, and activist who taught film studies and sexuality at Concordia University from 1976 to 2017. He is the author of The Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas.

Matthew Hays is a Montreal-based critic, author, and university and college instructor. His articles have appeared in a broad range of publications. His first book, The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers (Arsenal Pulp Press), was cited by Quill & Quire as one of the best books of 2007 and won a 2008 Lambda Literary Award. He is co-editor (with Thomas Waugh) of Queer Film Classics, a series of monographs for Arsenal Pulp Press on LGBTQ films; titles in the series include Paris Is Burning, Strangers on a Train, Law of Desire, and Female Trouble. He is the film instructor at Marianopolis College, and also teaches courses in journalism, communication studies, and film studies at Concordia University, where he received the Concordia Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence in 2007 and the President's Award for Teaching Excellence in 2013.

Editorial Reviews

[Davies] delves into the title theme on material and personal levels, considering their symbolic interplay. He also offers observations on the film's motif of redemption as seen through the lens of complex relationships.
-Library Journal

— Library Journal

Any reader wishing to learn more about Warhol, Morrissey, Dallesandro, avant-garde film, and, especially, the poignantly brief Superstardom of Holly Woodlawn will find much to appreciate in Davies' scrupulous treatment, informed by great love for the material. Cineaste

— Cineaste

What it means to be trash---and indeed, what it means to be a man---are questioned in this thoughtful monograph, part of Arsenal Pulp's new Queer Film Classics series.... With crisp and expressive prose, he reflects upon the offbeat film and the times and culture that inspired it. In this book, he makes the same argument that he asserts is the film's premise: that the people and things society deems worthless often dazzle with unexpected beauty.
-Quill and Quire

— Quill and Quire

Davies delves behind the scenes, looking at the creative friction between Warhol and Morrissey---and Morrissey and the mise en scene in which he found himself working---and the full story of the film, from its weekend shooting schedule in Morriseey's basement to the critical reviews it garnered, with plenty of pages devoted to a scene-by-scene synopsis and analysis.
-EDGE Publications (Boston, Chicago, etc.)

— EDGE Publications

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