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Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to show the differences between ‘gay’ and ‘queer’ drama. A certain critical distance between the two terms has been ignored. So, some critics use queer as an umbrella term including gay and lesbian. It is true that the existence of queer theory would be unimaginable without the preceding lesbian and gay studies. From the beginning of the 1990s, however, queer theory has developed its own sphere different from lesbian and gay studies, borrowing post-structuralist’s ideas. Lesbian/gay movements have basically focused on the notion of identity politics, asserting that identity is the necessary prerequisite for political goals. On the other hand, queer interrogates the identity positions and destroys the notion of identity which is provisional and contingent. That is, the anti-identity critique of queer theory challenges fixed identity and normative sexual identifications. In Harvey Fierstein’s gay drama Torch Song Trilogy, Arnold is proud of his gay identity and tries to accept the middle class ideals. Caryl Churchill’s queer drama Cloud Nine shows that gender and sexuality are constructed by institutional and discursive forces, visualizing the parallel between colonial and sexual oppression.