Leigh Clemons is Associate Professor of Theatre History, Dramatic Literature
and Criticism at Louisiana State University. Her work deals with the
construction of identity through study of the construction of such narratives
on the stage and in the popular media. She is currently an LSU grant recipient
for her work in the research of Croatian national identity as depicted in
dramatic texts.
Patrick Lichty is a Louisiana-based technological artist whose work focuses on
media subversion, cognition & narrative, and social activism. His most recent
projects are "The Cybernetics of Performance", an essay published in the
Leonardo Digital Salon 2000 issue, and "Grasping at Bits" an interactive
net.text featured at Ars Electronica. Lichty is currently developing "Sprawl",
a semi-documentary net installation as grantee of the Smithsonian American Art
Museum New Media/New Century Award.
Clemons & Lichty just happen to live in the same apartment...
When looking at the "face of AIDS", the popular depiction of this concept is
still that of the gay male, despite efforts to the contrary. However, two
media icons problematize this stereotype; Rock Hudson and Magic Johnson. One,
a straight black basketball star, and the other a gay actor who depicted the
heteronormative for decades until the discovery of his illness by the media.
Hudson, the first well-known AIDS case, was pilloried in the press while Magic
was met with great sympathy for his plight. The issues in play when
contrasting the two are incredibly complex, and say much about the emotional
terrain of AIDS in the past two decades and the remaining attitudes towards
homosexuality just for starters. Rock and Magic was/is two infected men known
for their machismo, but the question stands in its abiguity, ?que es mas
macho? - Rock Hudson, or Magic Johnson?
Get the Code:
Patrick Lichty & Leigh Clemons