Like There is No Tomorrow

Homonationalism and Queer Temporality in New Israeli Gay and Lesbian Cinema

Abstract

The article explores forms of queer temporality in new Israeli gay and lesbian cinema. Some Israeli films such as The Bubble, Cupcakes, and The Secrets, promote homonormative and homonational discourse guided by a progressive temporal trajectory from traditional societies to modernity, from shame to pride, from homophobia and the secrecy of the closet to gay sexual liberation and identity that follows Western standards. In contrast, queer films like Joe + Belle, Blush, Yossi, and The Cakemaker, critique logical temporal conventions of development and progress, maturity, adulthood, and responsibility, and the social scenarios which regulate identities into national, sexual, and ethnic normativity. They offer new ways of being in the world, life and relationships based on queer temporality, which are not necessarily founded on future expectations but rather derive from the desire for the “here and now,” or from longing for the affective losses of the past.