Ela Plíhalová: What do we get when we get what we want? A Queer Reading of the Law of Love

Ela Plíhalová proposes a reading of the documentary The Law of Love (2021) directed by Barbora Chalupová, which maps the struggle of the We Are Fair for Marriage for All movement as a window into queer theory. The intention of this lecture is not to denigrate the work of We Are Fair, but to use the film The Law of Love mapping their work as a window into broader Czech debates about the institution of the nuclear family and our relationship with the West. The readings will draw primarily on the work of queer theorist Jasbir Puar, whose notion of "homonationalism" captures how queerness has become a weapon from a previously feared force. A weapon that liberal capitalism uses to build the spectre of the West as the vehicle of progress. What kind of future can you imagine? Who is your future for? What are the limits of such a future? Or in the words of Jasbir Puar, "What do we get when we achieve what we want?" Both poverty and anti-gender sentiments will be on the rise in the Czech Republic, and we must consciously choose where our attention is directed and not allow queerness to become another excuse to exclude class and race from our dreams of the future.

The lecture is organized by the Theory of Interactive Media at the Faculty of Arts MU as part of the TIM Master Class.