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Sewers of Paris: Gay Men's Catnip (Ep 496 - The Wizard of Oz/Josh)
🕑 Added 2024-11-28 16:00:11 +0000 UTCBefore we get to this week’s episode, I have a question for you. And that question is … do you have any questions for me? I ask because we’re coming up on the 500th episode of The Sewers of Paris next month, and to celebrate I’m going to be doing a special Q&A episode where I answer questions from listeners. So if you have anything you’d like to ask — whether it’s about the show, or for recommendations, or about pop culture and queer history — please send it along to at matt@mattbaume.com.
Also, a heads-up that may be of interest: This week sees the release of Part 1 of Wicked — a musical inspired by The Wizard of Oz. And although, when I initially heard about the film, years ago, my first reaction was “oh, there’s no way that’ll be any good” … folks, I’ve seen it, and it is, in fact, very good. So to mark the movie’s release, I’m releasing special episode of my companion podcast, Matt’s So-Cast Pod, where we talk about the strange parallels between the musical Wicked and the TV show My So-Called Life — both written by the same woman, Winnie Holzman.
And also, on this week’s Sewers of Paris, we’re diving deep into the archives for a chat about why The Wizard of Oz has had particular resonance for gay men ever since the book was first published over a hundred and twenty years ago. My guest is Josh Trujillo, who was so obsessed with Oz that as a kid he attended Oz conventions, and discovered that they served as a sort of meeting-place for older closeted gay men who felt unable to meet in public or in bars.
We spoke back in 2015 — it was the third-ever episode of this podcast! So my apologies that the audio quality is at times a little peaky. Nevertheless I hope you’ll enjoy this trip back in time.
Comments
brenferatu
You've probably talked about these things before so maybe point me in the right direction - which pop culture shows/icons helped you with self acceptance, and how you and James came to be.
Jim
Oh, as for a question, I was thinking about how the death of so many gay men from AIDS has affected gay culture? Has there been a big gap of knowledge, behavior and culture passed down because of the death of a block of a particular age group of gay men? For example, I’m a fan of nature documentaries, and because of the poaching of mature male elephants for ivory, young male elephants have become more wild and unruly with few bulls to keep them in line. I know that’s an extreme example, but you get my drift?
