Popular Culture Review Vol. 13, No. 1, January 2002 | Page 7

Introduction
The events of September 11 were truly horrific and have caused drastic
changes throughout American society. There is no doubt that the effects on our
popular culture will cause widespread reverberations for some time to come. While
we are sure to receive articles that address diverse perspectives on the attacks and
the following ‘“War Against Terrorism,” the articles included in this issue of Popular
Culture Review were secured before this momentous event.
Articles with themes of food, travel, and representations of sexuality
(including sexual deviance) intersperse articles on film, filmmakers and film critics
in this issue of PCR. We open the issue with Linda Ambrose’s “Forever Lunching:
Food, Power and Politics in Ontario Women’s Organizations” a fascinating article
that details the social, educational and political activities of “Women’s Institutes”
— collective women’s groups that evolved throughout the 20**" century in Ontario,
Canada. Ambrose notes that the many Institutes, through their monthly meetings
(and consequent “tea parties”), provided individual women a range of opportunities
for coalition building, social reform, entrance into community politics, and personal
education. H er research techniques are unique, as Ambrose relies on personal
correspondences and interviews with women throughout Ontario, Department of
Agriculture reports, rural newspaper articles, and the “minute books” of diverse
Women’s Institute groups. Hers is an unusual topic in popular culture and the
revisionist historical approach is refreshing.
Matthew Henry’s critical yet often humorous analysis of the treatment of
homosexuality on television since the time of the Reagan Administration provides
an important comment on America’s “tolerance” shifts over the past thirty years.
In “ The Whole World’s Gone Gay!’: Smithers’ Sexuality, Homer’s Phobia, and
Gay Life on The Simpsons'' Henry traces the exposure of some aspects of “a gay
sensibility” on television from the I970’s shows Maude and Soap through current
airings of Will and Grace to demonstrate how the degree of representation of gay
characters on the major networks reflects changing political shifts in the U.S. The
article focuses mainly on the social and political satire. The Simpsons, as a measure
of and a guide for America’s growing — yet tentative — acknowledgement of gay
lives. While Henry is quick to point out that gay life on television is still generally
based on limiting stereotypes, he views The Simpsons as a forerunner in accurately
and sensitively portraying the diversity of gay life, and he celebrates the humor of
the show as both promoting a subversive gay politics and aiding “hetero” America
out of its homophobic mindset.
Philip C. Kolin’s essay suggests the possibility of an early comment on
the AIDS virus through a short story written by Tennessee Williams in 1977. In his