LGBTQ Nonfiction
Is Netflix un-Queering Dorian Gray?
If Basil isn’t a twink, I’m not going to watch it
It was announced a few days ago that a “contemporary take” on Oscar Wilde’s wonderfully queer novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is currently in production over at Netflix.
First reported by Deadline, the TV series, titled The Grays, will apparently be “set against the backdrop of the modern beauty industry” — sounds great! — and revolve around “siblings Basil and Doran[sic] Gray” — wait, what?
Dorian Gray is Dorian Gay
For those of you who weren’t handed a copy of The Picture to analyze in AP English Lit, here’s a quick rundown: in Wilde’s novel, artist Basil Hallward is infatuated with Dorian and paints a beautiful portrait of him. Reckless Dorian embraces a hedonistic lifestyle and sells his soul to remain youthful forever. The portrait ages and grows grotesque in his place, absorbing all his sins. In a fit of rage over the disfigured painting, Dorian ends up killing Basil, the only person who ever really loved him.
The Picture of Dorian Gray was published in Lippincott’s Monthly Magazine as a novella in 1890 before being expanded into a novel in 1891. An editor for Lippincott’s, J. M. Stoddart, removed about 500 words from…
