Since the turn of the 21st century, Hollywood has seen a growing number of queer narratives being produced and marketed to mass audiences. Although these representations are being made, they are still few in comparison to the amount of films that portray the ideals and values that can be considered the dominant ideologies of American culture. That is to say, films that are made largely for individuals who fall within the heterosexual, white, Judeo-Christian, and male populations of American citizens. According to Antonio Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony, these ruling forces of influence “must be won and re-won” through a constant “negotiation with subcultural artifacts [such as film], ideas, and/or social movements” that oppose them.[1] So what makes hegemonic negotiation relevant to contemporary queer cinema? Harry Benshoff believes there can be two approaches toward hegemonic negotiation. In this case, it means that even though queer stories are breaking through to mainstream audiences, their content remains partial to the overarching heterosexual ideologies. However, in a more optimistic stance that this paper will take, it also means …