Current Affairs Ed Wood and the Politics of Bad Taste (w/ Will Sloan)
Jan 21, 2026
Will Sloan, a film critic and author of Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA, challenges the stigma surrounding Ed Wood as "the worst director." He explores the director's queer identity and its significance in cinema history, particularly in Glen or Glenda. Sloan delves into the artistic ingenuity behind Wood's low-budget films, advocating for imagination over conventional quality standards. They discuss Hollywood's capitalist pressures on artists like Wood and Welles, and how this led to a unique, albeit tragic, legacy, forever reshaping views on outsider art.
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Ed Wood's Queer Autobiographical Drive
- Ed Wood's
Glenn Or Glenda's Queer Courage
- Glen or Glenda is a semi-autobiographical 1953 film where Ed Wood stars as a cross-dressing man trying to come out.
- The film functions as a pioneering, conflicted document of early queer cinema despite its flaws.
Reception Shift From Mockery To Reclaiming
- Early mockery of Ed Wood's films mixed aesthetic criticism with homophobia and transphobia.
- Changing audiences now reclaim Glenn or Glenda as sympathetic and pioneering rather than simply a joke.
