The Problematic Gaze
Winner - ‘Best History Podcast’ - Independent Podcast Awards 2025
‘Top 30 Podcasts To Listen To Right Now’ - The Radio Times 2025
Direct from PG Towers, join social historian Dr Lee Arnott and TV producer Dave Moor for a lighthearted look at the world of TV, Film and Popular Culture of yesteryear that has since been considered problematic. Each week we focus on a different piece of pop culture, and put it into context by looking at the news events and cultural landscape of the year it was released. Out and proud, Dr Lee and Our Dave present a humorous take on life as LGBTQ+ men of a glorious age, and present a digestible mix of academic social commentary, unflinching life lessons, media analysis, and hot takes on feminism, race, politics and cancel culture.
The Problematic Gaze
HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 🎃: Slasher Horror and Queer Fear at 'Sleepaway Camp' (1983)
In this special Halloween episode, The Problematic Gaze dives into Robert Hiltzik’s Sleepaway Camp (1983), a cult classic slasher that mixes lakeside gore with one of the most infamous twists in horror history. What begins as a standard teen body count film turns into a messy collision of gender anxiety, repression, and moral panic.
We unpack how Sleepaway Camp reflects (and distorts) early ’80s fears around gender nonconformity, the portrayal of trauma and queerness in horror, and how its shocking ending continues to haunt trans and queer representation decades later. Is Sleepaway Camp an accidental critique of heteronormative horror, or just another relic of exploitation cinema gone wrong?
Join us as we navigate the murky waters between camp and cruelty — with a few screams along the way.
Click here to watch Sleepaway Camp from 1983 on YouTube
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