Reattachment Theory

In <i>Reattachment Theory</i> Lee Wallace argues that homosexuality-far from being the threat to traditional marriage that same-sex marriage opponents have asserted-is so integral to its reimagining that all marriage is gay marriage. Drawing on the history of marriage Stanley Cavell's analysis of Hollywood comedies of remarriage and readings of recent gay and lesbian films Wallace shows that queer experiments in domesticity have reshaped the affective and erotic horizons of heterosexual marriage and its defining principles: fidelity exclusivity and endurance. Wallace analyzes a series of films-Dorothy Arzner's <i>Craig's Wife</i> (1936); Tom Ford's <i>A Single Man</i> (2009); Lisa Cholodenko's <i>High Art</i> (1998) <i>Laurel Canyon</i> (2002) and <i>The Kids Are All Right</i> (2010); and Andrew Haigh's <i>Weekend</i> (2011) and <i>45 Years</i> (2015)-that she contends do not simply reflect social and legal changes; they fundamentally alter our sense of what sexual attachment involves as both a social and a romantic form.