Interview with Swoontown Creator, zev
“It has always been Swoontown,” is the offhanded response to how the title was chosen but it quickly became the mantra of the interview when I spoke with writer/director of Zev. Ever since the concept first appeared to them, (and yes, I’m sticking with the sign-from-god style), Swoontown has been the answer to a lot of their existential (and even romantic) quests.
It’s a heavy and serious topic. The state of queer rights nationally and globally is nowhere near where it should be. It was decades of television before queer people were even tokens in television shows. While individuals broke through, one major point of saturation came in for the form of the catty ‘gay best friend’ of the 2000’s which reduced mostly white cis-gay characters into one dimensional shade thrower’s before evolving into tragedy porn on TV dramas. For the community, it’s like every step forward comes with another misconception to fight. So going into a project by queers for queers is an inherently political and commentative decision. But that doesn’t mean the film has to be.
As Zev explains, “while queer characters are becoming more popular in mainstream media (which for many reasons, is wonderful) we are also constantly used as an educational tool for a cis-straight audience or as a vessel for pain and heartbreak. One of my most important intentions with Swoontown is to make a queer film that is not about heartbreak, familial rejection, coming out, or the deep pain of being a queer person in a straight-cis world. Queer people deserve media that is silly, light-hearted, and visually beautiful!”
River Gallo as Dot
Zev as Andy
The story itself follows Dot and Andy, Dot the stereotype of femininity and Andy, masculinity. The two embark on a genre-homage journey of lighthearted love: “I was slightly more feminine than my first queer partner, and yet I felt like heteronormative standards played a huge (and negative) part in our relationship. Andy and Dot playfully point out to other queer folks how patriarchy and heteronormativity have influenced their relationship.”
The idea first came to them in 2017, “I was living in Wyoming for the Winter. I had just gone through my first break up in a queer relationship. I was devastated. I was also obsessed with the band Rainbow Kitten Surprise. Specifically, their song, “All That and More (Sailboat).” It very much inspired the visuals of Swoontown. The 50’s, greaser, old-school heart-throb butch heartbreaker, who became the character Andy. Usually, when I listen to music, I close my eyes and dream up a music video. The music video I dreamt up for “All That and More (Sailboat)” became Swoontown.”
You can see the music video influence in the heavily stylized choices, but the period aesthetic isn’t just your dream sock hop themed party: “because Swoontown is making fun of heteronormativity and patriarchy, it just seemed perfect to have the aesthetics based on the 50’s, a time where “50’s housewife” is the most common phrase thought of that relates to women and that time period. The “pin-up girl” is the counter- culture, hyper-sexualized feminine caricature that most reminded me of the stereotypes of femininity. Like, you are either a housewife or a sexy pin-up. And there is no in between. Binaries, in general, are also what we are making fun of. As if you cannot be anything other than a pin-up girl (Dot) or a sexy, romantically-driven, well-kempt man (Andy).”
Everything was shaping up until this quirky queer tale was halted by Covid-19. “Our launch date for our crowdfunding campaign was the day that LA got put on safer-at-home. It has been a huge decision to launch during the pandemic, but ultimately we decided that Swoontown is about bringing people joy. And during this time, we need joy now, more than ever. Which is why we want to make Swoontown as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Being a community-supported film carries a sense of love, desire and support but right now, everyone is hurting and community means that much more. “We are working on building a community of people who care about this film, and want to see this film made as much as we do. Crowdfunding is the perfect way to do that. We are finding our audience and engaging them in the ways that we think they will enjoy right now.”
There are a lot of takeaways from lockdown, we’re learning that our foundations come from the places that (most) people least expect; that also includes content creators. Mental health is vulnerable right now and the majority of us are getting by purely on the backs of streaming services and social media. I’ve been watching TV pretty much all day, every day for over a month now and at this point, it’s grounding me. Beyond escapism, TV reminds me what life was like. I’m watching goofball friends, awkward dates and career failures as if they’re my own, at least until I’m allowed to make those mistakes in real life. But as a white cis-human, most TV is either aimed at me or was written by people who navigated life with the same privileges I did. A lot of queer people ran out of relatable content long before quarantine. As Woolley puts it, “The experience of a cis gay person is different than a trans POC is different than an intersex pansexual person! The queer community is unique in that queerness expands across class, gender and race, and while that might seem obvious, it is rarely addressed.” For so many queer people, and marginalized people, participating in pop culture is a game of adapting. You’re forced to acclimate your sense of self to fit what you see on the screen, and it’s disorienting and belittling. That’s where films like Swoontown come in, while it’s for everyone, it’s also to speak to the people who have conditioned themselves into thinking they don’t deserve to just escape into their own world and be happy. And for others, it’ll be the chance to discover a new one.
To donate to Swoontown, head here
Follow Swoontown on Instagram
writer/director: @mammothsprite Zev (they/them)
starring: @rivergallo River Gallo (they/them)
producer/editor: @lukewillis Luke Willis (he, him)
dp: @chandlerdesforges Chandler Desforges (he, him)
1st ac: @maudlaurent8 Maud Laurent (she, her)
hair: @martinnepton Marin Nepton (he, him, pronoun indifferent)
mua: @johnnajmakeup Johnna J Perez (she, her)