Reading the Representation of Queerness in the Pakistani Film Joyland (2022)

Through a close reading of the acclaimed Pakistani film, Joyland (2022), the article argues for a shift in South Asian queer cinema studies away from frameworks of identity, visibility and narrative resolution, and towards an examination grounded in the three interlinked registers of subjectivity, relationality and aesthetics. Situating the film within the Pakistani and South Asian broader context, the article contends that queerness in Joyland is constructed not as a singular identity or as emancipatory, but as a lived condition shaped by stringent family dynamics, patrilineal societal norms and adherence to normative gender roles. The paper posits Joyland as a unique South Asian cinematic intervention that situates queerness through failures of masculinity, transgressive desires, and traversing normative gender and sexual roles.