"Queer as abnormal,... is that so bad?"
Queerness in Basic Instinct is in fact wrapped up in some very obvious negative light. The movie "was about evil.." as the director claimed and he sees no issue with how queer is used. I however understand his tag-team alliance of evil and queer to be his sort of one two punch winning combo of the movie. In our society we are socialized to put queerness in a certain light, often negative, so it makes sense that the director himself didnt even notice the tactics he employed. It is because Sharon Stone is a seedy character with questionable morals that her bisexuality becomes employed negatively.
As discussed in class and the readings, Stone is the "abject" or the character that is outside of the "norm". This is simply a fact. So to then make her queer is to plainly suggest that queer is outside the norm or in connection with evil. I understand why queers would be offended by their representation in this film!
That all said, it is this queer writers opinion that to put queer outside the norm isn't all bad. I recognize is not helpful to the overall acceptance of queers in society, especially when it come to normalizing, but queer existing outside the norm is what I love about being queer! The norm is what I don't like about our society. It is important to look at the movie closer and notice that Stone's character while obviously outside of the "norm" could also be said to be above the "norm". Everyone in the movie was fascinated by this woman and it wasn't as if she was ignored or treated with discrimination. She was an evil character that was very well humanized. I sympathized with her by the end of the movie.