ABSTRACT
At first it appears that Salmonberries (1991), starring kd lang as Kotzebue and Rosel Zech as Roswitha, is concerned with the development of lesbian identity. The film hints at biological determinism, as it appears that kd lang’s character may well have been ‘bom that way’. With no lesbian role models in ‘sight’, kd lang trudges through the snow in this small Alaskan town ‘looking’ as if she has just walked out of a lesbian bar in any western metropolis—as indeed she probably has. Clearly kd lang’s status as a lesbian idol is important to an analysis of this film and its consumption by lesbian audiences. In particular, it is necessary to assertain what kinds of identifications are being (re) constructed in the relationship between the text and the audience in this context of intertextual lesbian stardom.
