ABSTRACT
In this chapter a poly gaze is adopted in order to analyze queer poly family, kinship, and community in the films Shortbus and Cat Dancers and the television show Grace and Frankie. It is concluded that, because these films and this television show are not about sexual and romantic polyamory as a “legitimate” relationship or family choice, they do not rely upon heteronormative or polynormative discourse to normalize polyamory. Instead, they offer narratives about poly kinship that queer notions of family, kinship, and community by displacing rather than reproducing dominant cultural narratives that establish romantic and sexual coupling, dependent children, and extended blood kinship ties as the very definition of family and the only way to live a good, fulfilling, and secure life.
