We're here, we're queer, and we're here to invade your living room

For this week's blog I'd like to focus on one of the articles we read for class, "Representing Gay Men on American Television" by Kylo-Patrick R. Hart. In this article Hart looks at the representation of gay males on T.V. by citing the premiere of Will & Grace, a sitcom that represented the daily lives of two roommates, Grace a straight heterosexual female and Will her best homosexual male friend. Hart looks and examines this programming and the differences that this sitcom presents compared to real life for homosexual males..

While Will is a main character he is often shown repressed in his sexuality as he is calm and cool. As a successful lawyer he is intelligent and articulate but never allowed to have lasting relationships through out the shows nor deep love for any of his male partners. Unlike Grace who is granted numerous boyfriends through out the show and even some that she was destined to married but parted with due to different reasons. She is happy and exuberant in her relationships and as being Wills "faghag" and a open minded heterosexual female.

In Will & Grace we are also presented with two different examples of gay males and socially expected behavior from them which is displayed by the Will and Jack character. Jack is the counterpart to Will's calm almost non-homosexual exterior by being flashy and over the top.

To quote Hart "Will remains so low-key about his sexual orientation that it has become almost inconsequential to the show, while Jack consistently presented as the stereotype flamboyant queen. In other words, Will and Jack are extreme opposites on the spectrum of possible media representations of gay men." (p. 597, para. 1)

This got me starting to think about representations of gay males in different shows. I want to explore and look at the way homosexual males are represented in sitcoms and TV dramas. Usually for sitcoms homosexual characters are used to create comical situations to make them seem less "scary" or alien to straight audiences which is a common theme in United States mass media products because it not only makes these ideas new and fresh but packages them for mass consumption. I think the best show to critically examine this homosexual character and archetype would be the Showtime's American remake of the hit British show "Queer as folk". Not only is Queer as Folk (QAF) made up of a primary gay and lesbian character cast it also tries hard to shed light on homosexual issues that face real adults in the GLBT community. I also believe it's a much better example of the community's representation on TV then the L word not only because it focuses on a mainly male only cast but because the first season of the L word used sexuality and the fetishism of lesbianism that occurs in our country as a way to promote the show before it contained any hard hitting plot devices.

In QAF there are many different story plots that resonate with the many different points in homosexual men and women lives. In the beginning of the show we are treated to the birth of lesbian partners Lindsey and Mel's baby boy Gus who they conceive with the help of friend Brian. Not only is this beginning daring because it shows that lesbians can be committed and have strong healthy loving relationship with children involved but it shows the changing face of the nontraditional American family that is more common in America's 21st century. It also touches on some of the most important moments in real life: coming out, falling in love, maintaining relationships, and most of all growing into the person you're meant to be. By giving each character a strong personality and making them just one shade of the multinational and multicultural community that makes up the glbt community.

It's also important to note that many of these gay males have strong loving relationships presented. An important example of this is the marriage between partners Michael and Ben as they bike ride into Canada on a national campaign to protest the ill legalization of gay marriage in the states.

In the clip below we see the two get married and even Michael's mother is very supportive of her sons choice to marry someone who is HIV positive esp. in a time where HIV is on the rise and many people are fearful of this once "gay disease". By having the character Ben the producers diminish the stereotype that people living with HIV's can not have happy or productive lives. By tackling this issue head on they provide a very positive character who is not depressed or dying from his battle with HIV's.



Looking at these examples of plot devices it's only logical to wonder how these change mass media's concept of homosexual characters? By being shown on a private cable provider the show is allowed to get away with much more and does use sex and drug use as an edgy way to push the show and boost ratings despite the fact that these problems do really face and hit the gay community through out America. I think by presenting a more mature and sexual side it removes the comical aspect of the community seen in shows like Will & Grace. It also gives a "mature" edge to allow other shows like it to push the boundaries of sexuality and gender on TV. It also directly affects the concepts of mass media about the community and opens up a frank and intelligent discussion of the similarity of homosexual and heterosexual couples and that they are in no way different from each other.

Who knows what will come next? Maybe there will be shows about cross dressers shown in a mature light or transsexual characters that battle with their concepts of gender compared to society norms? The mass media is slowly opening up these new interpretations of gender and producing new concepts of gender every so few years thankfully.