TV's cookie-cutter queers
Archive: Mass Media
From an article in Boston?s Weekly Dig, The Video Gay Ghetto:
Even vanilla gays on network sitcoms are strictly by the numbers. The titular Will from NBC?s Will and Grace is well groomed, well tailored, well educated and holds a well-paying job as a respected lawyer, but he surrounds himself with ditzy, self-involved women and a shallow, manipulative, flaming best friend. In ABC?s It?s All Relative, the two gay dads, a school teacher and predictably an art gallery owner, are the poster boys for picket-fence gays. They?re tragically milquetoast except when they get into a tizzy over dinnerware patterns or espresso machines. Apparently it?s OK for gays to be successful in their professions so long as they?re ineffectual in everyday life.
The paragraph on the gay football player in Playmakers is sad and disgusting.
To Hell with the ?fab five.?
Matthew Christian, Homosexuals Are Welcome in TV Land, So Long As They Know Their Role
2Posted by: Richard on June 15, 2004 06:18 PM
I didn?t mean to give the impression that your prose invoked disgust. I quoted, cited your article because it summed up my own displeasure with the images of queer people in popular culture (sorry for sounding so full of myself, too much beer tonight).
I thought you did a really fine job.
Feel free to leave a comment on TV's cookie-cutter queers.
Please keep your comment on topic.
I'm a happily gay atheist. Homophobic, racist comments and conversion attempts are deleted.
Disagreement is fine but hate speech won't be tolerated. Even if you share my prejudices I'd rather you not insult other people who leave comments here.
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Thanks, Richard
1Posted by: Matthew Christian on June 15, 2004 06:03 PM
Re: ?The paragraph on the gay football player in Playmakers is sad and disgusting.?
Indeed, the gay football player storyline was about as repugnant as TV gets. Please understand that when I wrote that ??it?s comforting to know?? paragraph I was using irony to point out the infuriating messages that are peddled as entertainment.