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| Clearly the repository of the sum of human knowledge. |
Take Glee for example, one of the few mainstream American TV shows featuring gay characters. The first openly gay character on Glee, Kurt Hummel, has his life threatened to the point of his having to leave McKinley High School. Then, cheerleader Santana Lopez stays closeted for several episodes for fear of backlash from the high school community.
When she does come out, she's disowned by her grandmother. Certainly not easy sailing for gay students at William McKinley High School! At least one of my friends have complained that for a feel-good show, there sure is a lot of weighty discussion about LGBT issues, homophobia, and downright discrimination in Glee.
Now, consider the following: Glee is meant to appeal to real teenagers in middle America. The cast of characters is diverse and struggle with stereotypical teen issues from popularity to family problems. Keeping this in mind, we conclude that these difficulties are to be expected for young queers in America. The producers, directors, and writers know that bullying, familial rejection, lovesickness, loneliness, and even fear for our lives are things that the average LGBT youth in America has to worry about on a daily basis. From now defunct shows to The United States of Tara to the brand-spanking-new Political Animals, certain gay characters are portrayed as living lives marked with danger, violence, and bigotry. Biopics featuring famous gays such as Truman Capote or Harvey Milk could be indicative of this trend. I don't think this is a discouraging message courtesy of the brain trust that writes these shows and movies. The difficulties faced by fictional LGBT characters are meant to be a realistic portrayal of lives in a society that has evolved since Stonewall but still has a hell of a long way to go.
Why do I think these shows are representative of larger cultural attitudes towards homosexuality? Contrast Glee and the other American examples with our cousins across the pond. The UK has managed to enact anti-discrimination laws for LGBT people in housing and employment. Same-sex couples can adopt children and be recognized in civil partnerships. Transgendered people have the right to change their legal gender. All of these laws only exist in the United States on a state-by-state basis. In addition, same-sex acts have been legal in the United Kingdom since 1982, whereas state prohibitions against same-sex acts were not declared unconstitutional in the United States until 2003. That's right, I couldn't believe it either, but in the state I'm in now, sodomy between consenting adults was illegal only nine years ago. (And they had to get the Supreme Court to bring everyone to their senses!) On top of all that, while gay marriage is not legal in the UK, one of the main political parties has been formally endorsing it for two years, while in America, support for gay marriage is only just being written into the Democratic Party platform. Clearly, the United Kingdom is light-years ahead of the United States in the arena of LGBT rights.
Take the longest running science fiction show of all time, the BBC's Doctor Who. This show, filled with so much cheesy human-centric thought, bad effects, and somewhat questionable science that it manages to be the single greatest thing in the history of forever, is chock-full of casual queers. Seriously. On this note, everyone thinks of the not-heterosexual-not-homosexual-just-sexual cavalier Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) who is a recurring character over several seasons, but I'm talking about the minor characters that only appear once or twice. I mean the random little old lesbian couple in the episode "Gridlock", living together for decades with their cats and enough doilies to ensnare a giant squid. I mean the "Thin/Fat Gay-Married Anglican Marines" in "A Good Man Goes to War". No one questions the kinky interspecies Eocene Reptilian dominatrix/Human submissive lesbian couple in the same episode, and the audience is meant to sympathize with the lady in "Midnight" whose domestic partner ditches her for a new fling in the next galaxy. What do all these characters have in common?
No one makes a big fuss about their LGBT status. There are no tearful coming out scenes, no fear of persecution, no "other" status at all. It's always "these guys are gay, moving right along to the good part". Furthermore, the Doctor's companions, who are always from the present day, never seem to care much about the fact that apparently gay marriage is legal across the Galaxy. To be fair, that could be because of the constant threats to the seven billion inhabitants of a planet where few gays are allowed to get married, but still! Some point out that this could be due to the fact that Russell T. Davies, a Doctor Who writer, is gay. But come on, I'm pretty sure at least a few gay writers lurk in the high places of American TV writing. So what gives?
Simple. The people of the United Kingdom just don't see LGBTness as the huge indicator of a hard life it is here. I'm sure it still isn't easy to be queer in some parts of the UK, but when most equal rights are a settled question except for marriage, you're not going to have audiences relate to the strife and struggle that's portrayed on TV here.
It comes down to this: If you are LGBT in the United Kingdom, chances are you're protected better than most of your American bretheren (and sisteren) and your media reflects that.
Correction (August 18): While Steven Moffat is a "Doctor Who" writer, it is Russell T Davies and not Moffat who is gay. Whoops!
When she does come out, she's disowned by her grandmother. Certainly not easy sailing for gay students at William McKinley High School! At least one of my friends have complained that for a feel-good show, there sure is a lot of weighty discussion about LGBT issues, homophobia, and downright discrimination in Glee.
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| "How about a rousing tribute to Matthew Shepard to the tune of 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer?' Eh?" "I don't think that's advisable, sir." (S) |
Now, consider the following: Glee is meant to appeal to real teenagers in middle America. The cast of characters is diverse and struggle with stereotypical teen issues from popularity to family problems. Keeping this in mind, we conclude that these difficulties are to be expected for young queers in America. The producers, directors, and writers know that bullying, familial rejection, lovesickness, loneliness, and even fear for our lives are things that the average LGBT youth in America has to worry about on a daily basis. From now defunct shows to The United States of Tara to the brand-spanking-new Political Animals, certain gay characters are portrayed as living lives marked with danger, violence, and bigotry. Biopics featuring famous gays such as Truman Capote or Harvey Milk could be indicative of this trend. I don't think this is a discouraging message courtesy of the brain trust that writes these shows and movies. The difficulties faced by fictional LGBT characters are meant to be a realistic portrayal of lives in a society that has evolved since Stonewall but still has a hell of a long way to go.
Why do I think these shows are representative of larger cultural attitudes towards homosexuality? Contrast Glee and the other American examples with our cousins across the pond. The UK has managed to enact anti-discrimination laws for LGBT people in housing and employment. Same-sex couples can adopt children and be recognized in civil partnerships. Transgendered people have the right to change their legal gender. All of these laws only exist in the United States on a state-by-state basis. In addition, same-sex acts have been legal in the United Kingdom since 1982, whereas state prohibitions against same-sex acts were not declared unconstitutional in the United States until 2003. That's right, I couldn't believe it either, but in the state I'm in now, sodomy between consenting adults was illegal only nine years ago. (And they had to get the Supreme Court to bring everyone to their senses!) On top of all that, while gay marriage is not legal in the UK, one of the main political parties has been formally endorsing it for two years, while in America, support for gay marriage is only just being written into the Democratic Party platform. Clearly, the United Kingdom is light-years ahead of the United States in the arena of LGBT rights.
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| Then again, that's what happens when you send all your crazy religious fundies here instead of keeping them. Thanks a lot. |
No one makes a big fuss about their LGBT status. There are no tearful coming out scenes, no fear of persecution, no "other" status at all. It's always "these guys are gay, moving right along to the good part". Furthermore, the Doctor's companions, who are always from the present day, never seem to care much about the fact that apparently gay marriage is legal across the Galaxy. To be fair, that could be because of the constant threats to the seven billion inhabitants of a planet where few gays are allowed to get married, but still! Some point out that this could be due to the fact that Russell T. Davies, a Doctor Who writer, is gay. But come on, I'm pretty sure at least a few gay writers lurk in the high places of American TV writing. So what gives?
Simple. The people of the United Kingdom just don't see LGBTness as the huge indicator of a hard life it is here. I'm sure it still isn't easy to be queer in some parts of the UK, but when most equal rights are a settled question except for marriage, you're not going to have audiences relate to the strife and struggle that's portrayed on TV here.
It comes down to this: If you are LGBT in the United Kingdom, chances are you're protected better than most of your American bretheren (and sisteren) and your media reflects that.
 |
| Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that I just wrote some asshole's Queer Studies/Sociology/Media thesis? (Disclaimer: I am sure the young man pictured is, in fact, not an asshole and is actually an okay guy.) (S) |
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