Gay Portrayals in the Media

[RomanHoliday]

I'm a straight girl but I was raised in mostly in metropolitan/progressive areas (originally from NYC, moved around a bit and going to college in CA) and grew up watching Friends, Dawson's Creek, Sex & the City, Will & Grace, etc. I just wanted to pose these questions to you all here, gay or straight-- How do you feel about the media's portrayals of gays/lesbians right now? Do you think it's improving and gaining visibility in recent years? Do you think really good portrayals in the media can help sway the more conservative public?

As I said, I watched Dawson's Creek all through middle school and personally, I find that there hasn't really been a teen show since then that's gone any further than they did with the character of Jack McPhee. That was close to 10 years ago and the environment has clearly changed for the better now, so how come the media hasn't reflected that? They'll have occasional bi-curious plotlines like Marissa on The O.C. but not much else.

I think the major networks have definitely loosened up a lot on the issue. Brothers and Sisters is a very popular show that hasn't been shy about their gay storyline and also treats Kevin Walker just like any other character. ABC used to be a rather conservative network and now is the probably the most gay-friendly with Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty. European TV is still lightyears ahead on this though.

For films, it is still pretty rare to see a mainstream success feature gay romance but a lot of films have positive gay characters now. Most believe that Brokeback Mountain lost the BP Oscar because of this issue yet this year, Sean Penn won the Oscar in a very tight race against Mickey Rourke.

[pnwmom]

1. I think the TV and film portrayals are a large part of the reason young people

today are so much more likely to support gay marriage than their parents are. When I was growing up, gay people were almost invisible in mainstream media.

Welcome to DU, RomanHoliday!

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. I missed out on Dawson's Creek. "Friends " had no glbt characters...

at all, far as I can remember; Sex and the City had one stock stereotypically 'fabulous' best friend type. W and G was a breakthrough; or so I thought, as there were somewhat multi-dimmensional glbt characters in leading roles, along with and ongoing explicity urban-gay storyline.

Now I think it was more of an anomaly... as nothing has emerged from MSM to fill that void.

Apparently there's better stuff on cable ( which I don't have; but about which I hear people talking) but that( the fact that it's cable and not broadcast TV) would seem to imply much more limited exposure than that achieved by W and G ten years ago.

>>>For films, it is still pretty rare to see a mainstream success feature gay romance but a lot of films have positive gay characters now. Most believe that Brokeback Mountain lost the BP Oscar because of this issue yet this year, Sean Penn won the Oscar in a very tight race against Mickey Rourke. >>>>

I think we're still pretty much confined to wack-job roles ( e.g. Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal) or as colorful and exotic backround to "round out" the social lives of the invariably heterosexual leads. In other words, not far removed from Amos and Andy-ism. Or better yet, the token negroism that characterized the big screen in the 60's.

BBM lost the Oscar for a lot of reasons ( Crash was an extremely well-made film released the same year; also, BBM did not feature a Sean Penn-type Hollywood icon , but rather two *relative* unknowns.) Irony: BBM was a much better film than Milk.

Bottom line: I think things are getting "better", but it's a long-term process. Plenty of "two steps forward, one step back". Ot is it the other way around?

Welcome to DU.

[RomanHoliday]

5. Friends had a lesbian wedding early on...

Crash was neither a big critical success (it got polarizing reviews at best) nor as big a box office success as Brokeback Mountain, which also received nearly universal critical praise. The decision is considered one of the biggest upsets and disappointments in Oscar history.

There was no real reason for Crash to come out of nowhere and win BP when Brokeback had won every other major Best Picture award that season. Occasionally, you get mediocre reviewed films winning BP when it's a big blockbuster like Gladiator but it's not that common for a film with barely a 70% fresh rating on RT to win BP.

As for gay characters in films, last year there was Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and this year's I Love You Man. They were still supporting roles but positive and well-rounded characters who were not stereotypes at all. Ang Lee has his third gay-themed movie out this summer too (the one about Woodstock).

Also, I think it's less of a stigma for actors to take on gay roles now after Brokeback Mountain pretty much launched Heath Ledger from teen heartthrob into a respected actor. James Franco isn't even stopping with Milk. You also have Robert Pattinson of Twilight in a gay role this year.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Who was the well-rounded gay character in "I Love You Man'?

>>>>>>As for gay characters in films, last year there was Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist and this year's I Love You Man.They were still supporting roles but positive and well-rounded characters who were not stereotypes at all.>>>>>

Seriously... I saw it ( hated it) but am drawing a blank.

[RomanHoliday]

10. Paul Rudd's brother.

[Touchdown]

3. There's more now than before, but could be better.

One glaring omission is LOST. Of all the thousands of characters that has come and gone from the show, I remember only one man. He was well done. He was a bad guy henchman. He was ordinary looking, not at all buff, middle aged (so that was refreshing that he wasn't a Genre cover model) and there was only one verbal hint at his sexuality (Your not my type) early after meeting him. Episodes later he either had a boyfriend or a call-boy when he went back to NYC. The next episode he was shot dead.

Sorry, but you can't talk about anything LOST in just 3 words.;)

Heroes? None. CSI:Anywhere? Not that I have seen. 24? don't watch it but I doubt it. Chuck? Nope! 60 Minutes? Anderson Cooper.:P

Cable OTOH...

Battlestar Galactica: Cmmdr Caine has a relationship with one of the "Caprica" 6s on the Pegasus in "Razor" tide over 'till the new season movie. Lt. Gaeta has a webisode that reveals a relationship he's having with a fellow make officer.

Torchwood: A bi-sexual lead character. Never watched the show, but it sounds interesting. It's a brit show, so that might not count.

True Blood: HBO's vampire potboiler in Louisiana. Lafayette, a very flamboyant southern gay man who also can beat the crap out of any redneck in town.

The upcoming Stargate: Universe will have a lesbian character as a regular. It'll be revealed in a flashback of what they were doing on earth before they got stranded on a lost ship. The producer said that they had a gay character on Atlantis, but they couldn't figure out how to reveal his/her sexuality where it would be natural and not forced. Nobody wants a Dynasty reveal anymore.

[RomanHoliday]

6. On HBO, you also had Six Feet Under and Omar Little (RIP) on The Wire

I usually don't count HBO or Showtime because they have complete artistic freedom and are under no pressure to do anything. But I think The Wire did a pretty phenomenal job with the Omar Little character. Barack Obama even loves that character and the show.

Interestingly nowadays basic cable is playing an increasingly big role in TV. Mad Men, a really great show, has a closeted gay character.

[mitchtv]

9. SHO had the son in US of Tara

very positive character and family

[elshiva]

12. Torchwood is a great bisexual show.

All of the main characters are basically bisexual. It's very randy, but it's mostly about serial monogamy.

[Creideiki]

4. DeGrassi is far ahead of American TV

Will & Grace played Jack as a stereotype and Will as a mannequin. There were times it was funny--I can appreciate the humor of Jack and Karen, but it in no way represented anything I experienced in my life.

[LeftHander]

8. What do you mean by "good portrayals"?

Is this...non-kissing, sexless, straight "acting" gay men and beautiful effeminate super model lesbians?

As opposed to the stereotyped crack whore transwoman, unstable homicidal pedophile or cheating closeted spouse

LGBT character visibility is certainly up...and so is the diversity of LGBT characters. But the above "G-Rated" characters represent only a fraction of the LGBT community.

LOGO has probably done the best to simply show what is out there that doesn't get widespread broadcast.

In general...I feel a good portrayal is a honest picture of the humanity of LGBT people in all the glory that makes straight people cringe...or not...when the cringing stops...then LGBT characters will be seen not as a "backstory, sub-plot gay character" but will just be people in the story.

Now many characters in TV and Film the "gay" aspect is central to the story and plot-lines...eventually that will go away.

Some indie films are just now scratching that surface. Simple romantic comedies and dramas...that are more about the people than their sexuality

[imdjh]

11. I think it's pretty much been following the blacks-on-tv model

Perhaps not in lockstep, but close.

When I was a kid, Amos and ANdy was on, but I don't remember it. The internet says that American Bandstand was integrated in 1957, but I don't remember any black people, at least not in the spotlight. Perhaps some performers, but as a child it didn't matter to me one way or the other.

Sammy Davis practically lived on talk shows and variety shows, so there wasn't a total absence of black people on TV. I remember Clara Gray and Carla Binari on One Life To Live, but I didn't know it was "groundbreaking".

So the first stage is the servant or the buffoon. I guess Paul Lynde filled that category, and Love American Style was making yuk-yuk jokes, as well as Laugh-in, and the Sonny And Cher Show.

We had the closet characters, something they didn't really do with blacks in the same way. I suppose you could consider a overly "normed" black to be a closet character. Anyway, there was Tony Randall on the Odd Couple, Tony Curtis was always queering around, and then you had Tony Randall again on Sydney.

Then you had Billy Crystal on Soap. I suppose that would translate to George Jefferson on All In the Family. Norman Lear had guest gay characters on All In The Family and Maude. They sort of fell into the next level of saint and tragic hero (Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Sounder), teaming up with made for TV movies like That Certain Summer.

I don't know what shows would correspond to Sanford and Son or Good Times.

Then things got a little preachy with made for TV movies like Alexander The Other Side Of Dawn and Doing Time On Maple Drive.

Then there is Frasure, which I maintain is the longest running gay couple on TV. And then we got the real thing with Will And Grace which features the crazy queen, the sweater queen, the occasional nonscene queen, and the straight girl all in high camp. How real can you get?

I don't know what would qualify as the match for the Cosby Show, which many black people consider to be ridiculously unrealistic, and I don't know if a gay counterpart to the would be necessary or even work. After all, just plain folks doesn't go over all that well in a comedy format. I don't know who watched the Cosby Show, but it wasn't me.

I'd like to see more gay villains.

[Tarc]

13. Out of curiosity, how was "Queer as Folk" perceived?

I am straight and I loved it, was sad to see it end.