The gaying of TV

oh boy.... i miss QAF + Xena! those were good tv days.....

Most of the shows I see on TV run like hell from gay characters or gay images. Brothers & Sisters is the exception, and given how much criticism the show gets here and at Afterellen, I think people that the show for granted (I do too, sometimes).

big fans of the show and try to say so and have championed it from the very beginning. Heck, that's why we recap it! But that doesn't mean it's perfect and couldn't do some things better.

too hard on him of late.

Kevin is definitely flawed, but I think he - like all the Walker siblings - is a fundamentally good person with plenty of strengths. Then again, I really love B&S as a whole and not just because of the gay storyline. To each his own, I suppose.

... I don't think they were made just in reference to that one tiny cameo by a bandanna-wearing lesbian. They were made partly in reference to the fact that Brothers and Sisters has had four prominent gay male characters so far (Kevin and his boyfriends) and is on the cusp of introducing a fifth... which will again be a gay man. So gay men = prominent, well-developed and multiple roles on B&S, lesbians = one tiny bandanna-wearing and rather stereotypical cameo. If you look at Queer As Folk, also created by gay men, then you get a similar thing... loads of male characters with plenty of screentime and interesting, varied storylines, and boring Mel and Lindz who get saddled with a storyline about Lindz having an affair *with a man*. (I do realise that some of the same criticisms could be made about gay men on The L Word). Nip/Tuck... created by a gay man... minor lesbian character who mostly has no love life and not much interesting plot. Network TV as a whole... no lesbians except for Bianca on All My Children, whose most recent affair was with a transgender character played by a man. Gay men are shamefully underrepresented on TV, but lesbians are more underrepresented. That's just a fact. Take a look at the majority of TV/media marketed towards 'the gay and lesbian community', and if you really count up the numbers you will find that the presenters, the issues discussed etc are far more likely to be about gay men. AfterEllen has a blog post about an upcoming season of "gay and lesbian" movies on TCM which perfectly illustrates the point. http://www.afterellen.com/blog/malinda/note-to-turner-classic-movies All the presents/commentators announced so far are gay men, and virtually all the movies announced so far are about gay men. I don't think those comments on AfterEllen were made because lesbians want to see gay men as the enemy... I think they were made because lesbians are frustrated that gay men in positions of power on TV don't do a bit more to work towards interesting, varied, well-developed visibility for lesbians as well as gay men. The recent development in B&S is just the perfect example... show that already has had four gay male characters says it's going to introduce another gay character, and it turns out that yet again it's going to be a man.

Well, let's examine that statement... Desperate Housewives = 1 celibate, asexual gay teenager Desperate Housewives = 0 lesbians of any sort Heroes = 1 character intended to be gay who turned out not to be Heroes = 0 characters intended to be lesbian Brothers and Sisters = 1 main gay character, 3 supporting gay characters in 5 or 6 episodes, 1 upcoming significant gay character Brothers and Sisters = 1 cameo lesbian in 1 episode So I think they are a little bit better. And, for the record, I know The L Word has had at least one gay/bi male character (I don't watch it, so I'm not sure which) played by out actor Alan Cumming. This doesn't mean that I don't get your point... or some of your point, anyway. I would agree that perhaps these things do partly go in cycles, and that lesbians had at least a bit of a good cycle when Weaver was on ER and Willow was on Buffy. I'm sorry the AfterEllen piece upset you. I honestly don't think the AfterEllen writers are out to get you. I think they feel frustrated at the lack of lesbians on TV - particularly network TV - and the fact that things do seem to be skewing a bit more towards the guys at the moment. That doesn't mean lesbians don't want there to be good representations of gay men on TV... it's just that they'd like some of the same for themselves. I expect the AfterEllen writer was impressed by the character of Kevin on B&S, and was hopeful that the new gay character might be an equally well-developed woman. Then felt disappointed when it turned out it wasn't. Because that means we get left (at least for the moment) with Bianca on AMC, and no-one else. Whereas, as far as network TV is concerned, gay men have Kevin, his three-and-counting boyfriends, the new B&S gay male character, Marc and Justin on Ugly Betty, Andrew (rubbish as he may be, at least he's there) on Desperate Housewives. A bit of an imbalance, non?

...but the B&S people knew exactly what they were doing when they chose to introduce a hyper-stereotyped & activist lesbian, so I think the criticism is justified.

I'm sure the writers/creators wanted to create a family that was "better" than the Walkers.  But for a "better" gay person than Kevin, he/she didn't have to be the character that was introduced.  How about someone who is more comfortable in his/her own skin, emotionally stable, etc.?

Gay men write stories about gay men. When the lesbian population is better represented in production in hollywood, maybe we'll see more lesbian storylines. One underrepresented minority can't be expected to champion all the others. Get in there and do it, folks! Russel T Davis has done it in his country. Keep writing good stories and positive characters. It's changing but slowly. Less bitching and more action.

 

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.