There’s a cultural divide, apparently, about whether sitcom representations of gay men tend to be offensive, campy stereotypes, and it’s gained notice by the New York Times.
As for me, the portrayal of Cam on “Modern Family,” played by straight actor Eric Stonestreet, has never rung true, whereas Kurt on “Glee,” played by openly gay Chris Colfer, has always been convincingly authentic.
18 Comments for “Stereotypes, or Eye of the Beholder”
posted by Houndentenor on
So what other shows would you say have the best portrayals of gay and lesbian characters? (This is a good conversation topic!)
posted by Tom Scharbach on
Stereotypes, or Eye of the Beholder
Who knows? A bit of both, probably.
From what I’ve seen of them, gay-themed mass-audience comedies are not much different than “All in the Family” or “Reba” or “Keeping Up Appearances” or “The Honeymooners”, straight-themed comedies that played off stereotypes of one sort or another.
Sure the stereotypes are exaggerated. No harm, no foul. Farce based on exaggerated stereotype is comedic, and has been at least since Shakespeare.
I rather liked the quote from Ian McKellen: “It’s actually a sign that we’ve all matured, and now it’s perfectly respectable to have an exaggerated, farcical representation of two people who are gay. And for us to accept that they can be figures of fun, just in the same way as a farce about straight people would be.”
It isn’t as if there aren’t plenty of serious, sensitive and powerful depictions of gays and lesbians in media, particularly movies — “Brokeback Mountain”, “Latter Days”, “Milk”, “Priscilla”, “Yossi and Jagger” and “Angels in America” come to mind immediately.
A little comedy doesn’t hurt us. Can anyone really say that “La Cage aux Folles” (and its American knock off, “The Birdcage”) wasn’t good for the soul? I still do the John Wayne schtick from “The Birdcage”.
posted by Houndentenor on
It’s hard to argue that Cam is an exaggerated caricature of a gay man when every character on Modern Family is an exaggerated caricature of some type or other. There are some gay men who are terrified of any effeminate gay an in the media, as if there aren’t plenty of gay men just like that. No we aren’t all like that but plenty of us are, and what exactly is wrong with being that way? What is it about the less “butch” gay men that bothers some of us so? It reminds me of the joke among my friends that any gay guy who described himself as straight-acting was going to inevitably turn out to be the nelliest queen we’d ever met. For every Cam there’s an Officer Cooper (a/k/a Officer Cuddlybear on Southland). I don’t really see the problem so long as that’s not the only kind of gay man we see in the media. That was a problem when there were almost no gay characters in tv and movies. We’ve moved past that.
posted by Tom Scharbach on
So what other shows would you say have the best portrayals of gay and lesbian characters? (This is a good conversation topic!)
I thought that the American version of “Queer as Folk” did a good job. All of the principal characters were complex, and developed over the course of the series. It was a soap at heart, but a soap with good characters, well portrayed.
I was touched by Heath Ledger’s portrayal of Ennis in “Brokeback Mountain”, because my first love died in a car crash when he was 20, and I fell into an inarticulate grief after his death, just muted and stumbling, for a long time. I was so touched, in fact, that Michael found and gave me a poster from the film signed by Ang Lee and all the actors/actresses in the film, and it is hanging on the wall. But aside from my personal reaction, I think that both Ennis and Jack were well-developed characters, portrayed sensitively.
I thought Yehuda Levi’s portrayal of Jagger in “Yossi and Jagger” was superb.
And Sean Penn in “Milk” — although they portrayal was less developed than I would have liked, Penn managed to capture Milk’s conflicted, complicated nature.
That’s a fair start.
I don’t watch a lot of television, but I think that Jack was a scream in “Will & Grace”. I thought that the show sucked overall, though, truth be told, and I mainly saw bits and pieces during the days when Michael was watching reruns. I don’t think that I could sit through a whole episode.
posted by Jorge on
I don’t watch much TV.
You know which portrayal I came to like many years later? The gay male couple played by Edward Herrmann and… someone else in the 1988 comedy Big Business, starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin.
It is very understated that they’re gay–they’re employees of the main antagonist, business suits and all that, probably closeted given the times. But then there’s this scenes where the younger guy stares at Sadie’s boyfriend Roone’s figure as he’s doing pushups, etc. and Herrmann’s character makes this appalled comment like “hey!” with this look of fright (what’re you doing!?).
posted by tom jefferson III on
The gay couple in Big Business (1988) were probably not closeted. It looked like their employer knew, they lived together and (at the hotel) slept together.
The male “country bumpkin” apparently does not know that gay people exist, because when he learns that the two men are sleeping together in a hotel room, he assumes that it is because they don’t have enough room or something.
posted by Houndentenor on
And in that case the insulting stereotype is of rural men, not of gay people.
posted by Jorge on
I guess I don’t remember the movie as well, then.
I don’t know if everyone would have gotten it. I certainly didn’t when I first watched the movie. No uncomfortable conversations from my parents about that XD
posted by Tom Jefferson III on
I been watching the original UK version of Queer As Folk, and I like it a bit better then the U.S. version — although I don’t think the UK version lasted too long.
After the U.S. version of Queer As Folk aired, their was a somewhat similar series — I heard — but the characters were mostly gay/bi black men. I didn’t see much about it, after some initial buzz.
posted by Houndentenor on
Are you referring to Noah’s Arc? It was a series on Logo. It was sort of a cross between sitcom and soap opera. I enjoyed it although I wouldn’t claim it was great. It was abruptly canceled but there was a film (Jumping the Broom) that tied everything up. Overall I thought it was better than Queer as Folk (USA).
posted by Mike in Houston on
As long as the characters are three-dimensional, I don’t care if they tip toward exaggeration on either side of the spectrum.
It’s the portrayal of gays (and lesbians and transgender persons) as one-dimensional tropes (the fashionista BFF, the dying of AIDS saint, the clutch-your-balls dyke, the uber-manly transwoman, etc.) that I hate. Ditto the whole gay men are either sexless (preferred) or sluts (punchline)… or that our hangups all center around our sexuality.
posted by Houndentenor on
The more I think about it the more I am realizing is the problem with the way in which today’s comedies reduce everyone to caricatures and parodies of whatever type of person they are supposedly presenting. Everything is about cheap laughs. There was a time in which sitcoms had interesting characters. Watch an older show like The Dick Van Dyke Show or The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The laughs are fewer and farther apart but the characters are real people. Yes, some of the comedies present stereotypes only to deconstruct them, but that’s not that common. It’s all about getting as many laughs as possible before the viewer can change the channel (that is of the few that actually watch live tv any more). Asking for such programs to present three dimensional portrayals of gay people is probably too much considering they don’t present any other characters that way.
posted by Houndentenor on
One more thought. If I understand the complaint, it’s that Stonestreet is not gay while Colfer is. But if we follow that line of thinking, it would put far more limits on gay actors if they were only allowed to play gay parts. Yes, there was a time when it was considered brave and daring for an actor to play a gay character. Then they started getting awards for doing so and then it was considered Oscar/Emmy bait. Now I think things have leveled off and actors just want to work and if possible work on something good. But if we insist that only gays play gays, then the reverse will also be in effect with only straights playing straights and given how few decent gay parts there are at any given time, that will adversely effect actors like NPH, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and David Hyde Pierce.
posted by Jorge on
The liberals do believe that sexuality is on a continuum rather than a dichotomy, after all. I’m sure a good actor can use their experience with his own sexuality to support a role with either sexual orientation.
posted by Jimmy on
“The liberals do believe that sexuality is on a continuum rather than a dichotomy, after all.”
Just liberals?
posted by Tom Jefferson III on
I have enjoyed watching the Buffy The Vampire TV Series on Netflix. One of the primary characters — Willow — is gay, although I don’t think that gets addressed until after the third season.
posted by Kosh III on
There was Agent Steve on Warehouse 13 (SyFy) whose sexuality was treated very matter of factly. His character was very non sterotype such as the time he said he hated Halloween and didn’t watch the Oscars/Emmys. His straight coworker who liked both things gasped and said jokingly “Am I gay?”
Overall a good character treatment.
posted by tom Jefferson 3rd on
Sadly, Warehouse 13 got cancelled. Agent Steve came a bit later in the series, but the writing was quite good and fit into the tone of the services. He even had a boyfriend.
HG Wells – as seen in the series – was bisexual. The Warehouse 13 show seems to existed in the same universe as Eureaka.
Now I liked Eureaka, but their gay character was never developed or written as well as he could have been. He was basically a brilliant chef who ran the town’s cafe. I liked the actor/character, but always felt like the writers or something were not really sure what to do with the character.