You Might Like
No more Mr Nice Gay: how Tv representation changed from Will& Grace to Empire
angelamarks01 posted a photo:
via WordPress bit.ly/2yCzsyu
Portraying gay humen as witty and well-dressed builds them feel inadequate in real life, claims a new examine. Really? Theres more to modern gay characters than the sexless sidekick
Threats to gay men self-esteem come in many guises, from Grindr chats that aim abruptly after sending a shirtless pic, to the 16% of Britons who think lesbians sexuality should be made illegal( thanks guys ), to the five remaining countries that believe we should be put to death. Until now, I hadnt factored in that we may all be silently agonising over whether or not we compare favourably to Will Truman from TV relic Will& Grace but according to new research, that is precisely what has been knocking our confidence.
Psychologists from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge have found that the positive portraying of gay men on TV can be damaging. Apparently, gay humen may have been left depressed by movies and TV shows that promote an assumption that we all must be well-dressed, emotionally available and whip-smart. The project leader, Dr Daragh McDermott, argues: On the face of it, stereotypes associated with gay men, such as being fashionable or witty, appear positive. However, by their very nature, these stereotypes pigeonhole what it means to be gay and lead to unrealistic expectations of how lesbian humen are expected to behave. Gay all those people who dont fit the common stereotype are often marginalised for not living up to these expectations, which are able to have an impact on their mental health.
If gay men are being portrayed with unrealistic positivity which I dont believe perhaps that would go some style to counteract the negative stereotypes that have existed in film and Tv for years. A survey published in 2014 by the US gay rights campaigning organisation Glaad found that the majority of LGBT characters featured in major studio releases are still offensive or libelous portraits( funny that, from an industry that bankrolled Lesbian Vampire Killers ).
The Jungle Books villain, Shere Khan, talks( with gay voice) to the snake, Kaa. Photo: Snap/ Rex/ Shutterstock
In his recent documentary, Do I Sound Gay ?, film-maker David Thorpe explored how Disney villains, from Captain Hook to Shere Khan, often have stereotypically gay voices, means that generations of children have been raised to associate being gay with being evil, if kind of fabulous.
Setting aside purely negative portrayings, the results of this latest survey resulted me to question whether the researchers can possibly have been watching the same programmes as I have programmes where modern gay characters are often just as complex, injury and infuriating as their straight equivalents. Apparently not. In fact, judging from the examples cited in the findings, their televisions have been operating on a time delay of 10-20 years. Alongside Will& Grace, they refer to characters from Sex and the City and My Best Friends Wedding. This last one was released in 1997, which, as a pop-cultural benchmark, was the same year the Spice Girls debut album was nominated for the Mercury prize.
While I agree that these instances promote an unhelpful stereotype of lesbian humen as funny, sexless sidekicks, Im unconvinced that such is qualities most gay men aspire to( most gay humen I satisfy just want to be Russell Tovey, but thats another story ). If these demonstrates have had a negative impact, its not because they have left swaths of lesbian humen tremoring with insecurity that theyll never measure up to Stanford Blatch.
Yes, series such as Will& Grace and Sex and the City reinforce a two-dimensional notion of what it is to be gay basically, youre kinda into Liza Minnelli but things have moved on significantly since then. Take Looking, the HBO show about a group of gay friends living in San Francisco. Among their numbers are Eddie, a HIV-positive outreach worker for LGBT youth, and Dom, a struggling waiter in an open relationship with an older man. All in all, a slightly more complex take on modern gay life than Jack McFarland and his Cher doll.
Jussie Smollett as Jamal in Empire. Photograph: Rex/ Shutterstock/ REX/ Shutterstock
Foxs hip-hop melodrama Empire has been roundly celebrated for confronting the musical genres history of homophobia head-on. Jussie Smollett stars as Jamal, the black sheep middle child of a record executive, who is pushed out because of his sexuality. Jarring flashbacks to his abusive childhood sit alongside more dare I say it? amusing flashings of pernicious racism, such as his formidable mother Cookies insistence on referring to his boyfriend as Dora. Despite this, its clear that she loves him, which feels like a rounded take on a knotty subject.
On British screens, Russell T Daviess Cucumber was similarly nuanced, investigating the life of a middle-aged lesbian man in all its messy, complicated glory. The protagonist, Henry, was a grumpy, selfish narcissist, altogether disillusioned with his own life. Most of the characters were gay, but were they in any way cute or aspirational? God , no. Or, at the least , not from where I was sitting.
Although the new analyse relies on dated characterisations, the researchers and I can agree on the need for more multifaceted gay characters not least to quiet the vocal minority. Perhaps as more gay characters reach our screens, both aspirational and abominable, less will hinge on the few that we do watch. Because no Tv demonstrate can be all things to all lesbian people and shouldnt be expected to try.
Read more: www.theguardian.com
The post No more Mr Nice Gay: how Tv representation changed from Will& Grace to Empire appeared first on ViraLovaMatic.
www.flickr.com/photos/151563253@N08/37566047766/
You Might Like
