hey, anyone noticed that television is kind of weird about gay men?

[pocochina]

This is something that I think about a fair amount, but various media/fandom developments of the last few weeks have brought it to the front of my mind. The first half of this post is about ~stuff generally; the second half is specific to how it's apparently the Dean/Cas week of our ~cycle in Supernatural fandom.

Comments

[pocochina]

Yeah, premium cable dramas are pretty decent about this? Certainly better than network or basic cable. True Blood is also good on this, as was The Wire. Game of Thrones is noticeably more explicit than the source material wrt Loras and Renly. And that's good news, for sure. But that's still really hinky, that the prestige/adult/risque dramas are willing to take the apparently terrifying plunge of showing gay men as fully-rounded people. Cable is where you go for bloody warfare, for ever-more-titillating sexposition, and for....totally normal m/m relationships.

You're the second person to mention Six Feet Under this week! I'm going to have to watch it some day.

But also like the CW showed the LA Complex which had a really interesting story about a gay rapper struggling to come to terms with his sexual orientation and I felt like no one talked about it? And I don't know if that's because it was this show that barely anyone watched on the CW (and in Canada) or what, but it frustrates me when people are like, THERE ARE NONE OF THESE STORIES ANYWHERE because sometimes there are, they just aren't being watched.

That's a fair point. I would say, though, that while coming out stories are incredibly important, it sends a really worrying message when that's the vast majority of stories that are told. That's where things should begin, not where they should end. You know? It's like "oh, we'll show gay men struggling with how they feel different" - not about how, there are systematic inequalities that exist outside of someone's individual self-esteem, or about what it's like to have and navigate a community, or about just about how if all goes well, someone's sexuality can become a part of their own personal normal.

Hmm maybe the Rebekah kiss was a big deal bc it was the first same sex kiss in the TVD verse? (not sure if it was, but seems like it could be or at least close)

It was, I think as well. I think the really big thing about it, as cynical as this sounds, is that it wasn't a stunt? Like, I don't think anyone knew about it until it happened. But yeah, it's also the idea that people will really still allege that IT'S SO BIZARRE that A LEAD CHARACTER could be revealed as being bisexual without character-derailing fanfare, NOBODY WOULD LIKE OR BELIEVE SUCH A THING. And now we know that no, clearly it wasn't, so there's some double standard at work, and weirdness about men and male sexuality seems to be the likely culprit.