my phone always rings but it's never for me.
blah, blah, gays and sports. (but not together!)
to return briefly to the subjct of ronnie and ben on make me a supermodel, there is a short but interesting column in entertainment weekly about gays and lesbians in reality television, and how gay and lesbian reality television personalities have helped normalize homosexuality for viewers. one thing the writer fails to point out is that, lately, it seems like reality television is the only place you see gay people on television anymore (and nope, anderson cooper doesn't count). i've been thinking about this, and also about the recent discussion about the difference between the slash fandom and queer communities, and when i was trying to explain why i can't stop watching make me a supermodel, i think the answer is that it's the perfect anecdote to slash fatigue.
i've talked about this at inarticulate length before ( wrt: nip/tuck, and also entourage, and also, uh, everwood & wrt: the harry potter books) but basically: i know there are lots of reasons why people engage in slash fandom, but my motivation has always been that slash was a DIY way to make up for the lack of queer characters in the television shows i watched, the movies i saw and the books i read. but the more time i spend engaged in slash fandom, the more frustrated i get that popular culture can't catch up. gay guy and straight guy get thrown into a roommate situation, gay guy has a crush on straight guy, straight guy is indulgent of his attentions in a way that might just be extreme comfort with his own sexuality but might be something else is one of the oldest slash fiction plots in the book, and watching that plot play out on reality tv, even a reality tv show about supermodel wannabes, it's like -- wow! we're here! this is what i've been waiting for! i don't even care that it's not going to come to fruition, because i know there are real reasons, not just tv writers who don't write gay characters and gay romantic plots. i doubt anything will happen between ronnie and ben, because ben is probably 100% straight and definitely 100% married, but i'm still enjoying it 100 times more than watching 60 minutes of a genre show of dubious quality for 30 seconds of awkward and possibly subtextual interaction between same-sex characters. so i'm apparently gonna watch bravo reality shows with perceived quality that is probably inflated due to the writer's strike. yeah, i guess that's progress.
since i promised callmesandy i would finish my book report on god save the fan: last month, i said that the jury was still out, but that it was kind of crappy. then it became both boring and crappy and i never finished it. then i went to see will leitch read from the book and decided he was the the charming and funny author of a crappy book, capable of creating an amazing tail-wags-dog situation by name-checking chuck klosterman and laughing politely when i said his book signing was better than bill simmons' because bill simmons wears gay shoes. then i figured i should read the rest of the book, and buried near the end there was a heartbreakingly awesome essay about watching the 2006 NLCS with a bunch of strangers who happened to be st. louis cardinals fans at a bar in new york city and it was everything i love about sports fandom. so, yeah, the book is kind of a mixed bag.
to return briefly to the subjct of ronnie and ben on make me a supermodel, there is a short but interesting column in entertainment weekly about gays and lesbians in reality television, and how gay and lesbian reality television personalities have helped normalize homosexuality for viewers. one thing the writer fails to point out is that, lately, it seems like reality television is the only place you see gay people on television anymore (and nope, anderson cooper doesn't count). i've been thinking about this, and also about the recent discussion about the difference between the slash fandom and queer communities, and when i was trying to explain why i can't stop watching make me a supermodel, i think the answer is that it's the perfect anecdote to slash fatigue.
i've talked about this at inarticulate length before ( wrt: nip/tuck, and also entourage, and also, uh, everwood & wrt: the harry potter books) but basically: i know there are lots of reasons why people engage in slash fandom, but my motivation has always been that slash was a DIY way to make up for the lack of queer characters in the television shows i watched, the movies i saw and the books i read. but the more time i spend engaged in slash fandom, the more frustrated i get that popular culture can't catch up. gay guy and straight guy get thrown into a roommate situation, gay guy has a crush on straight guy, straight guy is indulgent of his attentions in a way that might just be extreme comfort with his own sexuality but might be something else is one of the oldest slash fiction plots in the book, and watching that plot play out on reality tv, even a reality tv show about supermodel wannabes, it's like -- wow! we're here! this is what i've been waiting for! i don't even care that it's not going to come to fruition, because i know there are real reasons, not just tv writers who don't write gay characters and gay romantic plots. i doubt anything will happen between ronnie and ben, because ben is probably 100% straight and definitely 100% married, but i'm still enjoying it 100 times more than watching 60 minutes of a genre show of dubious quality for 30 seconds of awkward and possibly subtextual interaction between same-sex characters. so i'm apparently gonna watch bravo reality shows with perceived quality that is probably inflated due to the writer's strike. yeah, i guess that's progress.
since i promised callmesandy i would finish my book report on god save the fan: last month, i said that the jury was still out, but that it was kind of crappy. then it became both boring and crappy and i never finished it. then i went to see will leitch read from the book and decided he was the the charming and funny author of a crappy book, capable of creating an amazing tail-wags-dog situation by name-checking chuck klosterman and laughing politely when i said his book signing was better than bill simmons' because bill simmons wears gay shoes. then i figured i should read the rest of the book, and buried near the end there was a heartbreakingly awesome essay about watching the 2006 NLCS with a bunch of strangers who happened to be st. louis cardinals fans at a bar in new york city and it was everything i love about sports fandom. so, yeah, the book is kind of a mixed bag.