GAY TV - No Contest?

[DigitalJay]

I'm sick sick sick of hearing about "fantasy football" etc, if it's that much fun, why hasn't anyone made an online fantasy play-it-str8, try to guess who is gay and who is str8 the 1st episode, and who gets booted after that? I wanna see what everyone's gaydar is like hehe...so someone come up with a system and someone offer a prize or two, it would be FUN!

[DigitalJay]

awww guess nobody is interested...are any of you even going to watch it? It premiers tonight!

[BDBionic]

I love fantasy football and have won my league each of the past 3 years :groovy:

on the other hand, I don't have TV. So no... I won't we watching that show you mentioned. In fact, until reading this thread I hadn't even known it existed.

[Chilihost]

never heard of it, its not anywhere in Aussie land yet!

cheers!

Luke

[jIgG]

what's fantasy football and what does it have to do with gay tv?

[Jasun]

I heard about the show, but there's something about the whole "who's gay and who isn't presented as entertainment" thing that kind of rubs me the wrong way.

The portrayals of gay characters on TV usually make me want to throw my TV out the window. There was that "Boy meets Boy" show where the gay 'bachelor' had to choose from a bunch of guys, and half way through the show, they told him he was really just trying to guess who was gay and who wasn't, and if he chose wrong, he'd lose the prize being offered. One of my friends tried to get me to watch "Queer Eye" and I lasted about 4 minutes before I went looking for my revolver.

But I digress.

Mainstream culture may be still just getting used to the homo next door, but for many of us in large cities with huge gay communities, it got old around the same time as the cassette single. I get bugged with the idea that gay people are supposed to act a certain way or listen to a certain kind of music or dress code. Watching newly out young men and women trying to shoe-horn themselves into a gay community standard of social grace is rather sad. I've been introduced to people by friends (more often my friend's girlfriends) as "the straightest acting gay guy I've ever met".

It. Makes. Me. Want. To. Scream.

So although a show like that might help out gay kids in small towns who's only gay role models are Jack and Will, for most of us, it's just more tedium that ends with punch lines including designer's names and decorating tips, and I'd like to think most of us have moved past that by now.

[Jasun]

I just reread that post, and realized what as asshole I sound like above there... I've had coffee... feeling much better, thanks.

[Chilihost]

hehe...coffee...is....good!

I really don't mind the mainstreaming of gay culture, especially when you meet some hot straight boys who have been watching all this gay stuff on TV and have been getting a bit curious

cheers!
Luke

[Dzinerbear]

:thumbsup: Jasun

[Jason]

you most certainly did not sound like an asshole jasun. i thought you were well spoken and i'm glad because now i have less typing to do...i can just say..."yeah, what he said."

as much as "queer eye" and "boy meets boy" get on my nerves for all the reasons you mentioned, i do have to give those shows, especially "will and grace," kudos because they're breaking down walls and paving the way. think about it...the early shows portraying black families on tv were kind-of offensive to black people for the same reasons (jeffersons, good times, etc...) showing black people just seething with ethnic stereotypes. but those shows broke molds and allowed society to accept things into their homes that otherwise would have remained put down. women's roles on tv are the same, look how far we have come from the days of "bewitched" and "i dream of jeanie" (although i did kinda like the "master" references)

after all this babble i think my point is that, while early on, there are many sacrifices made in dignity, the road is then paved for the evolution and growth of gay characters in mainstream tv. maybe 20 years from now this won't even be an issue. let's just hope that we can evolve as a society as well.

[DigitalJay]

Very well said guys! I totally agree with both of you - but i've accepted that the average US citizen is a complete dumbass, and mass media companies of course must cater to the masses. These shows aren't targeted at gay audiences, so they have to be "dumbed down" and full of stereotypes. But Jason is right, its paving the way; without all these new gay shows, there would be a MUCH smaller chance of an all-gay channel ever being launched in the US. I want one damn it! Then we will see a true evolution in gay media. Gay TV BY gay men and women FOR gay men and women.

[DigitalJay]

besides...gay stereotypes are, like, funny!

[Jason]

media does have to cater to the lowest common denominator...that's where their money comes from.

that's also why i decided i couldn't be a journalism major after 2 1/2 years. there's no way i could compromise my work, or work ethics for sensational journalism.