PAST
All minority groups have been underrepresented and stereotyped in the media. Stereotypes that the LGBTQ+ community faces are; characters lacking stable relationships, being preoccupied with their sexuality, and being laughable, one-dimensional figures (Changing media and Changing minds: Media Exposure and Viewer Attitudes Toward Homosexuality)One of the earliest representations of a same sex couple is arguably in the 1895 short film 'The Gay Brothers'(Dickson Experimental Sound Film), the film features three men one playing the violin while the other two dance to the music.
The film was never commercially released by the people who made it possibly due to discrimination within society and Hollywood against gay people. The film was initially an experiment at syncing sound and was considered a failure, the lack of known history behind it meant that people developed their own stories about what it meant.
One thing that was consistent between the stories was the obsession with the actors sexuality, it's been argued In Straight,(by) Wheeler Winston Dixon (who) argues that the actors are heterosexual, reasoning that society at the times had a more relaxed attitude to seeing two men dancing cheek to cheek, if not for aesthetic reasons, then at least for entertainment (Dixon Experimental film website) Further reinforcing the idea that homosexuality can be used as a source of entertainment and ridicule on screen.
This way of using LGBT characters to reinforce masculinity and be used as an entertainment purpose is also seen in the 1923 silent comedy film "The Soilers". While he can be seen to be the butt of the films joke's, nobody within the film world within the film world laughs at him or teases him or bullies him. (Shane Brown, Queer Sexualities in Early Film: Cinema and Male-Male Intimacy), it's something that represents the feelings in society.
In 1934 the Production Code was enforced as an attempt to reaffirm the standards under which silent films had been produced since 1922, and to revise, amplify and add to those principles in the light of responsible opinion... (The Motion Picture Production Code - Link), in general the idea was that LGBT members wouldn't be represented as negatively as they had been, however it didn't get as much of an impact as was hoped.
These representations still existed in films such as Hitchcock's 'Rope', it pushed the boundaries of the Hay's Code (Motion Picture code) in which it states Sex Perversion or any inference to it is forbidden, how ever the two protagonists in the film had a heavily implied relationship. During the casting process for the film, Hitchcock "wanted to be able to get away with" the "homosexual element of the script" and "was interested in perverse sexuality of any kind...but being a strong Catholic he probably thought it was wrong" (A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock)
“We knew they were gay, sure, but nobody said anything about it,” Farley Granger said of his and John Dall’s characters in the 1995 documentary
Stonewall
Fed up with the constant harassment from the police members of the LGBT community started what's known as 'The Stone Wall Riots', these were a series of demonstrations by members of the community against the police raid that took place at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. One of Stonewall's aims is to reach more people and have a greater impact by transforming institutions and by embedding an inclusive and accepting culture (Stonewall website). By doing this Stonewall had a huge impact on the media and Hollywood in terms of representation.
AIDS/HIV
The media's portrayal of AIDS were Government backed campaigns through the 1980's and 90's and resulted in the idea that, if you had aids then you were either a drug user or a sexual deviant. Gay men were often singled out as the general view from society was that they were responsible for the transmission of HIV. Press reports were becoming increasingly more homophobic, with headlines such as "Gay plague may lead to blood ban on homosexuals".Ellen
In 1997 the Puppy Episode of the sitcom Ellen, staring Ellen Degeneres aired with 42 million people watching it. It was in this episode that her character announced over the tannoy that she was gay, after Ellen recently told Time magazine. Even though the episode had successful ratings and won a Peabody award there was huge backlash and Ellen's career was nearly lost. There were advertising boycotts and even though ABC renewed the show for another season, they put a 'parental advisory' warning at the start of each episode.
It was criticised for being 'too gay', even by the LGBT community and was then cancelled. Even though Ellen wasn't the first gay character on TV her coming out on air brought huge media attention, and despite Ellen nearly loosing her career other shows like 'Will and Grace' were able to start airing.
PRESENT
In present day LGBTQ+ representation has made huge strides, however it is yet to be equal and be a true representation of the community.
The advantage of television today is that it has a far greater reach to different demographics, including gay people. Over time society has become much more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community being in TV shows with some of the most love characters from shows being LGBT.
Shows like 'Will and Grace' and 'Friends', to present day ones such as 'Glee' and 'Doctor Who' are able to have these characters and it doesn't face anywhere near as much backlash as it once did. The fact that modern TV storylines are no longer focussed on sexuality and that characters have become more 3-dimensional helps with this representation too, LGBTQ character stories are being shown in the same way other's are.
It is not simply a choice, but a process of acceptance, and entertainment is able to bring viewers who are struggling with their true identity to a healthy place where they can be proud of themselves and who they are. (USA Today 20-year flashback: Ellen DeGeneres came out, and paved the way for more gay TV roles)
However despite all of this development there is still a sense of heteronormativity on our TVs, writers and producers can face challenges with how difficult LGBTQ character storylines are. Some viewers can also think that a 'gay agenda' is forced down their throats when their shows start to include an LGBTQ character.
The Bury Your Gays Trope
The Bury Your Gays trope is one that is persistent in modern day TV, gay characters just aren't allowed happy endings. Even if they do end up having some kind of relationship, at least one half of the couple, often the one who was more aggressive in pursuing a relationship, thus "perverting" the other one, has to die at the end (TV Tropes- Bury your gays). It can often go against the main work the screenplay is based off and can nearly always cause an uproar from the audience.
Lesbian representation dropped dramatically on broadcast television, down to 17% of all LGBTQ characters. Lesbian representation is also down on cable to 20% from 22%. (USA Today 20-year flashback: Ellen DeGeneres came out, and paved the way for more gay TV roles)
This can be attributed to the 'Bury your gays trope', essentially referring to the amount of deaths given to LGBT characters. Most of these characters are killed after confirming their sexuality or relationships.
No comments:
Post a Comment