Y'know something?
Feb. 20th, 2005 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ashinaeThe fact that Joss Whedon acknowledged that Spike and Angel had done it at some point in the past 100 years; the fact that Joss Whedon gave Inara Serra a female client; the fact that Joss Whedon had a canon lesbian character who had two canon lesbian relationships -- it's a lot better than what Rob Tapert gave us for Xena. A whole fucking lot better. It's a lot better than the subtle ambiguous hints that werewolf=homosexual that we were given by Cuaron, Kloves, and possibly Rowling if she really does get some measure of approval on the Harry Potter movies.
We haven't come that far in the past ten years, since Xena: Warrior Princess came on the air. If I had a dollar for every time I've read someone saying that they stopped watching Xena when Xena and Gabrielle got "too gay", I could treat myself and a friend or two for dinner at the bloody Keg (for the uninitiated: a particularly expensive steakhouse restaurant). If I had a dollar for every time someone freaked out over the Willow/Tara subtext back in the fourth season of Buffy, I could buy myself the entire collection of Aubrey-Maturin books -- again.
There's a reason Queer as Folk and The L Word run on a cable network, people. It's because even while shows like Buffy, Angel, and Xena run on the far fringes of "mainstream" television, they'd still lose a huge chunk of their audience if their central figure(s) were queer. That's just. the. way. it. is. Does it piss me off? Of course! But in a day and age where the only "acceptable" queer show is bloody Will and Grace, I think we do sort of have to count our blessings. Oz and Six Feet Under are still just cable shows.
Should there be more? Of course. But in so much of today's society, with all this ranting about "indecency" and "the gay agenda" (obviously if I have not seen one, bisexuals aren't allowed?), it's easier for creators of shows to hint about it, or have the gay character not be the central character, or acknowledge it after the fact, than to risk alienating sponsors and a big slice of the audience. Because, yes, it is a big slice of the audience. Even if someone is in the sort of environment that's open-minded enough to watch a show like Angel, they may still have problems with the icky GAY. I know people who are not at all religious, or only pay lip service at major holidays but have never even read a Bible, who don't like the GAY.
Is it bad that we live in such a society? Duh. But dear lord -- look how far we've come. The fact that Lucy Lawless has stated, since the demise of Xena, that she does believe that Xena and Gabrielle were more than just friends? It makes me fucking happy! I do not blame show writers and creators at all for being afraid to point-blank say "YES THEY WERE", no matter how sad I think it is that they couldn't have given it a proper canon, on-screen acknowledgement. They danced around the issue.
But looking at the way things are right now -- in a world where people are dying from natural disasters and man-made wars, and yet undeniably one of the biggest hot-button issues is gay marriage -- I am absolutely fucking pleased as punch that there are people like Joss Whedon, creating as they are. And I think one of the trickiest things is to make it the male title character of a show; for a lot of people, one homosexual experience is enough to make a guy irrevocably GAY. It is, of course, not the same for females -- women are absolutely allowed to be bisexual, whereas the ridiculous double-standard is that men are either straight or gay. No fence-straddling for them, no sir.
To have it acknowledged, on-screen, with no ambiguity that Angel and Spike had screwed around together would have been fantastic. But, no, Joss didn't do it. He's pushing boundaries enough as it is, and sometimes, being cautious and doing things slowly is the only way to go. As unfortunate and upsetting as it is, nobody's going to start accepting THE GAY if it's forced down their throats. It hurts to say this, but it's absolutely no different than the way I or a lot of people will not accept religion when it's being forced down our throats.
I think that, even in my very short lifetime, "alternative sexualities" have made incredible leaps and bounds. Do I hope to see gay people actually treated as people in my lifetime? Yes. Am I going to be surprised if they aren't? Sadly, no. Not with the dominant belief systems in place, I'm afraid to say. Do I hope, desperately, that there will be enough acceptance that there will be a hit, mainstream television show that isn't a silly half-hour sitcom, that focuses on a gay or bisexual character, who also just happens to be gay or bisexual, in the way that any other character just happens to be straight?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
But am I honestly the only person who sees that, with the way the world is, baby steps are needed?
We haven't come that far in the past ten years, since Xena: Warrior Princess came on the air. If I had a dollar for every time I've read someone saying that they stopped watching Xena when Xena and Gabrielle got "too gay", I could treat myself and a friend or two for dinner at the bloody Keg (for the uninitiated: a particularly expensive steakhouse restaurant). If I had a dollar for every time someone freaked out over the Willow/Tara subtext back in the fourth season of Buffy, I could buy myself the entire collection of Aubrey-Maturin books -- again.
There's a reason Queer as Folk and The L Word run on a cable network, people. It's because even while shows like Buffy, Angel, and Xena run on the far fringes of "mainstream" television, they'd still lose a huge chunk of their audience if their central figure(s) were queer. That's just. the. way. it. is. Does it piss me off? Of course! But in a day and age where the only "acceptable" queer show is bloody Will and Grace, I think we do sort of have to count our blessings. Oz and Six Feet Under are still just cable shows.
Should there be more? Of course. But in so much of today's society, with all this ranting about "indecency" and "the gay agenda" (obviously if I have not seen one, bisexuals aren't allowed?), it's easier for creators of shows to hint about it, or have the gay character not be the central character, or acknowledge it after the fact, than to risk alienating sponsors and a big slice of the audience. Because, yes, it is a big slice of the audience. Even if someone is in the sort of environment that's open-minded enough to watch a show like Angel, they may still have problems with the icky GAY. I know people who are not at all religious, or only pay lip service at major holidays but have never even read a Bible, who don't like the GAY.
Is it bad that we live in such a society? Duh. But dear lord -- look how far we've come. The fact that Lucy Lawless has stated, since the demise of Xena, that she does believe that Xena and Gabrielle were more than just friends? It makes me fucking happy! I do not blame show writers and creators at all for being afraid to point-blank say "YES THEY WERE", no matter how sad I think it is that they couldn't have given it a proper canon, on-screen acknowledgement. They danced around the issue.
But looking at the way things are right now -- in a world where people are dying from natural disasters and man-made wars, and yet undeniably one of the biggest hot-button issues is gay marriage -- I am absolutely fucking pleased as punch that there are people like Joss Whedon, creating as they are. And I think one of the trickiest things is to make it the male title character of a show; for a lot of people, one homosexual experience is enough to make a guy irrevocably GAY. It is, of course, not the same for females -- women are absolutely allowed to be bisexual, whereas the ridiculous double-standard is that men are either straight or gay. No fence-straddling for them, no sir.
To have it acknowledged, on-screen, with no ambiguity that Angel and Spike had screwed around together would have been fantastic. But, no, Joss didn't do it. He's pushing boundaries enough as it is, and sometimes, being cautious and doing things slowly is the only way to go. As unfortunate and upsetting as it is, nobody's going to start accepting THE GAY if it's forced down their throats. It hurts to say this, but it's absolutely no different than the way I or a lot of people will not accept religion when it's being forced down our throats.
I think that, even in my very short lifetime, "alternative sexualities" have made incredible leaps and bounds. Do I hope to see gay people actually treated as people in my lifetime? Yes. Am I going to be surprised if they aren't? Sadly, no. Not with the dominant belief systems in place, I'm afraid to say. Do I hope, desperately, that there will be enough acceptance that there will be a hit, mainstream television show that isn't a silly half-hour sitcom, that focuses on a gay or bisexual character, who also just happens to be gay or bisexual, in the way that any other character just happens to be straight?
Abso-fucking-lutely.
But am I honestly the only person who sees that, with the way the world is, baby steps are needed?
