Monday, April 7, 2014

Queer Representation


Queer Representation in the Media

So here is the question I kinda/sorta based my blog on…

Whose voices and interests are being represented? Whose are absent? Who has control over meaning and identity? Is queerness being represented from its own perspective or is it being represented as it appears to an outsider?

Homosexuals( or in this case described as “queers”), once labeled as a minority group, are viewed very differently by society. Though many people think there is nothing wrong with being gay, there are many who still believe it is immoral and unnatural.  Having a sibling who is gay this topic interests me/frustrates me - even thought television shows are not as hesitant as they were in the eighties and nineties to show gay content it is so badly interpreted.

You now are exposed to society and their opinions, how they view, interpret, and feel about homosexual relationships and friendships.  At first when they started introducing gay characters into media, they limited it to strictcly movies and not live television - using homosexuals as comic relief or characters in the background, and now recently their characters are coming more common on television programs as main characters. (Emily, on Pretty Little Liars)

What bothers me the most about this topic is that the only characterization gay actors/actresses get is the fact that they are indeed gay.  They make that the main focus of their role. Why? Because I believe the straight people that make the role for the gay characters in most cases do not have the slightest clue whatsoever what is it like to be gay. To an outsider and the heterosexual community they have a bad habit of labeling, perceiving, and judging all gay characters as overly affectionate, super flamboyant (if male), obsessed with sex, not loyal in relationships, etc.  This exposes an untrue/fake description of homosexuality.  In a way this is a reason why younger people do not express their true sexuality because they will feel they will be judged and made fun of. As American Television continues to evolve, and as homosexuals become increasingly more open about their identities there needs to be a way others are educated correctly about what it is to be gay, and the actual struggles some have to go through in order to love a person of the same sex or even find someone of the same sex that is truthful and confident in their sexuality.  I witness the struggles on a daily basis.

For some reason I link this to the Raby article about discourses, almost as if a person knowingly feels in their heart they are gay from a very young age but they still have to go through so many steps before they feel confident enough to come out and say it.  I personally knew my sister was gay from a very young age, but throughout middle school and the beginning of high school she went through the whole faking straight and denial phase because she didn’t want to do what was considered different form her peers, and not feel unaccepted at the time when she knew.

Heres a quote I found…"Younger lesbians at the beginning of their careers in music are told not to tell anyone that they're a lesbian – that's not commercial," - "You need to present yourself as being fuckable by men, and you'll sell more records that way." …ok so lets be a fake idol to all that look up to us for years on end, and then be a huge disappointment (in their eyes) because your true sexuality finally came out????? How is this in anyway morally correct?

I HATE how “queer” is portrayed in the media, I HATE how people, religions, and society view gay as wrong.  People have the right to emotionally and physically love whom they want, how they want, at anytime in their life that they want -- without being judged. THE END.

How do you think queer is represented in the media?  Accurate or not?  

Ps - On a serious note there are so many suicides and murders due to homosexuality...  One example - I don’t know if anyone has heard of Matthew Shepard but it is completely awful what happened to him. I suggest watching the movie based on his life called, “The Laramie Project”.



4 comments:

  1. Nice quote about how lesbians must hide their sexual orientation in the beginning of their careers! That makes sense that the business would tell them to do that in order to "sell themselves" unfortunately, in our society sex sells. It is so depressing people cant be who they want to be.

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  2. yay, love that you threw in the laramie project. that was a great film!

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  3. I liked your comments at the end how you explained that you hate how gay people are judged and viewed completely wrong. I think its sad we live in a society of negativity and cruelty, and simply cannot be happy for other people which is sad.

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  4. Do you think that as more actors who play queer people actually identify as queer, their parts will be less of a characature?

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