#and i hate the modern teen culture that keeps promoting this kind of food

[edgysaintjust]

Not enough people realise how much fast food chains ruin the food industry and no it's not a fun and familiar place to go while you visit another country. It destroys the regional cuisine. It steals the money of proper restaurants that want to offer you quality local food. People who put heart into the food they'd prepare for you are closing down their businesses because a cheap greasy mcdonalds nearby is more attractive. Can't you see it's all collapsing.

[yourlgbtphillyblog-blog]

LGBT FIRST DRAFT

Final Paper LGBT DRAFT

             Homosexual men seem to be the most visible in the media in this day and age. While they appear in shows such as Modern Family, Glee, Sex and the City there representation is often questionable and many wonder whether or not the characters presented are either helping or hurting LGBT relations with their straight counterparts. Films such as Moonlight and Chocolate Babies are two films, which display homosexual men in two very different ways. While the representation is there, some of these formats do a better job at showing homosexual men, depending on who your asking. It is a firm belief of mine that there is a lack of portrayal of gay men who are not entirely flamboyant. It seems as though it is more important to use these characters are part of comedic plots than to actually develop them away from their “gayness”.  Furthermore, this inability to develop outside of a person’s gayness can be detrimental to youth because it makes those who are not as flamboyant, or who enjoy things like sports feel like they do not fit in with other gay people. Since television does help mold children, it is important that gay characters get the same visibility and development, and that there is a spectrum.

           After examining one character from Glee, named Kurt, I observed that although he maintains his identity as a boy and does date other boys, he seems to portray gay men in a way which makes everyone else comfortable because it does not stray from the norm of what being gay is. According to research, his character is relatable to most gay stereotypes:

he can be endearing, but he's also confusing. In one episode, the glee club split into a boys' team and a girls' team. guess which side Kurt went for? If Kurt were transgendered, all that would make perfect sense, but he's not. Instead, he's that oldest of clichés: the sensitive gay boy who really wants to be a girl” (Setoodeh, 2011).

 Unfortunately, the writers of Glee tend to follow this stereotype with this character and this leaves him unable to develop outside of being a “gay character”. Looking towards Modern Family, we see a different kind of family being presented, where the gay men are actually more present and more developed. While in both Glee and Modern Family, there is character development and intimate relationships are developed they both still show more of a flamboyant gay man, this might be for the comedic factor.

           With Sex and the City, Stafford and Anthony Marantino are another set of characters that are displayed as incredibly flamboyant. While this show is about strong female leads, it does involve these men involved in the ladies lives of luxury. It does hold true to a stereotype that, “"gay men generally have more disposable income due to their familial situations. The quality of our target audience is a real asset in these times” (Meza, 2009). Perhaps this idea that gay men are typically well of is appealing to some, because not many people like to see the reality of situations. For this reason it could be that these flamboyant men, who tend to work in the fashion industry, are more appealing because of the wealth and status that they have and their ability to keep up with the four leads of the show. Of course with these characters, the comedic element is there due to their flamboyant ways.

           It is not to say that being flamboyant or what others might consider “girly” is a bad thing. It is perfectly acceptable and is seen throughout the gay community as something that is completely normal, but it is where there is not a portrayal of men who just happen to be gay without their flamboyance taking over their entire persona or character, without it just being about them being gay. One could compare this to the representation of black people in the media. There is much more visibility of poor blacks versus black people who are well off and this could bring people who are not black to believe that all black people are this way, and look at them in a negative light, they could potentially look at them as if they are the “other”. This could also make gay youth who may not feel similar to the gay men depicted on television feel the need to closet themselves, because of a fear of being seen in a way in which they are not comfortable if they do come out. Even within the gay community there can be judgments from others who feel a person does not look or act gay, which leads some to believe that they are just “confused” or have to be down low. According to an article by Ed Meza, published in “Television's depiction of gay characters may play a role in creating, reinforcing, or altering heterosexuals' attitudes toward gay individuals and the social and legal issues they face”, this is incredibly important because television shapes so many peoples lives and influences everything we do, we need to see visibility for all types of gay men, whether they be fashion designers, mechanics, fast food workers, etc. One cannot say that this is unnecessary, because the same visibility that is needed for gay people is already seen for heterosexual people. It appears that shows produced by LGBT people tend to do better than when characters are used in non-LGBT peoples ran shows. According to a study conducted by Bond and Miller, published in 2017:

Results revealed that exposure to mainstream television was negatively correlated with positive self-complexity, and exposure to gay- and lesbian-oriented television was negatively correlated with negative self-complexity. Self-complexity was correlated with well-being. The findings revealed that viewing LGB characters in television programs specifically designed, produced, and marketed for LGB audiences may have a positive impact on the well-being of LGB youth exposed to these televised messages.

In other words, there are better outcomes for LGBT youth when LGBT show runners are involved, which is why networks should be pushing for shows relating to LGBT.

           A show, Greek, which aired on ABC Family, the show, shows a interracial couple, with, and shows, “in relationships with white men, however, the producers of Greek code Calvin as a black man. Calvin is always the more masculine person in the relationship when compared to his white suitor. When looking at Calvin's relationships on a feminine/masculine homosexuality spectrum, he trends more closely to the masculine end of the spectrum” (Martin, 2011). While most of the shows portray gay men as flamboyant or feminine, this show is a little more detailed in the portrayals because the two characters are a bit different. I do think it does well at showing differences in personalities and not basing the way someone acts on their sexuality, but it is unclear whether or not the character is made to act “manly” because he is  African American. There are arguments by Martin stating that these shows that tend to show African Americans are “anamoulous” or deviate more from other shows such as Modern Family and Sex and the City which shows more white gay men. Dwight A. McBride says that, black gay men "[do] not jive with the televisual image of gay life that has been manufactured, packaged, and produced by mainstream U.S. culture."

           More needs to be done to increase visibility of the different types of people who identify as gay, lesbian, and transgender. We need to have others who look outside of the box and not only into using gay characters as part of comedic plots, and actually show the development of characters who are not just part of stereotypes. My conclusion is that there need to be more LGBT show runners, directors and actual actors. Television helps shape the lives of children and teens across the world, we need to make sure that what we put out is helping and not hurting our future generations.

 References

Setoodeh, R. (2011). Television Promotes Gay Stereotypes. In M. Haerens, Opposing Viewpoints. Television. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Newsweek, 2009, November 12) Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.libproxy.temple.edu/apps/doc/EJ3010379242/OVIC?u=temple_main&xid=4d67f271

  Meza, E. (2009, Mar). Gay channel overcomes advertisers’ initial jitters. Variety, 414, 10. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.libproxy.temple.edu/docview/236260579?accountid=14270

Bond, B. J., & Compton, B. L. (2015). Gay on-screen: The relationship between exposure to gay characters on television and heterosexual audiences’ endorsement of gay equality. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 59(4), 717-732. doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1093485

Entertainment newsweekly: Reports from university of san diego highlight recent findings in communication research (from screen to self: The relationship between television exposure and self-complexity among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth) (01/27/2017). NewsRx.

Dwight A. McBride, Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch: Essays on Race and Sexuality (New York: NYU Press, 2005), 130.