ecl@ahuta.UUCP (ecl) (12/26/84)
I'm surprised no one has commented on the Showtime cable TV series BROTHERS
yet. I watched part of the first episode and the "Christmas special" and find
myself wondering why in every homosexual couple I see on TV or in the movies,
at least one acts like the stereotypical limp-wrist. You see it in CAGE AUX
FOLLES, and you see it here. Am I just watching a non-representative sample or
what?
As far as BROTHERS goes, it seems that it is not so much a series about "two
brothers [who] confront their younger brother's homosexuality," as the same old
sitcom stuff. Even SOAP, with all its faults, seemed more honest than this.
Comments?
Evelyn C. Leeper
...{ihnp4, houxm, hocsj}!ahuta!eclsdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (12/28/84)
TV, at least, seems unable to portray gay men (I can't remember seeing a
lesbian character on TV) as other than queens or desexualized eunuchs. In
both cases, the supposed "threat" is defused by compartmentalization or
neutralization. Absent is any kind of role which integrates their being
gay into a fully realized character--one that loves, hugs, works and plays.
Though I agree that there are slim pickings even in other media, I can
think of a couple of exceptions. Lanford Wilson's "The Fifth of July"
contains a Vietnam veteran and his lover as major characters, and it was
incredibly refreshing to see two together gay characters without a capital
"G" participating in the story. "Making Love", a movie popular a few
years ago, for all its high-camp mawkishness, at least had the two gay
characters pretty swish-free (Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean, teen idols.)
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPAhollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (12/29/84)
>From: sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) >Newsgroups: net.motss >Subject: Re: Showtime's BROTHERS > > ... (I can't remember seeing a >lesbian character on TV... In this end of the world, "St. Elsewhere" recently had a lesbian character on for a few episodes. I recall at least one turning up on the original "All in the Family" show. No others come to mind at the moment. I didn't see all the relevant episodes of "St. Elsewhere", but in those I saw, the character was portrayed as a competent professional woman who happened to be gay. The episodes were partly about how this affected her relationship with the people she worked with and how she chose to deal with the situation. Seems like a lot of progress from the "All in the Family" episode I recall where the plot called for a woman to be mistaken for a man in a non-speaking walk-on part (her being gay was really only faintly implied). -- The Polymath (Jerry Hollombe) Opinions expressed here are my own Transaction Technology, Inc. and unrelated to anyone else's. 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405 United States (213) 450-9111, ext. 2483 ...{garfield,lasspvax,linus,cmcl2,seismo}!philabs!ttidca!ttidcc!hollombe
evans@wanginst.UUCP (Barry Evans) (12/30/84)
> Jerry Hollombe (ttidcc!hollombe) > ... Seems like a lot of progress from the "All in the Family" > episode I recall where the plot called for a woman to be mistaken for a man > in a non-speaking walk-on part (her being gay was really only faintly > implied). I don't recall see the episode mentioned above, but there was one episode which I remember where a relative of Edith (i think) died, and there was some sort of problem because this lady's 'live-in' friend didn't want to give up some crystal (or whatever)... it was finally revealed to Archie that this lady was her lover and had a right to the property. While I'm on the subject, there was a recent episode in Kate and Allie where they had a lesbian landlord. Went into some emotions on how Kate and Allie were to play the roles as lesbians just to keep the rent from being raised. The landloard finds out near the end. Last summer, I caught a strange program aired around 8pm on a Saturday night, called something like "All Together Now". It was about a middle aged couple whose son & friend, and grandfather come home for the weekend for the daughter's wedding. The son had just finished school and was about to start a well paying professional job. Just before the wedding, the daughter gets cold feet and runs off - her mother's in a frenzy by this time. A perfect time for her son to tell her that he's in love with Tony, his best friend. He ends up loosing his new job because he tells his boss of his gayness. The grandfather's retirement home gets flattened by a hurricane and the daughter returns alone and unmarried. So, what else? They all decide to live together. Strange program, and rather daring for a network to carry during Saturday evening primetime. Oh, and there was an episode of "Gimme a Break" where the chief's policeman pal reveals that he's gay (or the chief finds out somehow). A moving half hour - the guy gets shot and killed by a sniper before the chief is able to apologize for acting the way he did after he found out. I guess they're are more than I thought... I'd better stop before I remember another one. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Heard recently as the winning answer to Trivial Pursuit... What was the forbidden love during England's Victorian Era? --------------------------------------------------------------------- -barry -- Barry Evans - Wang Institute (617) 649-9731 x383 [apollo, bbncca, cadmus, decvax, harvard, linus, masscomp]!wivax!evans evans%Wang-Inst@Csnet-Relay